♡Review: Kate Moss Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick 08♡

Sorry for being MIA again for those who read this! I wasn't feeling excited by my blog for a while and although I wanted to force myself to update this I want this to remain a blog that I don't feel is a chore to update. I haven't been in a big writing mood either as I start uni up again tomorrow and have been using my break to relax and unwind and detach from my degree a bit as well as partying probably more than I should. I promise that I will try to update more regularly, even if it's just a picture or a post from my polyvore which I am absolutely obsessed with by the way!

Now I'm not sure if you know this but I am a massive, I repeat, MASSIVE fan of lipstick. A good lippy can completely change up your outfit or even your mood and the hunt to find the perfect lipstick for particular occasions is a fun one (for me at least). For a while I have been looking for a nice natural lipstick that I can wear when I want to have a bit of colour on my lips while it not taking the attention away from the rest of the make up on my face - I've been looking for one that blends in instead of stands out.

This is when the Rimmel Lasting Finish by Kate Moss in 08 enters!

It is a lovely natural dusky pink with a hint of mauve and when I describe it to my friends I always say that it's your lip colour but better! It gives your lips an extra va-va-voom! I love that it is versatile as I have worn it both for when I'm out and about during the day and with smokey eyes at night. It has a slight satin finish without it being too shiny which I like as I am not a big fan of shiny lipsticks as I tend to always opt for matte. If you do like it to be a bit shinier putting a layer of lipgloss over the top works wonders.

Since the formula is creamy, smooth and semi-matte it doesn't dry out my lips and although it isn't a moisturising lippy it definitely has staying power. I do wish it would last longer than the couple of hours it does though but that can be hard to find when it comes to natural shades.

Nevertheless, Rimmel's Kate Moss line never fails to dissapoint me and I always find myself coming back for more!! I am now on the hunt for the perfect pinky plum lipstick, wish me luck!

xx

♡OOTD ☆ 1/3/14♡

OOTD ☆ 1/3/14 by billieastrid featuring a purple dress

♡Vegan Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cookies♡

For a long time I've been trying to hunt down the perfect vegan cookie recipe but have failed time after time, instead finding recipes that don't taste like the non vegan versions that I used to eat.

Now, I am super happy to announce that I have found and adjusted the most delicious cookie recipe ever!! this is now my go to cookie recipe. It's chewy and gooey and mmmmmm.

Being the only Vegan in a household means that sometimes my family can be hard to please and convince when it comes to Vegan alternatives but they couldn't tell the difference at all! They certainly didn't last long in my house, I'm lucky I managed to get some pictures!

I put chocolate spread in the middle because I didn't have any chocolate at hand but you can do either or, of course!

I tend to make massive cookies so this made 14 huge ones, or you could make smaller cookies that would then make 28.

You'll need:

• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil, softened
• 1/4 cup unsweetend coconut milk
• 1/4 pure maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter
• Your favourite chocolate spread or chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius and line baking trays with baking paper.

2. In a medium sized bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and salt and once it's all combined, set it aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl beat together the sugar, coconut oil, coconut milk, maple syrup, peanut butter and vanilla. Beat until smooth. This mixture should look quite caramel in colour.

4. Add the flour mixture and mix until all combined. Drop heaped spoonfuls of cookie dough onto the prepared trays and make a small indent in the middle. Fill this with the chocolate spread or chocolate and cover with some more cookie dough.

5. Bake for 9-10 minutes or until just golden brown. Don't worry if they still look a bit delicate as once you place the cookies on a cooling rack and let them cool completely they should harden a bit more.

Obviously you can choose to omit the peanut butter and could include choc chips or any kind of nuts. Feel free to experiment and I hope you enjoy!!

xx

♡Male Privilege and Rape Culture♡

Being a young female nearly every day I witness and am occasionally a 'victim' of male privilege. A lot of male friends I have don't necessarily believe that such a thing exists in this day and age but that is simply because they themselves never are negatively effected by it.

