kylie lip kit VS sleek matte me

For the longest time now, I've been searching high and low for a cheaper alternative to the Kylie Lip Kit. Don't get me wrong I do love the Kylie one, but it's so bloody expensive to get it over here. Painfully expensive, especially if you paid the customs charge like I did.

I'm pretty sure as soon as Kylie's matte liquid lipsticks came out, every other company came out with some too because they're so popular, meaning it took me no time at all to find a cheaper option. 

I'd heard a lot about Sleeks liquid lipsticks so this is the first one I've tried from any drug store brand, it was actually the first one I spotted in Boots as I love the packaging, I think the matte black looks quite expensive. 

So as a comparison, on the left is Kylie's Candy K, and the right is Sleeks Birthday Suit. They are pretty much identical to look at in the tube, aren't they? I genuinely can't see much of a difference. However there is a big difference in price. You can get the Kylie Lip Kit for $29.00, that not including shipping and customs, and you can get the Sleek lipstick for £4.99. I know, £4.99?! I couldn't quite believe it either, I expected it to be much more expensive. Now obviously you don't get a lip liner with the Sleek lipstick, but as we all know, lip liners from boots tend to be pretty cheap!

As for applicators, I much preferred Kylies. It's smaller, meaning you can be more precise with application. Where as Sleeks is a lot bigger, thinner, and it's a bit trickier to apply, well I say tricky, I guess you just have to be a bit more careful. A lot more product seems to come out on Sleeks applicator, but Id imagine this would be a personal preference if you liked this or not, I myself don't really mind, it just saves me having to go back for more, definitely lazy haha. 

The smell was also something I noticed, I could literally smell my Kylie Lip Kit all bloody day it's incredible, it smells like strawberry milkshake to me. Whereas Sleeks doesn't really have a smell, it's hard to explain, just a makeup smell if that makes any sense haha?!

As for the colour they are pretty much identical. I only noticed they were slightly different when I looked hard, I asked my mum what her opinion was and she had no idea they were different lipsticks, which says it all really!

Kylies is a lot thicker, meaning it's a little more opaque, but this is literally just a fraction more, nothing noticeable unless you're looking super hard. I don't know if I prefer the thickness of Kylies lipstick though, sometimes this can dry out my lips because of the thick layer, so it was quite nice wearing Sleeks which was a fraction thinner, it didn't feel as drying, Im guessing this was because of the thickness. Id say Sleeks was a tiny bit lighter in colour than Kylies, but again, just a fraction. They are pretty much identical. 

Overall, I genuinely think I prefer my new Sleek liquid lipstick. The price has swayed me, don't get me wrong I absolutely love my Kylie Lip Kit, but if I can buy a cheaper option, that's pretty much identical in colour, that lasts just as long, I'm gunna go for that option. 

I think I found a pretty good dupe! Do you know of any other brands that have similar shades?

Lotsa Love,

Sophxo

Follow me on;

Bloglovin - Sophie Jade

Instagram - Sophcullen

Youtube - Soph Cullen

Life Update; Moving House & Embracing Christmas?!

As I write this the weather is horrific, its dark and dreary outside, I have a Christmas candle lit, channel 5's Christmas films on, I know right, already?! and my fairy lights are on. Don't judge me, but I am so excited for the winter months and Christmas in general that I'm embracing that time of year in August. How can I not?!

I wanted to kinda update you guys on what's happening in the world of Soph at the moment, what isn't happening really? So much has been going on, where to even begin;

Our house has sold! If you don't watch my Vlogs you wouldn't know this, our house was up for sale for 2 days and sold almost immediately, Ive kinda come to terms with it now, to begin with mum and me were not ok about it even being on the market, as it wasn't our choice. Long story. But now I've come to terms with the fact that eventually, i'll have to move house. The plan originally was for Mother to move into her boyfriends flat, this would mean she could save more money to eventually buy somewhere with him. It being a 1 bedroom flat though, there was no room for little old me, or the dog, so we were going to live with my Nan & Gramp, which I was so excited about, bloody love um! It meant for the first time every mum and me wouldn't be living together, but I was actually ok with that. 

