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29 July 2014



As a newbie blogger i can't say things have been going very fast for me in the blogger-world. But once in a while i get a comment on one of my posts and get very excited to the point where i actually squeal!(You don't want to see it...) 
So when i read Sarah's comment which had the word "award" in it, you can imagine my excitement. When i read her post i had quite a laugh(she's hilarious and very good with words so check her out) and the whole concept made me feel like a part of the community. This is basically a tag where you tell 11 facts about yourself and then answer the questions of the person who tagged you and then tag 11 more people :) 

I don't think i was quite clear so here are the actual rules;

  • You have to link back to the person that nominated you.
  • Write 11 facts about yourself.
  • You must answer all 11 questions given to you by the person who nominated you.
  • After completing these questions you must nominate 11 bloggers with under 200 followers and give them 11 questions of your choice.
  • You must not nominate the person who nominated you.
  • You must let your nominees know that they have been nominated and provide a link for them to your post so that they can learn about it.
Here are the facts;
  1. I want to become an actor one day. Either Theatre or On-Camera I really want to pursue my dream.
  2. My name isn't actually Anna but it's Elif. It's just like a stage name for me to use on this blog.( Kind of like SprinkleofGlitter?)
  3. I LOVE Tv shows to the point where i spend 8-10 hours watching an entire series!
  4. Some of you might know(look at me talking as if i have permanent readers) but I'm actually from Turkey. Istanbul to be precise. 
  5. There was only one person who made me believe in the whole concept of "The One" and unfortunately I lost my chance on my one.
  6. My favourite part of my life so far is my trip to Italy in 2012! I had the most amazing time there and that was the time where i utterly felt happy and content. 
  7. I'm currently trying to learn French on my own. I always envy people who learn languages on their own as even when i studied Italian for a year I can't speak it now and worse having studied German for 6 years i'm pretty sure i can only introduce myself... I really want French to be my third language.
  8. I love travelling. I'm my best self when I'm travelling to a foreign country. Been to America, Italy, Norway and England and i can't remember feeling bad in any of them.
  9. My taste in music constantly changes. I listen to almost anything apart from metal and heavy clubbing music. My favourite genre is probably Indie and Pop though.
  10. I study English Language and Literature and I'm currently a second year student in Uni. I still can't get over how much i love university. Even though i've had some bad memories the fact that i'm a uni student now always gives me this positive vibe.
  11. I want to expand my makeup collection and go further with my blog :)

1. What is your favourite blog and why?
When i first started this blog i was only following bloggers who also had youtube channels so my first thought was is my favourite one of them? But i have to say, my favourite blog to read is MissMakeUpMagpie. I love her posts and Gemma just seems like such a lovely person. Adore her. 
2. If you could eliminate hair from one area of your body for good, where would you choose? 
I don't even have to think about this... my bikini area 🙊
3. What's the hottest accent in your opinion?
It's a tie between a Britist accent and a Scandinavian accent.
4. If paparazzi followed you around for a day what would the headline be?
She finally comes out of her house!
6. If you wrote an autobiography of your life to date, what would be the title of your last chapter be?
"Friends Again?"
7. Would you be a good or cop or a bad cop? 
Depends on the criminal.
8. The world is ending. You're the only human left. Would you still wear a bra?
Nope!
9. Favorite pen color?
Purple.
10. You get 1 million dollars to give to one charity, what would it be?

I might divide it into 2-3 charities but it would be either to an LGBT charity or to the ISF.
11. Do you eat kale?

my dad makes it sometimes but i can't say i'm a big fan of it.


I tag the following;
Tiny Edge
Today's Beauty Obsession 

(This was harder than i thought. I know it's against the rules but as a newbie to the blogger world the people i follow are limited as well and when i went through the blogs i follow on bloglovin' i only came across these blogs which were under 200 followers. Obviously i don't want to put blogs i don't follow just to complete the tag because i don't think it would be fair and be very honest so these are the blogs i really enjoy which are under 200 followers...)

