Sooo, now that we're at the end of 2018 I thought I'd reflect on my goals I posted at the beginning of this year and the highlights for me. The year kind of feels like it flew by but also feels like a really long year coz soo much happened compared to previous years?!
Overall I feel like I achieved my most important blogging (and personal) goals, so even though I didn't achieve them all how I planned, I'm not too down about it as I prefer to focus on the positives and goals should be like guidelines in my opinion.

Tuesday Takeover: Yazmiinaktar - L'Oreal x Isabel Marant

It's been a while since I've posted but now that I'm back from a little break with my son, I plan on posting more regularly iA <3

I enlisted help from fellow mummy blogger Yazmiinaktar who expressed her interest in these L'Oreal x Isabel Marant collab lipsticks and she did an amazing job of reviewing them.. read on for more!

Tuesday Takeover: Yasmine Alom

This weeks Tuesday Takeover is from the absolutely amazing Yasmine Alom who I am in awe of because of how hard working she is!

If you guys saw my YouTube mum friendly GRWM with Yasmine, you'll know she's very experienced and knowledgeable with makeup products and someone I trust to review, so here are her thoughts on the new Bobbi Brown Camo Luxe Collection:

The new collection by Bobbi Brown Camo Luxe collection launched on September 2018. This is exclusive to Selfridges & Brown Thomas from 23rd August then launches nationwide on 6th September.

#BeccaScape - My First Ever Influencer Trip!

I started writing my Clinique campaign post but then got caught up in preparation for another huge milestone in my blogging career - my first ever "influencer" trip with none other than BECCA Cosmetics who were one of the first brands I ever received a product from back in 2012 (see blog post here).
Since then I've been a huge fan of their Shimmering Skin Perfectors which cater to pretty much every skintone (my fave shade being Opal), and I love how the powders are super soft and creamy as they're made with pearls and pigments mixed in a liquid formula and pressed into a creamy powder (unlike other highlighters!).
So many of you took time to message and congratulate me saying you felt proud to see a hijabi on a brand/influencer trip, so I felt inspired to write about it and include my experience as a hijabi for anyone who may be wondering what it could be like; ideally I hope this inspires others and gives an insight <3

Tuesday Takeover: ibreathemakeup

This week's guest post is from the lovely ibreathemakeup who has been a follower of mine for a long while and even an old client back in the day!!

I gave her the NYX Honey Dew Me Up primer as she expressed interest in it and here is her review:

Hey lovelies,

So Safiyah kindly sent me the NYX Honey Dew Me Up primer. This primer is supposed to reduce the appearance of discolouration and redness and keep your skin looking radiant all day. The primer retails for £15 which is a bit on the pricey side for a drugstore primer but it’s worth it. 

Foundation Files: Making Your Foundation Yellow - An Affordable Solution!

Here's something that may put an end to all my foundation posts (jk!).
I've been researching various ways on how we brown girls (with strong yellow tones) can adjust our foundations to match better, but each method I've read about has their cons (explained in this post), so for the longest time I've been wanting to work with a brand to create an affordable yellow foundation adjuster.
As an Asian girl I've always struggled to find the right yellow undertoned foundation, even when they say they're "golden", they still sometimes have a bit too neutral/pink tones running in them, making me look a bit ashy (who else can relate?!)
I've never understood why the current shade adjusters by the likes of The Body Shop, Nip+Fab, NYX, Makeup Revolution only really have white and brown; NYX have an "olive" shade, but that was still quite brown for my skintone so I had to give it away.
If I find the correct undertoned foundation but it's slightly too dark (for example Fenty 290), I can successfully use a "white" adjuster/mixer to help it look less dark, but sometimes risk looking ashy, so prefer the off white mixers like from The Body Shop.
The brown mixers however, make a foundation that's too light for me very muddy looking and cool toned most of the time and also tends to alter the undertone completely.
Enter: the ELF yellow undertone adjuster - the possible solution to all our warm toned problems!
I've been testing this bad boy out with a neutral toned foundation I have and have been uber excited to blog about it since I've been wanting this very product for us yellow toned girls and there doesn't seem to be any reviews on it yet as it's super new.. so here goes!