Plans changed though when mum decided she really liked this house she'd seen, but it's a mighty £900 a month, if you live in London or somewhere like that you'll think £900 is cheap but where we live, this is fucking expensive. Without really thinking too much about the price or how we could budget etcetc, she applied for it and I think we've got it. it hasn't been officially confirmed, but they've asked for further details, and it says let agreed on the website, so who knows. The estate agent said if all goes through reference wise, then they could look to moving us in asap. 

That said though, Im going on holiday in 22 days. They want to either move us in when I'm on holiday, great one, or the day I'm back, even fucking better mind. Apparently you can't pick and choose when you move in, so thats fabulous! If I return from Mexico to find my mum has already moved into the house with her boyfriend I shall not be best impressed haha, that may sound really selfish but this is a big thing for us both. 

Do you know what this means though? I lose my bedroom that I've worked so hard on to make my own :( which makes me super sad, and Im also going to lose my little fire place! It's going to be so weird moving out, this is my childhood home & I don't think I'm quite ready to let go yet. 
  On the upside though, this does mean I'll be posting moving Vlogs, you may not even care haha, but at least i'll have that to look back on in years to come! :)

Apologies if personal posts are of no interest to you, I just see this as a diary for me, & it's actually quite handy to get how I'm feeling out of my system haha, even if no one else cares about what I'm writing!

I hope you're all well, and that you've had a lovely weekend <3

Ps!! let me know your favourite blog to read at the moment, id love to follow and get to know a few new faces!

Lotsa Love, 

Sophxo

Follow me on;

Bloglovin - Sophie Jade

Instagram - Sophcullen

Youtube - Soph Cullen

Too Faced Love Flush: Justify My Love

JUSTIFY MY LOVE.

Can we just appreciate how INCREDIBLE this blush is?! Literally cannot get over it. Or stop looking at it! 

This is the second Love Flush blush I've bought from Too Faced now, and it's in the exact same shade as my first one; Justify My Love. I picked it up from the Too Faced website for £25 (stupidly) as shipping cost a bomb, I bought my first one from Debenhams and just completely forgot that they sell it there.. very annoying! But personally I can justify the price tag, as I absolutely love it, hence why it bought another one!

It took me SO long to use my first one as I didn't want to ruin the pretty pattern, but after a month of looking at it haha, I used it for the first time around summer time and it looked insane. So bleddy pretty. If I'm honest the thing that immediately sold it to me was the packaging; 

Theres no denying that it's just beautiful. It reminds me of a little polly pocket! The box itself feels quite expensive to hold, even though it's only made of cardboard, Too Faced have used a matte finish on the pink bits, and a shiny gold on the dots, it just looks and feels super expensive. 

The shade itself is a pretty baby pink, with a slight gold sparkle to it. I usually reach for this one if I want a rosie glow, I'd imagine this shade would look amazing in the winter, *pictures wearing this when its snowing outside haha*. 

Too Faced claim that the blush lasts for up to 16 hours when applied to the skin, I can't say I've ever worn any blush for 16 hours! Although I've worn this one for around 9 hours and it seemed to last the whole day, pretty impressive!  

Overall I would say it's definitely worth the price tag, it is a little pricey, but it lasts for such a long time, and the colour pay off is really really good, if you're not worried about ruining the gorgeous pattern I would definitely pick it up. This was what I found most difficult haha! 

What do you think, would the price tag bother you?

Lotsa Love, 

Soph

Follow me on;

Bloglovin - Sophie Jade

Instagram - Sophcullen

Updated Lipstick Collection

I think if you've been following my blog for long enough, you will know that I am absolutely obsessed with buying lipsticks. I own a stupid amount now, too many to show in this post. So I've decided to show you how I store my favourites, the ones that are always on show on my dressing table. 

From Left to Right.

Back Row - Rimmel In love with ginger - Rimmel Kate Moss 01 - 

Middle Row - Rimmel Kate Moss 111 - Rimmel Kate 107 - Rimmel Kate 30 - 

Front Row - H&M Ablaze - H&M Sakura - H&M Pomelo Juice - 

From Left to Right

Back Row - Loreal Blake's Pure Red - Loreal Naomi's Delicate Rose - Topshop RioRio - 

Front Row - Revlon Pink In The Afternoon - MAC Morange - MAC Creme Cup - 

On the far end is also where I store my Too Faced Love Flush blusher, and Daisy by Marc Jacobs perfume, it fits perfectly! 

I hope this post was somewhat interesting to some of you, I find people's makeup collections really interesting to see haha! Do you have any of these shades?! 

Lotsa Love,

Sophxo

Follow me on;

Bloglovin - Sophie Jade

Instagram - Sophcullen

My TOP 3 summer Yankee Candles!

 Yankee Candles are my absolute favourites. I think my last post on the Yankee's I own, I had around 12, I now have 23 medium or large jars. Who needs that many candles? Not me, but apparently I like to buy them!

Summer scents especially (not forgetting the winter baking scents) are some of my absolute favourites. Foodie scents are my favourite, be it fruit, or baking, I just love sweet smells. I popped into Yankee Candle in Bristol- Cabot Circus, recently and was overwhelmed by all of the summer scents, there are so many, most of which I already own actually, oopsie! I picked up 3 new scents that I wanted to share with you, because they smell bloody INCREDIBLE. 

STRAWBERRY LEMON ICE.

Oh jeeeeesus if the picture alone doesn't completely sell this candle to you the smell most definitely will. 

Official Description; Refresh your home with the cool scent of just picked strawberries and strips of lemon peel crisped in ice.

This basically smells like my childhood, the ice lolly I used to buy from the ice cream van. 

HONEY CLENENTINE.

Quite possibly my favourite this season!

Official Description; Refreshing orange takes a sweet turn in this honey-dipped citrus delight.

This one smells like orange sweets! The picture is amazing and reminds me of being in the heat of summer.

CRANBERRY PEAR.

Ive had this one for a long while now, It's one of my all time favourites that I don't think I'll ever stop buying! 

Official Description; A positively delectable union of sweet and tart … fresh orchard pears drizzled with decadent cranberry syrup.

This smells like nothing I've ever smelt before? Is that weird? I don't like pears at all but I don't smell pears with this one, the cranberry is much stronger which is lucky for me as it smells uhhhhhmazing. 

All candles pictures above offer from 25-40 hours of burn time, depending on how you look after them. I would recommend buying wick trimmers, as this helps make your candle last a lot longer, I learnt this a few months ago and wouldn't ever not use them now.

What are you favourite ever candles? I have to say I do love snowflake cookie too!

Lotsa Love,

Sophxo

Follow me on;

Bloglovin - Sophie Jade

Instagram - Sophcullen

MAC Creme Cup

How pretty right?

These lipstick posts seem to have become a regular thing with me now haven't they?! Completely unintentional though! I have been obsessed with buying new lipsticks recently, I think MAC now has to be my absolute favourite brand. 

This particular lipstick is in the shade Creme Cup, and it's a Cremesheen. I would say it's a light blue pink shade, and definitely one that's build-able, as with first application it can be quite subtle. As much as I love it, I'm still trying to get used to wearing such a pale pink shade, as I said in a pervious post, I usually stick to wearing dark vampy colours because of my skin tone. However, I'm definitely warming to it, & I would imagine Creme Cup would look incredible on someone with a pale skin tone. 

I don't know if I'm alone here but I actually find Cremesheen finishes really difficult to apply? I think that's because of how soft and easy they are to smudge, although this doesn't actually affect staying power when it's worn. 

Im now on a search for a new nude lipstick from MAC, with so many to choose from though I'm struggling to choose, if you've ever tried any, or have a favourite, do let me know because Im eager to try! 

Lotsa Love,

Sophxo

Follow me on;

Bloglovin - Sophie Jade

Instagram - Sophcullen

15 Things That Make Me Anxious

1 - Making an important phone call

2 - Making any phone call.. unless its close family/friends!

3 - Booking appointments, aka Doctors or Dentist.

4 - Going to the actual appointment on my own, terrifying.

5 - Shopping on my own, what do you even do like who do you talk to whilst you wander?

6 - Walking into a shop or restaurant first, where do I go? What do I say?

7 - Meeting new people, so awkward.

8 - Completing training for work on my own.

9 - Driving in a busy city, lord knows what lane i've got to be in!

10 - Making a speech, or talking in front of a big group of people.

11 - Team bonding, please don't make me perform in front of everyone?!

12 - Turning up to a weekend away i've booked, did the money go through, have I actually booked it? Shit what if they didn't receive my payment?

13 - Driving to new places (although I'm much better at this now!)

14 - Watching people open present I've bought them, will they like it? What if they don't? Shit maybe I should explain EVERY SINGLE GIFT.

15 - Sitting in the waiting room at the Doctors, which room do I go in? Where is it? I can't ask if I get lost that's too awkward, on no its okay i'll plan ahead before to make sure I know where I'm going.

Im aware Ive probably made myself look like a right idiot but I hope I'm not alone when I say I'm such a worrier! Maybe ill look back at this in years to come and realise I was being such an idiot for over thinking the most simple things in life, but thats a big maybe!

Lotsa Love,

Sophxo

Follow me on;

Bloglovin - Sophie Jade

Instagram - Sophcullen

MAC Morange

If any of you know me well enough, you will know that I am a sucker for red and orange lipsticks. It's very rare that I'll buy a pink, in fact only recently have I been buying/wearing pinks, but if I'm honest that's only because Im trying to step away from my reds and oranges, that's worked.. clearly haha.

Whilst browsing the internet I may have accidentally *wink* fallen onto the MAC Cosmetics website. Oopsie. I think the last time I was on there I bought Creme Cup, again, trying to distance myself from the reds/oranges! After a pretty shitty week I decided to treat myself to a new lipstick, I searched through the many many colours and decided on Morange. This is genuinely my most favourite lipstick I own, it's the perfect mix of a red and orange, so obviously I was going to love it haha! How amazing is this going to look on my holiday to Mexico though?!

Although MAC lipsticks are of brilliant quality I rarely buy them because of the price tag, if you're familiar with MAC I'm sure you're aware that they're a little pricey! This one in particular cost me a hefty £15.50, which is rather painful to say, eek! I'm one of those annoying people who will buy something like this and forever think "I'm sure I could find a drug store alternative for half the price".

Morange is an amplified creme finish lipstick, so for someone who is always wearing a Matte finish lipstick, this is going to be like heaven! Goodbye to my dry Kylie Lipkit, hello creamy lipstick! With such a bold colour I'm definitely going to need a lipliner, I do own a drug store shade that's pretty similar, but Im debating buying the MAC lip liner, have you ever tried them before? As I haven't, so I'm kinda debating if its worth it? Do let me know!

I'd also really appreciate any recommendations, Im always on the look out for a new shade to add to my collection!

Lotsa Love, 

Sophxo

Follow me on;

Bloglovin - Sophie Jade

Instagram - Sophcullen

H&M Lipsticks: Sakura

I am so obsessed with buying new lipsticks at the moment, I really don't need any more as I have too many already! However I headed into H&M the other day and picked up Sakura for £7.99 to add to my collection.

 Who even knew H&M did makeup? Not me! I was seriously impressed by everything they had to offer, from lipstick, to nail varnish, they had basically everything, and the colours are super pretty. At £7.99 I couldn't resist trying this lipstick, the packaging alone swayed me if I'm completely honest.. who isn't a sucker for anything gold?! amazing.

The shade itself is so so bright in person, it's not quite doing it justice in photos. For someone that rarely wears pinks, this was a bit of a shock to the system haha! I don't think I would apply this so it's 100% opaque, that scared me a little, I looked in the mirror and thought woah there okay, maybe I should pat this down a little bit! But I'm sure if you are used to wearing pinks, this won't bother you. Im actually more of a red/orange kinda girl.

The quality of the lipstick is amazing, it's so smooth and feels as if it's melting when you apply it because it's so soft and doesn't drag across your lips. Im yet to wear this throughout a full day, however as soon as I do I will be sure to let you know how well it lasts.

Have you ever tried any of the lipsticks from H&M? 

Do let me know!

Lotsa Love,

Sophxo

Follow me on;

Bloglovin - Sophie Jade

Instagram - Sophcullen

A Love/Hate Relationship With Blogging

Im guessing you've already gathered that I seem to have developed a bit of a love/hate relationship with blogging.

Well that would be because Im so bloody inconsistent. I find it so tricky to stay motivated, resulting in some months that are full of posts, and others full of nothing. I think this is mainly due to the fact I just feel so unsatisfied all the time. When I first started blogging in 2014 it was because I had so much to say and no one to say it to, there's only so many times you can tell your friends about the new lipstick you bought yesterday, oh and the one the day before, and the day before that.. you get the idea. 

Back then I didn't care what my blog looked like, how I wrote, or the content I was putting out there, I think that was because I basically had no idea what I was doing, looking back now I wish I still had no idea, maybe then I wouldn't be so strict on myself now. I also wish there wasn't so much pressure  for your blog to look and be 'perfect'.

The main thing that irritates me the most about myself is how I write, looking back at old posts my accent shines through and I just write how I talk, and people always pick me up on it. I live in Somerset, so I sound like a farmer essentially haha. Not saying thats a bad thing, because in person I love my accent, but when Im writing I can't help but type/write how I talk which is so bleddy annoying as it takes me ages to go back through and correct myself. If you heard my accent in person properly, you'd know it just sounds so unprofessional, well I think so anyway! I dunno, just another aspect that annoys me. Should it annoy me, is it even a bad thing? I dunno.

I also hate that unless I'm following smaller blogs on Bloglovin', they don't show up as a suggestion. Just the big ones, I've got to proper delve into their comments to find smaller bloggers, I like the bigger ones but it feels like everyone is doing the same thing now. Id like to read something different that shows off someones personality, rather than how much someone loves a certain teeth whitening brand, sigh!

 So what I guess what I'm trying to say is, expect inconsistency, random posts, and honesty over here because I tend not to follow the crowd haha. If I'm not feeling it, I'm just not feeling it, and that's how I'm going to go about my blog from now on I think. That doesn't mean I don't love it any less, because I do, but life does get in the way, and at the moment that's my main concern, I just don't want to feel bad about it, haha.

Lotsa Love,

Sophxo

Follow me on;

Bloglovin - Sophie Jade

Instagram - Sophcullen

Friend Appreciation

Im sure the majority of you are aware of who my best friend Mac is, if you aren't; well where have you been? Mac has been my best friend since we were about 2 years old, we went to nursery together, Infant school together, primary school together, and secondary school together. He's basically the male version of me, so it's to no ones surprise that he's my bestie!

He's recently returned from his holiday, it was only a week but it felt like a bloody life time, I was like a lost puppy haha. So we met up for a little chin wag, to talk about a load of shit basically, which I documented, as you do, on my youtube channel. Im so glad I've been doing it because I've captured so many memories that I can now keep forever, and laugh at forever.

Subscribe when you're over there; and make sure you check the description to find all of Mac's details!

Lotsa love,

Sophxo

As Good As Lush?

Prepare yourselves for the prettiest bath bombs you have ever seen, fact.

These little beauties are from Bomb Cosmetics, my new favourite company.

I pretty much ALWAYS order my bath products from Lush, id seen a few pictures on Instagram of Bomb Cosmetics bath bombs and for some reason never thought of ordering from them; that was until I had a little look on their website and saw how incredible all of their products looked. 

The bath bombs literally look like cakes, all of which are hand made which I thought was amazing, so much effort must go into each one, you can tell just by how they look. So, I thought I would use this little space of mine to photograph each one for you; take you through the ones that I bought (I bought a bloody lot!) and to probably make you want to buy them all haha.   

I used my first Bomb Cosmetics bath bomb last night, and as a huge Lush fan, I can honestly say it was just as good, it smelled amazing and I loved watching it fizz away as it was just so pretty to begin with! & at such an affordable price, (under £3!) I will definitely be buying more!

Here's the website if you are already wanting some hehe! 

Bomb Cosmetics

Have you ever tried Bomb Cosmetics before? If so, what did you think?

Lotsa Love, Sophxo

Follow me on;

Bloglovin - Sophie Jade

Instagram - Sophcullen