21 Benefits of Avocado

Recently I bought an avocado, which after hearing lots of reviews about it, I used as a face mask! The results were amazing, and so I thought I'd share with all of you the benefits of putting pure avocado onto your face and letting it sit for 20-40 minutes.

Avocados are well known for being one of the words most healthiest foods and are recommended in a babies diet, with loads of health and beauty benefits. In some countries it's also known as a butter fruit or alligator pear! This fruit is full of natural and essential nutrients and this is why it's commonly used for treating health and skincare problems across the world, as well as being consumed as food.

1. Avocados reduce the appearance of lines, wrinkles and dark ageing spots. As well as scars and stretch marks.

2. They treat Brights disease and often psoriasis.

3. Avocados instantly hydrate and brighten the skins complexion, this fruit is often used in moisturizers for it's moisturizing properties.

4. Works amazingly as a sunscreen, this fruit prevents burning in the sun and can also be used as a treatments for burns. Win win both ways!

5. Butter fruits such as the avocado contain antioxidants which help to protect the skin from environmental and sun damage.

6. Medical experts recommend drinking avocado juice to help those who struggle with dull skin.

7. Not only are avocados known for their healing benefits but they are also great for clearing your skin from spots and preventing break outs.

8. It helps keep the water in your skin which helps keeps it glowing.

9. Avocado oils are great for deeply penetrating and nourishing the skin.

10. If you have dry or damaged hair, avocado is great for repairing the split ends, adding shine and keeping the frizzyness under control.

11. Avocado butter also protects the hair from heat and chemicals that may be put in during styling.

12. And it contains omega 3 which is essential for beautiful shiny hair!

13. The fruit is known for stopping hair loss and stimulating hair growth.

14. Avocados are full of vitamins such as vitamin E and B6.

15. It's also great for preventing such cancers and other diseases.

16. Avocado reduces indigestion and lowers blood pressure levels.

17. Butter fruits contain high fiber and carotenoid lutien which protects the eyes from cataracts. Improving eyesight upon consumption.

18. Controls bad breath.

19. Baby food!

20. Avocados aid insomnia, constipation and nervous system problems.

21. Helps weight management.

After using this as a face mask, with no other ingredients included, my face was extremely glowy and soft to touch. It's defiantly something i'll be doing again!

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Instagram: megmegsx
Twitter: sunstarsbeauty

Rimmel Primer

Disclaimer: Rimmel London DO NOT test on animals, yet products from them sent to china are.

This may be the new holy grail of primers... no more than £6.50 a tube and works so so well for the price.
I picked this up today after having to get rid of my other primer (baby skin) because it was tested on animals.
I've just applied it underneath all of my make up that I usually wear, and holy cow it's perfect. I have really dry skin so most of the time my primers and foundation make my skin look flaky, however with this product I didn't even put moisturiser on before hand and it's extremely smooth and glowy like it says and I don't feel like I have anything on my face at all!
The primer itself isn't tinted, it's more of a moisturiser consistency and colour. I feel like I could wear this alone if I didn't feel like applying all of my make up. Great product, great price.

Find me elsewhere:

Instagram ~ megmegsx

Twitter ~ sunstarsbeauty

Golden Egg & Hoppity Poppity

 Hoppity Poppity and Golden Egg are two of my favourites from the Lush Cosmetics Easter range.

This adorable little bunny is only £2.50 yet I would put this on my list of favourite products probably coming in second or fourth! I've heard a lot of different reviews on this product, most of them saying it's rubbish for the price and smells awful. I totally disagree. It's an extremely cheap price for a Lush bath bomb and the smell is made up of violets, lavender and lime. A really refreshing yet relaxing smell. The popping candy helps it fizz away and it's gone within a minute so you have to watch it closely until it's gone, but other than that it turns the water the prettiest pastel purple/pink colour and I just overall really enjoy this bath bomb and would definatley buy it again and again.

This sparkly golden egg is also from the Lush Easter range, which means it's only out for a short amount of time before it's gone for another year. But luckily I picked it up this year and the appearance blew me away, the gold dust will stick to everything and is really hard to rub off... Which I learnt after putting my hand onto my face after holding it... This one takes a lot longer to fizz away compared to the hoppity poppity, roughly 3-5 minutes or more depending on how hot the water is. It smells strongly of sweet toffee/caramel and leaves the water a bright yellow colour with lots of glitter.

Find me elsewhere:

Instagram ~ megmegsx

Twitter ~ sunstarsbeauty

Top 10 Favourite Lush Products

 Here I'm going to be listing my top 10 favourite products from Lush based on the ones I have tried so far.

 1. Christmas Exclusive - So White bath bomb. This was one of the first christmas items I ever picked up and it smells absolutely beautiful. It's outside is plain but the inside is a pale pink. The whole bath bomb smells like subtle fresh apples. This bath bomb is really fresh and uplifting.

 2. Twilight bath bomb, my absolute favourite. This one is all year round and is often described to smell of lavender and blackcurrant. It has lavender oil, tonka and ylang ylang oil all packed in to make it smell beautiful and leaving your skin soft and scented ready for bed.
This bath bomb is best used in the evening as the lavender relaxs you and makes you drowsy.

 3. This one is also a product available all year round and is called Shoot For The Stars.
The smell is very similar to the twilight as it's based around night time bathing. Yet this one is much more colourful and glittery in comparison to the twilight bath bomb. When fizzing this will legit look like the night sky with glitter, dark blue and yellow swirls.

 4. Big Blue bath bomb, a product available all year and is full of seaweed and fine sea salts from the deepest oceans in the world. This has a citrus smells with a hint of lavender and turns the bath water into what looks like the ocean, quite literally.

 5. Melting Snow Man bath melt. Bath melts are neither a bath bomb or a bubble bar but more of a lump full of essential oils and ingredients to soften your skin. I've only had this one once and it's unfortunately a Christmas exclusive, but it smells amazing, like gingerbread men and Christmas all in one.

 6. The new valentines exclusive Unicorn Horn. The most popular bubble bar at the moment that creates mountains of colourful sparkly bubbles. I can't quite describe the smell of this one but it definatley has something relaxing like lavender maybe. But the whole outside is covered in lustre dust and real candy stars - I don't recommend eating them though.

 7. Brightside bubble bar. Crumble this under running water for heaps of bubbles in the bath tub! This one is by far the best smell in Lush personally. It smells of freshly juiced oranges and even the smallest amount in the bath makes the whole house smell fruity.

 8. Bubblegum Lip Scrub. These small pots may only be 25g but they last ages (if you don't eat it all as soon as you get it), it's 100% edible ingredients and used to scrub the dead skin off your lips and leave them smooth and polished. Plus is tastes amazing.

 9. Snow Fairy Shower Gel, is a Christmas exclusive yet is the most popular smell along with Karma. This is my favourite shower gel EVER and I use it every time I take a bath, I'm really dreading running out of it. It's full of sparkles which sometimes stay on your skin afterwards and smells like candyfloss.

10. I'm not fond of many perfumes from Lush however this one is great. It reminds me of what full on hippies would smell like! It quite a heady smell with notes of orange and lemon so defiantly smell it before buying.

Find me elsewhere

Instagram ~ megmegsx

Twitter ~ sunstarsbeauty

Hair Growth Tips

Ever wanted to know how to make you hair grow faster than normal? Or maybe you're stuck in the growing out stage of your hair like me.

I've gathered some tips to help kick start your hair growth.

1. Don't ever brush your hair when it's wet, it'll just rip it out.

2. Give it regular trims, mostly on the tips of your hair and split ends. When people say this helps hair growth and you reply that hair grows from your roots. You're correct but when you hair grows and you have split ends, it'll just split straight off.

3. Hair masks keep your hair in good condition and will also make your hair look shinier and healthier. You can find different hair mask recipes online.

4. Eat lots of protein foods such as eggs, red meat, nuts, fish and seeds.

5. Massage or brush your hair gently everyday for 1-2 minutes simulating the scalp and the movement of blood which is essential for the follicles of your hair.

6. Never apply conditioner to the roots of your hair, it will make it greasy quicker and stop the skin on your head from breathing and clogs the pores and follicles.

7. Try using silk pillow cases instead of cotton and don't wear your hair in a tight pony tail while sleeping, this will pull out hairs and cause pain in your scalp.

8. I've not tried this one, but apparently rinsing your hair with apple cider viniger works too.

9. Take vitamins and supplements. You can buy ones specifically for your hair but to me, these don't work and are a complete waste of time and money.

10. Foods that help hair growth -
Avacado
Eggs
Oysters
Salmon
Blueberries
Kiwis
Limes
Strawberries
Lemons
Oranges
Sweet Potatoes
Lean red meat
Spinich
Kale
Cashews
Walnuts
Almonds
Duck
Chicken


Find me elsewhere

Instagram ~ megmegsx

Twitter ~ sunstarsbeauty

Blogging Tips

I have recently seen a lot of people on instagram who want to be ''bloggers'' but don't know how and their pages are pretty awfully set up with no tabs etc. So here I'm going to be giving you tips on how to run your own blog and be successful at it.

1. Firstly you need to make the blog. You can use whichever website you like, blogspot/blogger and wordpress are the most common websites and the easiest to use. However you can use other ones such as Weebly or Wix.

2. Once you've made your blog you need to research tips and youtube videos on how to improve your blog. I did this for the layout and appearance of my blog to make it more presentable.

3. Use light colours for pictures and backgrounds etc. Black is often associated with hacking website.

4. When writing your first blog post you can either write about yourself and why you've set up the blog or go straight into what you're blogging about.

5. Write about positive things. This makes all the difference, writing about things that are negative or depressing won't make people want to come back.

Now you might want to know how to get lots of followers and views?

1. Make sure you have some kind of other social media website such as instagram, start following other bloggers and people that have the same interests as you. Mention your blog frequently and offer to check theirs out too.

2. On instagram put lots of different hashtags on your photos especially if they're screenshots of your blog, this way more people who look at these hashtags will come across your photo.

3. You CAN download apps if you're really desperate for likes or followers such as ''get followers'' where you like or follow other people and they return it instantly, just look on the app store.

4. Share your blog with friends and family! You can add the share button onto your blog so people who view it can share it with other people too.

5. Post something daily, don't over do it and write loads every day. People will get bored of scrolling through the pages to find recent posts and you won't get many views.

6. Make sure you write in your fluent language and add the translate feature to your blog so people from every culture can read and understand your blog, this will boost your followers and views significantly!

7. Get ideas for blog posts from your audience! Ask them what they want.

8. Understand your audience, what they want to see and what they don't want to see.

9. At first write things for yourself, don't think about the fact other people are seeing it (if they are) just write what comes to mind and be open.

10. Finish all blog posts with contact details, people can be blind to contact details on the side of your blog!

11. Host legit giveaways. This literally draws in loads of people.

12. You must be consistent and push for what you're trying to achieve. Promote your blog everyday.

13. Show your knowledge! Don't be afraid to express the things you know and your intellect.

14. And lastly, give it time. Blog views and comments won't appear from no where, you have to work for it, promote it and let people know it exists. ''Good things come to those who wait''.

Find me elsewhere :

Instagram ~ megmegsx
Twitter ~ too_sugoi

Thank You

This is just a quick thank you to everyone who has looked at my blog, people who are reading this now and people who have followed me on here or my you tube.

Doing this and being successful at it is a huge huge thing for me and it's making me feel more confident to do what I love and what I've always wanted to do.

I hope you will all continue to support me and an even bigger thank you to everyone who has been there right from the beginning of all this it means so much to me to be noticed by people for doing something I enjoy.

Keep your eyes peeled for more awesome things to come in the future!

YouTube

I finally did it! I uploaded a video to YouTube.
It took a while but now I feel like I may start making videos more often and maybe even daily if I really get into it but it all depends.

At first I couldn't get a introduction video that I actually enjoyed watching myself so after what felt like 50 billion tries, I decided the easiest way to start off was to do a tag video. So my first video is in fact the TMI tag video, meaning too much information. I answer questions that some of you don't even know so you should definatly go and check it out to find out more about me.

Find the video at youtube.com/user/meganrosehopkins

Peace out ~

The best BB cream EVER

Missha BB Cream is the one for any fair skinned person, or even normal to dark skin tones.
I got this after years of trying typical UK drug store foundations and bb creams, I always turned out orange or a darker colour than my own. No product could do what I was expecting from a foundation until I was watching a beauty video one day and the lady recommended this Korean product to fair skinned people.

Of course her skin looked great so I looked into it more and found the official website where I could buy this. but it was a little out of my budget for something I've never seen or heard of until now. So I went straight over to Ebay and found one, brand new and over half the price. Bargain! I ended up paying only around £10 for this, including postage.

It came ever so quickly and was packaged in bubble wrap, I got mine in the lightest shade they have which is No. 13.

The results are amazing compare to anything I've ever tried before, It doesn't dry your skin up, it doesn't make your skin yellow or orange, it isn't oily and it lasts for a really long time as the pump action nozzle makes it easier to get the exact amount you need, which is hardly anything as it glides across your skin easily.

I really recommended this product for everyone, and I'd love to know how it works for people with darker skin tones so please let me know if you buy and use this!

Cruelty Free Beauty

Cruelty free products are a sensitive subject for some people and over 90% of women and young girls are against testing on animals yet don't have the right research or money to switch their products.
Over 100 million animals are burned, poisoned, crippled and abused in labs every year. We don't hear enough about this subject, and some people quite frankly don't care because it isn't ''cute animals'' such as kittens or puppies but instead reptiles, mice and birds but what you may not know is that this is incorrect. Kittens, puppies, chimps, rabbits, guinea pigs and rats are also used for testing.

 It is mandatory to test every product that's imported from China, on animals. However the EU have banned the sales of new products tested on animals which come from countries such as China.

Why don't they test on prisoners you may ask? The law says that alternatives to animals are not required even if they are available or willing.

A single make up product or pesticide is required to be tested 50 times on over 12,000 animals. As for cosmetics, the animals are subjected to skin and eye irritation tests in which their fur will be shaved and products put into their eyes and onto their skin without pain relief. Animals are given this product every day for 2 years until they know it is completely ''safe'' to sell.

Some of these statistics only apply to countries outside the UK, however I did stumble upon research about the testing of animals in the United Kingdom for example.

Every product must be tested on two animals, one of which cannot be a rodent and must be an animal such as a tiger or lion.

Basic UK Facts:

• 2.73 million experiments took place in the year of 2002
• 80% are for research and drug development

From these facts we can see that the UK is much more stricter on animal testing, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen, and in the United Kingdom only 0.3% are cats and dogs, 84% rodents, 12% fish and reptiles, 2.1% large animals, 1.4% small animals and 0% chimps and monkeys.

But changing your products it isn't as hard as it sounds, here I'm going to list companies which DO and DO NOT test on animals. Please don't assume if your products are without doing research about the companies. I've decided to just write down the most popular brands so you know which products you own that are being tested on innocent animals every day.

DO test on animals:                                                                              DO not test on animals:

~ Opi Nail Polish                                                                                Arbonne
~ Essie Nail Polish                                                                             Avon
~ Bath & Body Works                                                                       Barry M
~ Chanel                                                                                             Beauty without Cruelty
~ Sephora                                                                                           The Body Shop
~ Proctor and Gamble                                                                        Bourjois
~ Anna Sui                                                                                         Burts Bees
~ Mac Cosmetics                                                                               Clarins
~ Cover Girl                                                                                       Nivea
~ Max Factor                                                                                      Collection 2000
~ Dove                                                                                                Urban Decay
~ Vaseline                                                                                           NARS
~ Michael Kors                                                                                   Tarte
~ TRESemme                                                                                      Rimmel London
~ Neutrogena                                                                                       Too Faced
~ Sally's Beauty Supplies                                                                    Eco Tools
~ Benefit                                                                                              Essence
                                                                                                             Barbra Daly
                                                                                                             No7
                                                                                                         
Surprised? So was I.
It's hard parting with some of your favourite make up products but on the other hand you can buy something similar or even better from a company that doesn't test on animals and you will have the gratitude of knowing that you've bought from a decent company.

Unfortunately I've had to part with my Baby Lips, Baby Skin and Benefit Bad Gal Lash which is my ultimate favourite mascara EVER and I'm really disappointed in them for choosing to do this and I hope one day they'll change their ways.

If you're thinking of changing your products but you're worried about the costs, worry no more. Sort all your makeup into two piles, one that's tested on animals and the other that isn't. You can then put everything back that is and everything that isn't into a separate make up bag or container.
Use up all these products so you haven't wasted you're money, or throw them out if you're not bothered and from then on only buy from the companies listed above or ones from your own research.

Why should animals suffer for us to wear make up when we can wear make up products, just as good from other companies?
Here is some links to companies you can buy from and websites with advice.

http://www.gocrueltyfree.org/shopper
http://peta.org
http://www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/
http://www.arbonne.com/international.asp

Favourite Lipstick

This is my most favourite lipstick to date. The shade Oh So Matt! from the brand Essence.

The brand isn't expensive at all and I paid no more than £4 for this lipstick, my first matt lipstick (not from this brand) was more of a coral colour and had a shine, so I was sceptical about buying another matt lipstick again.
Yet when I was searching for a new lip colour I decided to look at this brand and found this colour. I swatched it on the back of my hand and it was perfect!

I find this colour almost perfectly matches my skin tone and makes it look as though I'm not wearing any at all. I pair it with a matt no7 lip liner for extra precision and to make the outlining neater.
This is definitely a product I would continue to buy and so much cheaper than buying from expensive brands such as Mac and it does just the same job.

Bubblegum Lip Scrub

 Today I'm reviewing the Bubblegum Lip Scrub from Lush Cosmetics.

Me and my mum picked this up to share between us a while back because £5 odd for a tiny pot seemed a little steep. She ended up liking the Mint Julips more, so I would use this everyday and the results were astonishing, so much so that I went out and bought my own for my handbag and bed side.

This bright pink scrub is made up of purely edible ingredients such as castor sugar, a tiny bit of essential oils and some flavouring and colouring! How do you use this may you be asking?

You simply use your finger tip to get a small pea size amount from the pot, and just scrub your entire lips (or rub them together) with this for 30 seconds before licking it off or washing it off with a splash of water. Which means you can just take this into the shower or bath with you and do it in there so you can wash it off when you're done.

It smells amazing, feels amazing and lasts for a really long time for a small pot. 100% worth the money and you'll have soft, non chapped lips all day everyday!

Dragons Egg

Dragons Egg Bath Bomb from Lush Cosmetics.

This bath bomb is amazing and has 5 star reviews, it smells exactly like candy (kind of like refreshers) but from the outside it doesn't look too great. It's not extremely colourful like some of the Lush bath bombs so you don't expect much from it.
Yet when you put this into hot bath water you will be more than surprised by the way it turns out.

After about 30 seconds of white cloud like froth, gold bursts out from inside the egg, full of shiny gold lustre dust. This not only smells amazing but gives the same effect as the sunny side bubblebar by itself, which I think everyone adores!

This bath bomb is full of lemon and bergamot oils to give it a fresh and citrus like smell, and to make it better the Lush kitchen decided to add some popping candy for your enjoyment.

This is 100% worth the money and a 9/10 from me.

Love Locket

The Love Locket bath bomb! I've used this product twice and it can be used for 3 baths! So I definitely think it's worth the money if you think about how much you'd be paying for 3 bath bombs on their own when instead you could pick up this gorgeous seasonal bath bomb for the same price which smells strongly of jasmine.

Upon breaking the Love Locket in half you will find another bath bomb inside, this is about 3 inches in length and is full of tiny heart confetti.
You can either chuck in the whole thing for a pretty pink bath full of sparkles and little hearts or use each half of the locket and then the smaller one, it's completely up to you which makes it more fun!

This bath bomb fizzes as soon as it hits the surface of the water and creates bundles of pink froth, letting off subtle yellow tones, red hearts and silver glitter. Mix this bath bomb with the heart throb or sunny side bubble bar for the ultimate princess bath time which will leave your skin silky smooth and smelling like angels.

Bunny Cake

Gorgeous new candle, such a pretty design and colour and smells like heaven!

Baby Skin

Today I'm reviewing Baby Skin Instant Pore Eraser by Maybelline. This sells for around £7-8 in most beauty stores.
I've had this product for about a year now and it still hasn't ran out. I use this every time I wear make up, under my foundation. I apply this where my pores are most visible, for most people this will be the nose and cheek area.
This comes out as a thick solution made up of silicon to fill in the pores and glide over imperfections to create a matte and flawless finish to any make up look.
This product feels greasy to put onto your skin but does not leave a shine at all! It feels very moisturising and long lasting.
Every time I wear this primer, my foundation stays on all day and doesn't crease up or crack.
Overall I would give this product a 9/10 and a definite buy again!