Sunday Swatches: L'Oreal Paris Les Chocolats Liquid Lipsticks

So apparently yesterday was World Chocolate Day but today is my Sunday Swatches day so I decided to post this Chocolate swatches related blog post today obvs!
Ever since I saw the preview of these Les Chocolats liquid lipsticks on L'Oreal's instagram (here), I knew I had to find out when they would be releasing here in the UK and thankfully was invited to the launch event at none other than Saint Aymes (which has been on my "to-hit up" list for a while now!).
It was a lovely intimate event with tons of chocolate and despite the heatwave we're having, the chocolates didn't actually melt (just like L'Oreal say their lipsticks don't) and I managed to enjoy an iced version of their unicorn latte which wasn't too sweet and perfect.
Anyway the actual lipsticks smell absolutely divine - especially if you're a chocoholic like me! I was blown away at how strong it smelled of chocolate that I actually expected it to taste like it if I licked my lips but alas, the chocolateyness stops there. 
FYI I have however (unintentionally) tasted chocolate when applying Too Faced Chocolate Soleil as it contains real cocoa powder.. some of the powder somehow flew into my mouth once when applying with a brush and I was pleasantly surprised lol.
The lipsticks have a great selection of "chocolatey" nudes which personally I think is great for WOC/those with pigmented lips, however some are a bit light which would be better suited to fairer skintones/lip tones.
I've had ample time testing these out since the event and even filmed a swatch video so read on to see what I think and to check out the video!

Tuesday Takeover: Sabah - MarbleRoseBlogs

Soo, this week's Tuesday Takeover is by a lovely follower of mine - Sabah of Marble Rose Blogs - who is of similar complexion to myself but just a tad bit fairer (NARS Punjab/Custard).
She's ever so kindly written an in depth review of the Makeup Revolution Conceal & Correct correctors, complete with swatches and face pics!

Read on to see what she thinks <3

Tuesday Takeover: Samina - Pretty Little Statement

This week I have another Tuesday Takeover reviewing the new Clinique Beyond Perfecting Concealer and this time it's by the lovely Samina Arshad of Pretty Little Statement who I found on Instagram. 

Samina used to work for Clinique so I thought she'd be perfect to review this with her background knowledge of the brand too, read on to see what she thinks!

Eid Gift Guide - Small Businesses

Soo, I started planning and writing this post during Ramadan but between exhaustion of fasting, salah etc, being a single mum anddd posting regularly enough on instagram etc. this post got delayed.
But it's better late than never and these gifts can also be bought for occasions like birthdays etc, so here's my Eid Gift Guide - Small Businesses edition. Alhamdulillah this year and last I've reached a point in the blogging world where I'm able to comfortably request samples for gift guides/blog posts etc, so it really does help with content I have in mind like the last Oud post. 
This year particularly, brands are understanding that there's a huge market around Ramadan/Eid and personally I am glad that they recognise this; maybe in the future there can be more Eid related/designed products like The Body Shop currently do (see the Ramadan calendars here and here). More often than not though, we forget that small businesses have also catered to our needs for Eid/special occasions and I like to include them on my blog to help support them if I can, as it's amazing that they've had the initiative to create what they have.
Last year I focused on this Stationary post from small and established businesses, this year I put a little request out on my Instagram to see what was out there and was impressed with the brands in this post, so read on to see what I came across!

Fragrant Fridays: Eid Gift Guide - Luxury Fragrances - Ouds

For the longest time I've been meaning to write some fragrance related posts because back in my retail days I did do a couple fragrance jobs which involved some training and I think that it would be valuable information for people to know! Fragrances are very personal and in all honesty it's always best to sample a fragrance rather than read reviews online (there's something inexplicable about how a scent can take us to a special memory or place), but if you know what kind of fragrance notes or scents you usually like, then these posts should hopefully help.
I'm going to start the "Fragrant Fridays" series with this Oud Eid gift guide which has super luxury fragrances in it for someone very very special. This could be a parent, a partner or a super close friend or family member that you really appreciate, (which is who some of these fragrances will be going to this Eid).  Sometimes the average gift isn't enough for someone who's helped you during difficult times and this is where a luxury gift like Oud (that no one else will get) will say it all for you.

Ramadan 2018 - The Body Shop Get Ready For Eid Collection

I can't believe we're already in the last 10 days of Ramadan, it literally just felt like yesterday that we started fasting?!
This year The Body Shop have released this "Get Ready For Eid" 10 day beauty calendar instead of the 30 day one last year (check the blog post here!) and as much as I absolutely adored the packaging of last years one, this year's actual products are better.
Read on to see what's included!

Saturday Skincare: Ramadan 2018 Skincare - Clinique Moisture Surge

Ramadan is once again here and this year I was ever so kindly sent the most thoughtful PR package I've probably ever received from none other than Clinique.
If you guys remember my "Thirsty Skin" blog post last year in Ramadan, you'd remember me writing about a host of ideas for dehydrated skin, which is very common for those of us fasting as we are of course not eating or drinking water for up to 18 hours+ here in the UK.
This year, Clinique sent out care packages of their Moisture Surge skincare range to a couple Muslim bloggers and I was pretty touched, as even to this day, many brands and non-Muslims in general still don't know that we don't drink water in daylight hours!
Most brands have at least one product or skincare ranges for dry/dehydrated skin (as you probably saw in my blog post last year), but the fact Clinique were so thoughtful about sending their hydrating range this year to Muslim bloggers, it really spurred me on to write this post and of course explain the MS range which I was familiar with but didn't realise included this many products.
It's only been about a week and a half of trying these but read on to check out the Moisture Surge products sent and what I think so far!

