Lazy Morning Routine!

Hiya, to get myself warmed up and started with this whole blogging shizzle I thought it'd be a good idea to begin with a lazy morning routine. This way you can gain an insight into what I like to eat on a lazy morning, what beauty products I use and my simple daily, go-to make-up/hair look. I may also include some recent songs I was "feeling myself, feeling myselffff" (*wink wink*) to. It might turn out to be quite a long one so I've "captioned" each section with "food", "make-up", "shower" etc so you can just scroll to whatever part interests you most x

*Mindlessly scrolls through social network sites with half-open eyes*

This morning I woke up suuuuper late at 11am - but whatever its the Christmas holidays, it's allowed! After about 45mins of mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat and checking the recent BBC News updates and (shamelessly) OK! Mag, I heard my stomach growling and thought it'd be best to nourish my body somehow... and ASAP haha. I'm not too kind when hungry, trust me. 

*Eats the entire house - well, pretty much*

I opted for a full-on brunch: one fried egg just seasoned with a pinch of salt and pepper, a grilled Cumberland chipolata sausage (mmm), some smoked salmon (mmm x9999), beans (mandatory), some refreshing cucumber (also mandatory, with EVERY meal), a grilled tomato drizzled in olive oil and basil and Ryvita with Boursin garlic and herbs. Heavenly. Topped off with one out of my five daily cups of standard instant decaf coffee (nothing special or fancy there haha). Although I must admit and you must agree, a Costa's cappuccino would of brightened my spirits much, much more. 

Are you a Costa gal/lad or a Starbucks loser? And also, whats your favourite drink? I'm pretty lame and boring and tend to stick to a cappuccino, especially in the cold weather.

 
*Some more procrastination like reading (GONE GIRL, FINALLY) and stuff*

After over-indulging myself, I might spend some time reading. I'm currently reading Gone Girl, finally. It had been catching dust over the past year because I don't often jump on the latest book/film hype as a lot of the time I find myself disappointed at all the rave reviews and buzz. But the other night I actually decided to sit down and watch the David Fincher film adaptation... at 1am in the morning -_-. I found it encapsulating but at the same time chilling and unnerving HOWEVER I'm not one for spoilers so don't worry I won't give away the plot line, just go watch and find out for yourselves it if you haven't already, honestly.

*Heads back upstairs for a shower and replenishes face*

I don't have any special regime reallyyy, for my face I just use the L'Oreal Paris Skin Perfection range. I usually swear by the Soothing Gel-Cream Wash but sadly its run out so I'm using the Plenitude Re-Nourish Cleansing Milk alongside the Velvety-Soft Toner. I have pretty oily skin and I've recently starting breaking out really badly with acne-like spots so I'm now using some prescribed Duac gel which I apply nightly on top of troublesome areas. It also helps with scarring too so I apply it to my upper back where I used to get similar spots. It is really drying and with the cold wintry weather I try to restore the moisture as much as possible; I find that this particular L'Oreal range has the perfect richness to it at an extremely affordable price (around £3.99 a bottle). For my body, if you were interested, I just use the Sanex shower gel range as it is the most cleansing and gentle soap I've ever tried. Today I also exfoliated both face and body to remove any dead skin from dryness. After all that, I used E45 Lotion on my face as I find that any "specialised" face creams on the market are too oily and heavy on my skin. It is just the right consistency to form a good, smooth base for make-up application. For my body, I used one of the lovely Body Shop Mango Body Butter. I received a couple of these amongst many other lovely Christmas gifts from my boyfriend and I just can't get enough of the smell, the rich, rich texture and excellent absorption. I will definitely be repurchasing these and trying all of the other scents!

*Screams of excitement as make-up is THE best part of getting up and ready"

It can't just be me can it?! I find it so enjoyable getting out of bed every morning and doing my make-up, especially on a lazy morning/day like this because I have time to put in effort and all that haha. Ok, so this section should be less of me nattering away and have more visual content for you to see the "process". 

So this is what I start with on a daily basis! A lovely, spotty, pale blank canvas ready to be prettied up a little, even on the most laziest of days. See the sadness in those poor eyes, "Please make me look half-decent, Saana!", they cry. 

My daily go-to makeup products:

My (small but slowly growing and so far only Real Techniques) set of brushes plus the Miracle Complexion Sponge that I had forgotten to include since it was still in the packaging! Oops...:

Ok, so to begin I use the foundation brush (reminder: all my brushes are Real Techniques so I won't keep repeating the brand before the type of brush haha) to blend in my L'Oreal Paris True Match Foundation in W8 Golden Cappuccino.

Over the top of that, I grab the miracle complexion sponge, dampen it slightly with water and dab in some Revlon Colorstay Concealer in the shade 05 Medium Deep under my eyes and onto my cheekbones and over any blemishes. I bought both of these items just yesterday and I am relatively pleased with both. I had intended on buying a concealer for a slight contour and originally wanted the Nars Creamy Concealer but the nearest counter is a small journey away and I'm impatient! Let me know if its worth the splurge but for now, this Revlon alternative will do. 

To ensure that nothing comes off too easily over the day, I lightly dust over some Collection Sheer Loose Powder using my duo-fiber face brush, this also helps to slightly mattify any unwanted oily t-zone nonsense throughout the day.

I then move onto the brows and use the Sleek Brow Kit in Dark. I failed to get an image of this product but hey, whatever, it just includes a brow wax and powder with a teeny set of tweezers, angled brush and brush for the powder. Let me know of any similar products that are any better than this one, I have two of these palettes to get through but it would be nice to know of others too!

For contouring, I use Sleek's Face Form in Medium using the duo-fiber contour brush. I apply the dark powder to enhance my cheekbones, I brush this up around my hair line then onto my nose to thin it slightly. I also lightly contour my jawline. Afterwards, I apply the bronzer to my cheeks and lightly around my face where I had used the dark powder.

For highlight, I use the Benefit Watt's Up highlighter, my all time favourite daily highlight for the cheekbones, nose, cupid's bow and chin. I love the soft, healthy glow it gives especially in the winter season when our skin often looks dull and unhealthy.

To prime my eyes before using eyeshadows I use Urban Decay's Eyeshadow Primer Potion in Original. I bought the full bottle yesterday which is why its still looking glam n cool n sassy in the packaging - I recently got the Naked 3 palette for Christmas and it has rightfully gained its place in my daily, lazy morning routine. Within the palette's packaging you receive four eyeshadow primer testers and for everyday use I fell in love with the Original primer. It creates a lovely smooth base to retain your eyeshadow look throughout the entire day, I find that it also limits any excessive fall-out for heavy eye make-up looks - 10/10 all round.

My daily eyeshadow look consists of Limit all over the upper lid using the base shadow brush, Nooner in the crease and brought down slightly to my outer lid using the deluxe crease brush. For some added dimension I use the lightest shade, Strange in my inner lid and dab the glittery Dust eyeshadow on the middle of my upper lid and Trick along the middle of the bottom lash - all of this is done using the accent brush. The light dusting of pigmented glitter helps to brighten up my dull dark brown eyes! As I don't like to darken my eyes too much on a daily basis, continuing with the accent brush, I lightly line the outer edge of my upper and bottom lash lines with Darkside.

To finish my look I use a small amount of Benefit Onyx Kohl Eyeliner on the upper lash line. This liner is very old and I think it has sadly been discontinued, apologies! This just helps to make my eyes appear slightly larger by adding depth and provides a good base for the God sent product that is Benefit's They're Real! mascara. I cheekily bought this on my mini spree yesterday, initially picking up the full-sized bottle. But while queuing at the till I noticed the smaller, half-sized version and decided to be sensible with my money and ditched the full-sized one. However, the extra £10 would definitely not go to waste because this mascara is definitely now a staple product in my daily make-up bag! 

For my lips, I keep it simple by using Benefit's Life On The A List which is a moisturizing, non-sticky gloss with a light shimmering pink tint to it; perfect for that "natural yet better than my original lip colour" look (if you know what I mean!). 

The finished look and OOTD (lol):

As you can see I'm all warm and wrapped up in my Ginatricot knitted wrap which I bought yearsss ago in Helsinki (I'm half-Finnish, fun fact of the day!). On lazy days like this I tend to just chuck on a pair of PJs again and wrap up warm in fluffy socks and cardis- attractive! 

*the hair situation...*

As you can probably see, I didn't do anything to my hair. I just packed it up into a messy bun because I simply couldn't be bothered to straighten it. I've had it straightened throughout the festive period just for ease - my hair is naturally afro-curly and quite difficult to maintain.

Anyway, that was my lazy morning routine for you all, hope you enjoyed and I will stop going on from... now!

Laters alligators,

Saa xx