To give you a better understanding of what I am talking about, male privilege is saying "I have a boyfriend" being the only thing that stops a man from hitting on you because they have more respect for another man than respect for your lack of interest and rejection. There have been countless amounts of times when I myself go out and have to come up with stories so that a man would leave me alone, this even happens to men that are really nice but they just have this idea that what they want they can have. This has happened to me on numerous occasions as well - a man has become somewhat interested in me and has made out with me without my consent. They did it in not a malicious way and they weren't meaning to be harmful but because they think that it's a 'romantic' thing to do, or, again, because they think they can just get what they want.

There is also the idea of 'cock blocking' - both my friends and I have experienced being called a 'cock block'. We'll be at a bar, pub or club and one of us gets unwelcomed advances from a guy so another one of us steps in to get rid of him, then having them call us a 'cock block'. In actual fact half the time the friend doing the 'cock blocking' was following orders from the friend that the guy is hitting on. When going out we tend to  have two signals for our friends: "I'm into him" and "Help me outta this!!!". The amount of "get me out of here" tactics that women have among their friends should be enough evidence of the fact that rape culture does exist.

I don't want to make this post the length of an essay but just quickly for those who don't know what rape culture is, it is an environment where rape is prevalent and sexual violence against women is normalised and excused in both media and popular culture. This kind of culture is preserved through the use of misogynistic language, objectifying women's bodies and also glamourising sexual violence - this all creates a society that disregards the safety and rights of women. Most women and girls limit their behaviour because of the existence of rape, even unknowingly. Women do this through not walking down certain streets, holding their keys in their hand as a weapon when they walk alone just in case, locking all of their car doors when they get in their care at a parking lot etc and most of this is done without women realising as it has become just a part of their every day routine. This cycle of fear is the legacy of rape culture.

Some examples of rape culture are blaming the victim, triviliasing sexual assault, sexually explicit jokes, tolerance of sexual harassment, publicly scrutinising a victims dress, mental state, motives and history, assuming only promiscuous women get raped, refusing to take rape accusations seriously, assuming that men don't get raped and teaching women how to avoid getting raped instead of teaching men not to rape.

While all of this sounds negative and dark there are ways that you can combat rape culture! You can avoid using language that objectifies or degrades women, think critically about the media's messages about women, men, relationships and violence, speak out if you hear someone else making an offensive joke or triviliasing rape and by defining your own womanhood or manhood, not letting stereotypes shape your actions! These are just a few way that we can change society for the better.

Lots of love,

xx

♡Tattoo Number 2♡

You may not be aware but in July last year I got my first tattoo done on my back (you can read the post here) and just last week I got another one!

Due to the future career that I hope to get I have to be really careful about the placement of the tattoos I have done because it could mean that the places I want to work for won't employ me if they're too visible.

I originally wanted a crescent tattoo just below my elbow crease but since that is way too visible I decided to get it behind my ear, which I think is pretty cute.

I've always wanted to get a moon tattoo and I am so glad I did. The actual tattooing process was so short for this one, as it was about 15 minutes which is really short! Behind the ear doesn't hurt at ALL. Moments after getting this tattoo I got my tragus pierced which hurt a lot more.

For those who don't know the tattoo process, I will tell you briefly about it. What I got was really simple so my tattooist drew it up on the spot. We just made a few alterations to the size of the original drawing before he drew it on transfer paper. He then transferred the design to behind my ear and I had to tell him whether I liked the placement or to change it, luckily I had my friends there with me so they could help tell me whether it was in a good spot or not!
After that was done I lay down and had to hold a part of my ear down so that he could ink over the transferred design that was already there. Once that was done he bandaged it up which I had to leave on for a minimum of four hours. He also gave me a sheet to remind me about the after care of the tattoo.
It has been a week and a half since then and it's already almost completely healed because of its size!
This photo was taken pretty much straight after getting it done as well, it looks fine minus a few red marks from the tattoo gun.
I have got to say that I am really really happy with it!
If you have any questions about tattoos feel free to ask and I will reply on your comment down below.
Do you think you would ever get a tattoo?

xx