Spend & Save: Meghan Markle's Royal Wedding Makeup Look Tutorial High End vs Low End

Sooo, unless you've been living under a rock, you'll know that there was the most epic British Royal Wedding here in the UK and I didn't think I could get this emotionally invested in it but I totally was.
In the run up to the wedding I watched a few documentaries about the Royal Wives of Windsor and found myself soo interested in it and the fact that so many rules will be broken if Harry were to wed Meghan.. literally so many and I am here for it!
Anyway, the wedding was absolutely magical and of course we all wanted to see what Meghan would wear but for me I just wanted to see her makeup although I knew it would be on the more natural side to a typical Asian bride 😅
When the veil was lifted she looked absolutely stunning and radiant and as the rest of the wedding carried on, I was trying to see what was going on on her eyes as her face looked like she barely had even any foundation on! From what I could see it looked like a matte smokey brown eye but not in the slightest bit heavy.
After the wedding ended I saw a lot of mixed responses about her makeup but I thought I'd challenge myself to attempt this look as I'm so used to using as many products as I can for a makeup look these days, it was refreshing that the look was so minimalistic on her.
Obvs I'm not blessed with beautiful skin like hers, so I did end up using a little more than I would have on someone with perfect skin/no circles, but read on to see the full list of products and a filmed tutorial!

Tuesday Takeover: Amina - Aliandher

Hi my lovelies!!
Today I have another takeover from one of my fave up north blogger babes - Amina. She's ever so kindly swatched and reviewed a few Revolution Pro lipsticks I was sent, which are of course one of the Revolution Beauty brands (click here to watch my tutorial and thoughts on Makeup Revolution!).
Amina is a fellow mummy beauty blogger, I absolutely love her honest reviews, be sure to check her out on IG and Twitter too; read on for her thoughts on the Lipstick Collection <3

Midweek Makeup: Nip and Fab Makeup SS18 with MakeupByMario

Life as a blogger these days can be pretty amazing. Everyday I wake up and after the nursery run, I check my emails which is actually my favourite thing to do as you never know what could land in your inbox; info on new products, events, sponsored posts, offers etc, to name a few.

When I received an email for an event with Nip + Fab x Mario Dedivanovic (Kim Kardashian's makeup artist/artist to the stars "makeupbymario") I felt a familiar buzz of excitement in my stomach knowing full well this would be an exclusive event I had to attend.
Mario's makeup literally sets trends in the makeup world; he recently released a palette with Kim Kardashian's makeup line KKW and did a blue eyeshadow look on Kim which sparked a whole load of blue eyed looks on social media/the internet, so to say he's an iconic makeup artist is an understatement.
I've been lucky enough now to see Mario twice through blogging events, the first one being with L'Oreal (in this blog post) and now with Nip + Fab for their first year makeup anniversary/birthday, where we saw a demonstration by Mario using the new SS18 products.
Read on to see how he used the products and of course my take on it too!

FF: Ariana Grande No Tears Left To Cry makeup look

I'm back with another makeup look taken from my instagram, but worthy of writing up on the blog due to it being hugely popular on my IG!
This look is a recreation of Ariana Grande's makeup in her latest video after she's been in hiding for months. There's a few looks in her No Tears Left To Cry video including a smoked out extended wing eyeliner look, but I chose to recreate the glitter underliner look with matte lips and the full on glitzy eyes and lips look. It was created by none other than Mario Dedivanovic (Makeup By Mario) and when I saw the full on sparkly look I was obsessed and knew I had to try and recreate it.
Read on to see the products used in these too looks!

Saturday Skincare: All 6 Glamglow masks review

Hi my lovelies!
It's been a while since I've posted, I started this year with this 2018 Goals blog post and knew it would be hard to try and aim to do both "traditional" blogging and videos but man it's been even harder than I thought!
The video front has been good in terms of instagram but my blog has always been my baby and I refuse to neglect it, so in light of the short IG video I created for the new Glamglow #Multimasking set, I've decided to use it as an opportunity to review all the masks in this one post as many of you voted, rather than separate posts.

screenshots from my mini IG video of this multimasking set (click here to watch)

As you guys read in my Self Love blog post, masking is the simplest form of self love that a lot of us do, so I knew the Glamglow Multimasking set would gauge a lot of interest especially as so many of us bought the Christmas set on sale at the start of the year, which was an absolute bargain!
This set is of course great for it's main purpose of multimasking (which is perfect for combination skin types), but it's also a great way to try all of the Glamglow masks without the hefty price tag of buying all of them full size, so read on for the lowdown on each mask!