Lastly, my questions for those who would like to carry on this tag are;

1. What made you want to start a blog?
2. Do you speak any other language other than your mother tongue?
3. Have you ever travelled anywhere? If yes, where?
4. What was/is your favourite subject in school?
5. Are you a fan of/really passionate about any TV shows? 
6. What career do you want to pursue?
7. What is your biggest pet peeve?
8. Do you have a holy grail beauty product?
9. What is the thing you can't live without(aside from the natural essentials of course)?
10. Is there a moment in your life in which when you look back you think "That's when my life changed." What is it?
11. What is your favourite part of your body?

28 July 2014

British Drugstore Beauty Haul Pt. 3; Hair

I was working on this post earlier and i thought i saved it as a draft but turns out i didn't so when i opened it i was greeted with an empty page which was greeted by a very grumpy me... As much as i hate starting from scratch, here it goes;

In London i also treated myself to some hair products which were the Tangle Teaser and the Batiste Dry Shampoo's. I've had quite some time to give both of them a whirl so now i can write mini reviews on both of them.



As you can see I'm pretty much stocked in Batiste now. The reason for this is not because we don't have Batiste here but because we only have them in Sephora's and they are triple the price! It's insane considering in UK it's £2.99 for the 200 ml and £4.99 for 400 ml. I love dry shampoos and I've tried the Lee Stafford one a while back and even though it did the job i wasn't blown away by it and wanted to try Batiste so badly. I've grown to love the smell of coconuts these past few weeks even though i realised i've completely hate the taste of coconut milk i absolutely love the smell of coconuts and Batiste's Coconut & Exotic smells so amazing! It smells like sugar and coconut and makes your hair smell as if you sprayed a Victoria's Secret Body Spray in it. The Floral and Flirty one as the name suggests has a more floral smell(noticed how bad i am at describing scents yet?). I much prefer the coconut one and i also wish I'd also gotten the one they do for dark brown hair. All the Batiste formulas are the same in basic. You spray it in your roots(in the areas where they are the oiliest) and wait for a minute or two, then either blow dry your hair or run your fingers through your hair and get rid of the grandma hair. 







I was actually planning on getting this in Boots but i saw it on the counter while i was buying my Topshop purchases and I went a little too excited(the lady at the counter shared my excitement and was lovely) and bought it then and there. It was £10.99 which I thought was a little too much for a brush but after hearing all the incredible reviews on it i thought it's definitely a bargain. It's not a bad product at all but after all the hype I must say i was expecting something a little more... I don't know what i was expecting but it's not a miracle product in my opinion. Yes the product itself looks ADORABLE! especially the purple one as i'm mad over the color purple and yes it does brush your hair but i have brushes that do the job faster than the tangle teaser. It's great on dry straight hair but when my hair is its natural self(curly/wavy) it is just such a chore trying to get rid of the tangles. The fact that the bristles look so fragile doesn't help. I feel like i'm going to damage the shape so i try to be very gentle which doesn't help the knots and tangles. I like to use it when my hair is straight or curled with a straightener but i wouldn't recommend it for wet hair and curly/heavily wavy hair. 


What are your thoughts on these products? Have you tried the Tangle Teaser? Are you blown away by it as everyone else? Please tell me I'm not the only one who isn't...

25 July 2014

British Drugstore MakeUp Haul Pt. 2; Blushers & Powders

Hi everyone!

Let's be honest, doing the Lips post was easy because I had a lot of lip products i could show but now I'm left with things i want to review and things I haven't used long enough to write an actual review on. So what i thought I'd do is to show all the products i got which I'm not planning to do a review on. These are just the things i got from both Boots and Superdrug. 

If you'd like a review of a product please let me know in the comments and i will.

Blushers


I definitely had my eye on Sleek's blushers before i even went to london and definitely wanted to try them so i went and got the shade "Pixie Pink" which is a bright hot pink. As they are very pigmented i'd advise you to just touch the product with your brush instead of swirling it around the pan. But nevertheless i really like it and the color will look very pretty during colder seasons in my opinion. 



The second blusher is the Make Up Academy's blusher in "Lolly" which is more of a coral/orange toned blusher which has tiny speckles of shimmer in it. It's definitely provides more of a subtle shine though. 



Powders


I definitely wasn't planning on getting this product.. I really wanted to try out Archery from Soap & Glory but whenever i went into Boots they either only had the Blonde one or they didn't have any at all which sucked. I have heard a lot of good things about One Heck of a Blot but i was so into my Rimmel Stay Matte Powder that I just couldn't imagine using another powder. I ended up getting it and i really like it so far. I definitely prefer my Stay Matte powder but this one is translucent so it suits me better during summer. It keeps the sweating to minimum which is definitely a giant plus. Do i even need to say anything about the packaging? I think it's absolutely gorgeous.





So there you go, these are the powder-y products i got. Next up I'll do the hair products and then start writing the reviews for all the other products :) Have any of you tried these? What do you think?


24 July 2014

Faux Nails

Be warned; you will be seeing my tiny, bitten, ugly natural nails in this post. But at the same time you will be seeing long and pretty nails as well!

  I was never fond of my nails because i'm a picker. I cant help myself. Whenever my nails or the skin around my nails have a part sticking out(even the tiniest bit) i scratch and scratch until my entire manicure is ruined and i feel very insecure about showing my hands to people because i feel like their response to seeing my hands will be "ew".


   A few weeks ago i was i was in the local drugstore and i came across the nails isle! I never checked that part of the store because i just wasn't interested in nails that much to invest in anything nails-related. Mostly i just check out the nail varnishes and go my own way. This time the fake nails cought my attention. I joked to my friend about this and we had a few giggles and then she went on her way. But when i actually thought about it i decided it wasn't a bad idea at all. I quickly grabbed the best looking packaging and got it. I didnt buy it secretly but apparently i was in such a rush that my friend had no idea i got it until after we were home.
I put them on and at first they looked horrid! After my tiny nails, my hands looked like they jumped out of a witch movie. I decided that just filing them wouldn't he enough so i trimmed them a little using both scissors and nail clippers. I gave them a round shape and then filed them.


Voilà! There you have strong, good looking nails. Then all i had to do was to put on a nail varnish and i was good to go. I opted for Essie's Sexy Divide which is a gorgeous dark purple with shimmers in it which gives your nails dept.


They last for a very long time in my opinion. I took them off and reaplied them for 4 times and they are still reappliable. I never tried to take off the nail varnish though because i'm scared it will damage the nail. This box has 40 nails in it but some of the nails are too big for me so i mix them with other nails. It comes with its own glue and the glue holds the nails for up to 24 hours and then the nails sometimes breaks off but you can easily reapply the nail that came off. I think it's such a practical and easy way to get good and healthy looking nails. Definitely worth checking them out. They're really cheap as well! 

Have any of you tried fake nails? What are your thoughts on them? Are you as impressed with them as i am?  

19 July 2014

Sleek MakeUp Face Form Palette in Light


I must say when i was in Boots the brand i was most excited to see was Sleek! I heard so much about the brand(mainly their blushers) from almost every single British beauty blogger/vlogger. 
I knew i wanted to get their Contour & Highlight Kit and try out their blushers. Two of the blushers i wanted were Pixie Pink and Rose Gold. Now imagine my excitement when i found out they had a new palette which contained both the bronzer, the highlighter and the Rose Gold blusher! 


The Face Form Palette contains every bit that you would need to do your face make up. Each item is incredibly pigmented, I love the bronzer as it's very pigmented but is quite easy to blend so it looks quite natural on your face. I love the highlighter for when I'm using a matte blusher and want to have a bit of a glow on my cheeks. It is also very good for your cupids bow and your brow bone as well as an eyeshadow. The blusher! I honestly can't find the right words to describe my love for this blusher! It's pigmented, glowy, gives just the right amount of color to make your cheeks pop... It is perfect in my opinion. A lot of people compare it to Nars Orgasm but I think color-wise this one is slightly better than Orgasm! As the blusher is quite glowy on its own i don't use the highlighter on top of it but as i mentioned i use the highlighter for other purposes. 


The packaging is smaller than i expected as everyone compares the products to Nars products i expected the sizes to be similar as well but the size is just right as you can fit the palette anywhere you want. I'm pretty sure the palette is smaller than my phone which is saying something. The packaging is also very durable, chic and is very simple looking which i like.

***

I would definitely recommend this palette to everyone! If you feel like the colours don't suite your skin tone you can try out their other shades as they came out with 4 different ones; fair, light, medium and dark. It was £9.99 in Boots and it is also available in Superdrug.


07 July 2014

British Drugstore Makeup Haul Pt. 1 (Lips)


As i said in my previous post i've recently been to London for a week. During my time i had a lot of fun seeing the sights in London and doing all the touristy things but one of the things i was most excited about was shopping! And not just any shopping; Drugstore makeup shopping! 
I know it sounds a bit mental but as a girl who loves makeup and has learnt so much from british "beauty gurus" on youtube not having certain makeup brands in my country drove me crazy. So when i went to Superdrug and Boots i went a little nuts. 
If i put all the things i bought in just one post it would be a massive blogpost no one would want to read. So i will split them into 3 parts! Lips; Superdrug and Boots. The reason i'll put Lips as an individual post is because most of the products were lip products as i'm quite obsessed with lipsticks i bought quite a lot of lip products.

First off i want to start with two of my favourite lip products from this haul which are the Topshop Lipsticks in Infrared and Brighton Rock

Brighton Rock; I love pink lipstick and this is a gorgeous matte bright pink lipstick! It stays on for hours without any need for a touch up which is a massive plus but also i don't know if this is an actual thing but it makes my skin look so much better. Not as in it hides blemishes and spots but the color of my skin just looks so much better with this lipstick and just compliments my skin tone. I love it.

Infrared; This lipstick is a velvet finish one unlike Brighton Rock but it looks lovely on every skin tone in my opinion. I got this almost 2 months ago when i was very pale and it just made my lips pop in the best way and now i have a strong tan and it still goes on perfectly and looks incredible. It is a BRIGHT orange! I never owned an orange lipstick before and the main reason i got this was because of Zoella. I'm so thankful that i did. And thank god i didn't put it back when i swatched it on my hand at the store. The photos don't do this lipstick justice; in real life the orange is ORANGE! I was very scared to buy it but it doesn't look as scary on your lips. Definitely a future favourite!


Infrared-Brighton Rock

I guess i should go with the favourites theme. My second favourite lip product i indulged in was the Tanya Burr Lipgloss in Exotic Island. Alright so i actually meant to get 3 of Tanya's lip glosses; Picnik in the Park, Afternoon Tea and Exotic Island. However, I've been to 3 Superdrugs and none of them had Picnik in the Park or Afternoon Tea. And they were having a 3 for 2 whilst i was there so each time i couldn't find the two my heart broke a little. In the end i went ahead and got Exotic Island and had to say goodbye to the other two :(

Exotic Island; This seemed very purply pink on the swatches i saw online and that was the main reason i wanted to try it. It isn't as purple as i expected it to be but it is a purple-pink shade with blue undertones. It has a sheer finish but you can build it up to a quite opaque finish. Especially if you put a dark pink under the gloss it does give you more of a purple lip look. I'd definitely recommend trying that as it looks very flattering. The smell of it is also very sweet and sugary but it isn't that strong that it would irritate anyone with a strong nose i believe...




Lastly i got the Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm in Unapologetic. I went to the Revlon counter and stood there for hours thinking "Do i really need anything from here? I know they released matte liquid stain things but is it really worth it?" Then i saw these. I swatched them all and in my opinion this is the best shade in the collection. It is definitely not a subtle lip color. It is completely matte and still makes your lips look very moisturised! 

Unapologetic; This is a matte balm stick that has pink and coral undertones. I know the packaging looks very orange in the photos but i can assure you that it is just the crappy lighting and the color is in fact very pink/coral. It is very comfortable to wear on your lips and it is indescribably pigmented. The only downside is that if you've ever used the Clinique Chubby Sticks the twisting part on Revlon is quite weak so once you started twisting it it feels like you broke something at first because it isn't supposed to be that "easy to twist". Aside from that i think this a very good formula for a matte lip product and i now wish i had all the other colours. 



Here are the swatches of these products;

Top to Bottom; 
Exotic Island
Unapologetic
Infrared
Brighton Rock


Thanks a lot for reading
Have a lovely day,

MissAnnaSparks




Be More Like Carrie Hope Fletcher

Well this is an odd post...
However the title explains it all; I want to be more like Carrie Hope Fletcher. Whenever i watch one of her videos or listen to a song she sings i get that feeling. I discovered her not too long ago. It probably hasn't even been 2 months. Funny story actually; I was on Youtube and before the actual video i was going to watch there was an Alex Day "commercial". I thought it was a pretty fun channel and subscribed but didn't watch any of the videos. Few months later i was going through my subscriptions box and noticed that he hasn't posted anything since i subscribed to him. I decided to watch his old videos and then i came across Carrie. After wondering why he hasn't posted anything i googled it and felt terrible about the entire chain of events that occurred. 
Anyway, that is a completely different subject and it's a subject i'd rather not talk about. So i subscribed to Carrie's channel and watched a couple dozen of her videos and fell in love with her personality. She seems so real, so full of sunshine, she just has the power to make you feel like a better person. My mind is doing that thing again where i have more than one thoughts going through my mind which stops me from forming a good sentence. She is just such an incredible person and even writing about her makes me feel the feels. 
Of course i don't mean to say i want to be her. I do believe everyone should be themselves and not impersonate others or act a certain way that doesn't show who they really are. I want to be like Carrie Hope Fletcher because of her outlook in life. She is probably the most uplifting, caring, optimistic person i've ever come across. I realise this post just turned into a praise for Carrie(I didn't mean to do that) but i had this thought for quite a while and i guess this is kind of a new years resolution for me.
 I want to be like Carrie Hope Fletcher. 
Be more optimistic
Be more caring
Be more ambitious
Work harder for my goals
Have a positive outlook on life
Be kind to others around me 
Help others as much as possible
Be more loving
Appreciate life

I believe Carrie is doing all of the above and more. I look up to her so much. The fact that she is an actress is just spot on. I thank Alex Day for introducing Carrie to me in a way. 


I actually met and fell more in love with Carrie when i was in London for vacation with my mother. During the entire week i was secretly on hunt to bump into Youtubers as i'm quite enjoying Youtube and Britist Youtubers. So whilst we were in London we wanted to watch a play and the play i suggested was Les Miserables. I heard great reviews of the play and the London cast in the first place and Carrie being in it as one of my favourite characters was just a bonus. I just wasn't expecting this; MAGIC! The entire play was magic on stage. It was so inspirational and extremely empowering for an aspiring actress like me. I loved every second of it. Our seats had limited view and during the entire play, instead of sitting at my seat normally, i stood at such a way that i almost fell off the balcony. I wanted to take in every single moment of it. It was indescribable. What happened after the play was even more magical for me. After i had all the emotions during the play while we were on our way out all i could think about was "Carrie meets fans at the stage door" "Where can i find the stage door?" "My mom won't even bother finding the stage door" and the second we got out of the door there was another door right next to it with the sign "STAGE DOOR" on it! I freaked! We waited for close to 5 minutes and i saw everyone had a brochure for the actors to sign. I had not. My mom asked if i even had anything for her to sign and a lightbulb appeared on my head. I had my theatre tickets and a pen with me! She was the first to get out the door and i was standing right in front of it and she didn't even wait for me to say something! She instantly went "Hi there how are you?" I think that's what surprised me the most. She was so warm and welcoming. I was stunned. We had a little chat i told her that i loved her and she was amazing at her performance which must've been a cliche for her. But i really meant it. What i forgot to tell her was all the things i'm writing right now and the fact that i came all the way from Turkey to see her perform. It was definitely worth it! I almost didn't want to ask her to sign my ticket and ask for a photo because she was actually having a genuine chat with me. But i did it anyways because it was a one time opportunity and she was lovely and of course said yes. She signed my ticket and my mom took our photo and then i thanked her for everything and said i didn't want to keep her for long because there was a little queue behind me waiting to talk to her so we parted. I was so happy that night that i couldn't sleep for hours. Even afterwards, for weeks out of no where i just went "I met Carrie Hope Fletcher!" 


She is one of the sweetest souls on this planet and i'm so blessed to have come across her, even though it was through the internet. I believe i am not the only one she had this effect on. So thank you Carrie for spreading your fairy dust of optimism and hope to everyone who comes across you. You are truly brilliant. A real life Disney princess. 


Carrie's Links








Lots of Love,

MissAnnaSparks


05 July 2014

First Makeup Experiences

Oh boy! I was trying to empty the memory card i found inside one of my old cameras and i found these "selfies" of mine from 2009! I was around 13-14 in those photos and my style was very different from my current style. I cringe at those times now as most people do with their former selves.
   During those times, i used to go into my room, get my mothers makeup bag and my one black eyeliner and try putting makeup on myself.



    Not gonna lie, aside from the cringe-worthy pose i have to say my makeup doesn't look that bad here. I'm pretty impressed with my 13 year old self. I used to use my mothers Clinique Superbalanced Makeup Foundation and it was total SHIT for me... I couldn't have it on my skin for more than 15 minutes. After that i wanted to peel off my skin it irritated me that much. Though apparently it made my skin look really good. I don't think i had any blusher on my cheeks my cheeks are naturally very rosy so i just used to not put foundation over my cheeks and that was it. I am so impressed with my old eyeliner skills! Holy shit! I did that with a pencil and even now i can't do the flick that precise. Wow.
The lipstick in this photo was my first lipstick ever! It was a tester from Lancome L'absolu Rouge. For a tester its size was pretty great and i'm sure i still have it somewhere in one of my old bags. I'm tempted to find it because i really really love the color in this photo! 


The first thing that catches my attention in this photo is my uneven eyes! It looks like I'm squinting my left eye... 
This is what i did when i went out to the mall with my friends. (I don't think i ever wore that hat outside..) I'd put on the tiniest amount of mascara or put eyeliner in my water line and slap on my lipgloss from Claire's and i would feel so much older it's quite funny now. 

Have a great day,
MissAnnaSparks

01 July 2014

PRIDE 2014

Happy Pride everyone!

as most of you know this month is mostly known for its pride parades all around the world. For those of you who don't know Pride Parades are walks/parades that celebrate the LGBT community and shine light to legal rights such as same sex marriage.  I know i'm writing a blog here but i must admit i'm not the best at describing things so here's the wikipedia page if you want to know more about it.

I live in Istanbul. I didn't know about this but apparently we have been doing the Pride Parade since 2003! We are also the only muslim country to do this. I was pretty proud when i found out about this. Gay marriage is not legalized in Turkey yet, but majority of the society is pretty open about the LGBT community. I'm hoping there will be more to come on this subject in the future.

Basically me and my friend went to this years parade on sunday. I wanted to go for a couple of years and it was definitely a sight to see! The atmosphere was magical, it felt like such a homey environment and everyone came together not to protest but celebrate. The parade was held in Taksim, Istiklal Avenue to be more specific. There were thousands of people; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, straight! Everyone was there to have fun, show their support and raise their voice. I can't stress this enough; It was one of the most incredible sights you could ever see! I took some photos from the event, I hope these can at least slightly give you an idea of how it was...













MissAnnaSparks
 
Images by Freepik