FF: Illamasqua Daze Highlighter

Sooo Illamasqua have released a new shade of their Beyond Powder highlighters and as a fan of the OMG highlighter (read my top 5 gold highlighters blog post here), of course I was inspired to create something magical with it, being iridescent pink and all; the unicorn trend is still very much alive in 2018!
I thought I'd go for something a lot less dramatic on the eyes than my last Illamasqua look, this one is magical with pink and purple tones and I had a vision of using my blacklight for a pic (which I still have from none other than this Illamasqua event!)
The unicorn/mermaid trend isn't for everybody but I do love playing with makeup and the Beyond Powders look amazing wet or dry so I was eager to see how it would look under the blacklight idea I pictured in my head. Read on to see all products used for this look!

left: the Daze highlighter (no flash) right: the highlighter brush you get free with my discount code!

Self Love Saturday

With every year that passes I realise I grow a stronger sense of self and even though I'm sure I have much to learn still, this year I'll be turning 30 in May and it's got me thinking and looking forward to the next decade for various reasons!
This isn't my usual type of beauty post, but after Valentine's Day this week and finding out February 15th is apparently being Singles Awareness Day, I thought about where I am right now and how I felt in terms of "love".
Truth be told, at this particular point in my life I feel like loving myself is the most important thing, mostly because being a mum of an almost 4 year old who isn't in full time school is extremely exhausting and we all know that happy mum = happy child, so I feel like self-love is oh so important.
It's easy to forget your own happiness as a mother as you're constantly trying to prevent the next melt down from your child, juggle work commitments, housework and more and if there's anything I've learned as I've gotten closer to the end of my 20s, it's that everyone's "test" is different; one woman's test could be a breeze to another woman and vice versa.
So this got me thinking about self love and things I do to keep myself happy. I wanted to make a small list of things I do and also asked you guys on instagram too what actions/things you do for self love (as I know a lot of you are mums too, like me!) and these were some of the responses:

Sunday Swatches: Smashbox Always On Liquid Lipsticks Review - New (Nude) Shades

So today's Sunday Swatch post is a bit of a special preview of a couple lipsticks launching this Wednesday 10th January.. and I'm holding my very first little meet and greet in light of it, so I couldn't be more excited!
Smashbox are releasing 24 more shades to their Always On Liquid Lipstick range (already available in the US), 12 of which are metallic, 6 of which are nude and 6 that are bold.
I was most interested in reviewing the "nude" shades as we all know the struggle is real when it comes to my dark lips and finding a nude/brown that suits me; and at first glance I really did think they were identical as all 6 shades are different shades of brown!
I already have BAWSE and Driver's Seat in my collection that I got at an event I attended last year and have only really worn BAWSE once but I also was interested in a new "bold" shade "Spoiler Alert" as it looked like the usual kind of mauve shade I wear, read on for my full review and if I finally found my perfect nude brown or not!

FF: 2018 Pantone Colour of the year - Ultraviolet

So as you guys should know by now, purple (and pink) are my favourite colours and with Ultraviolet being the Pantone colour of the year I knew I wanted to start the year off with a bang, so I created this makeup look using the Urban Decay Electric Palette as it was best fitting (see previous posts with this palette here!)

2018 goals and being frank

Hello my lovelies, hope you all had an amazing break and are feeling refreshed for the new year?
I don't usually have new year resolutions, nor do I usually say "this is going to be my year" but seeing as I'm turning 30 this year I'm excited once again (every year after the age of 21 is not really spectacular tbh, sorry if you're coming up to this age!). It also turns out to be the year of my favourite colour (purple), as Pantone's colour of the year is "ultraviolet" so I feel like this is an extra reason to incorporate more purple into my life - who knows I might ditch my signature blush pink hijabs for lilacs lol.
Sometimes I still feel like the 16 year old me, but when I look through what I've achieved in life - my education/degree, experience in various job roles, life's ups and downs (especially overcoming the downs!) and most importantly now being a mum, it all adds up and makes me feel altogether a bit more mellow but hopefully wiser.
I've decided to write this more personal post as I really would like this year to count and since getting my Happiness Planner as a PR gift from L'Oreal last year (pictured above), it's helped me write down my goals in life and I feel like it really does make me feel more motivated to achieve them. So if you or someone you know are struggling to motivate yourself, I would totally recommend writing down your goals somewhere.

I've written a small list of blogging-related things I reckon are fairly achievable for this year and here they are: