This Christmas I scored on the makeup front. My siblings and parents just know me too well. I'm probably the easiest person to buy for because you can just get me makeup and i'll be happy as larry.

Why ramble when I can just show you what I got?

 *struggles to breathe*
guys, just.....look...it's sooo pretty. My sister and brothers went in together to get me this. It was a total surprise but I was speechless when I got it. As you can see it includes an eyeliner, lipstick, mascara, eyeshadow palette, 2 blushers, a highlighter, and 2 bronzers. It's a whole look in a box minus foundation, concealer and bows. I've used this a few times now and the quality of the products are amazing and last sooo well. The other day my sister asked if I had just applied it but I already had my makeup on for over 3 hours. Amazinggg.

I just find these products fun! They are green but when you apply them they change colour. It makes me feel like a 12 year old with a mood ring haha. The blush is a beautiful colour - it's very rosy.
My sister got me this brush as she knows I was a ton of YouTube and this is the brush so many of them use. I've used it a few times and it's fantastic!

This Nars lipstick is a dream McDream. The packaging looks very expensive and the actual lipstick shade is gorgeous...it would be a flattering colour on everyone. I can definitely tell it will become a go-to.

My sister and brothers got me the studio-to-go lips cause they thought it would be fun, it includes a rd lipstick and a product which makes any lipstick matte. I can't wait to try out the matte product on different lipsticks..will be fun.

The SK-II was given by my mum. I just love SK-II, it's a lil pricey but my skin responds so well to their products.

Helloooo my friends!

I'll come right out and say it: I have sucked at blogging in December. I mean, on the bright-side..hopefully due to bloggers ramping up their content during December (blogmas) hopefully my absence went unnoticed? In fact, i'm sure no one actually noticed at all so I think i'm off the hook.

The last few weeks have been crazy busy. This month I put all my energy into my job and tried to devote a lot of time to going the extra mile. I'm first year out of university and this year was lucky enough to score a grad position as an operating theatre nurse. It's been challenging in many ways but I feel like I have learnt so much. Basically it's been awesome! So that's why this last month I have quite M.I.A.

Last weekend I volunteered for my churches Christmas Production to do makeup on the singers. I was quite nervous at first..suuure I absolutely love makeup and applying it on myself - but could I actually do a good job on other people? It was quite funny because anytime I would do someones makeup i'd quickly do the disclaimer saying I wasn't a makeup artist (to prepare them it may not be a 10/10 job). Well I ended up getting a lot of great feedback! So many people said I did an awesome job, some were even surprised that I wasn't a makeup artist. I feel like all of my years being a loser staying up until 2am watching YouTube makeup tutorials have paid off haha. Due to getting such nice feedback and really enjoying doing makeup on people I have decided I would like to find a makeup course. Perhaps it could be something I do on the side? Operating theatre nurse by day, makeup artist by night. Who knows! I'm excited at this possibility though.

And lastly - CHRISTMAS IS SO SOON. I AM SO EXCITED. Due to working lots I feel like I haven't been able to get into the full festive mood but last night I had my two best mates over and we gave presents to each other, made mulled wine, and played a drinking game to Home Alone. It was so fun.

A year ago I would have laughed at myself for thinking i'd ever be in the position to give self tanning tips and tricks BUT HERE I AM. In recent months I have become a big fake tanner. Being completely honest: I do it every week now. I just love the way it looks and because I do it so often it's become quite a fuss-free process. These days I feel so much more confident wearing shorts and shorter skits because my legs actually look okay rather than looking like milk bottles.

WILL ADD: This post is not sponsored at all. Yes, I use pretty much alll Le Tan but that's because i've tried a few things out and I find their products have been most consistent and work best. :)

If I have pre-existing fake tan on: The Bondi Sands self tan eraser is the easiest way to remove tan. I used to try and get rid of my existing tan but madly scrubbing myself but I found there would always be areas that just wouldn't fade. So I purchased this and it's fabulousss. I just put a few pumps onto each area and wait about 10 minutes before hopping into the shower to scrub it off with an exfoliating mitt. I always have to have a bottle of this around now as nothing removes my fake tan as good as this does.

If I don't have pre-existing fake tan on: Of course i'll skip the self tan eraser and just go for a good ole' exfoliating mitt. I moisturise after the shower only if I will be applying fake tan later that day/the next day. I once moisturised right before applying fake tan and it just didn't apply well, so i'd avoid that.

I use the Self Tanning Foam (coconut water) by Le Tan. What I really like about this product is that it's green based so my tan never ever goes orange. I like this product as I find it lasts about a week and fades nicely. You leave it for 1 hour for a light tan, 2 hours for a medium tan, and 3+ hours for a deep tan. Also it doesn't smell like fake tan!

I apply this is the evening before bed using the Le Tan application mitt. It doesn't matter what brand it is but make sure you have a tanning mitt, they're essential. They keep your tan from applying patchy and you don't get fake tan all over your hands. I put about 2 pumps onto each section on my body, sometimes I put a little extra on my legs.

I then let the tan dry for a few minutes before hopping into bed and sleeping in my tan overnight. This used to freak me out as I thought "oh my goodness 8 hours of having a tan on!! It'll go so dark!" but it actually doesn't go that dark. It seems a tan only will get to a certain point where it can't develop any further. I wake up, rinse off my tan, and then get on with the day. And voila - i'm not a ghost anymore.

Tips + Tricks:

• If new to self tanning I recommend starting out slow and working your way up to leaving the tan on for longer. Perhaps starting out with only leaving it on for an hour is a good way to asses how much darker you want to go
• To not stain your sheets this is something genius I came up with: sleep in a duvet cover! I sound absolutely crazy but a duvet cover is great to sleep in as you're not touching any of your actual sheets so you won't stain them brown. It makes life so much easier trust me. 
• Gently go over any bony premises (like elbow, knees, hands, feet) as fake tan loves to make them look a lot darker than anywhere else. Usually with the mitt i'll buff out an area and then what little bit is left over on the mitt i'll go over those areas. 
• Don't do your face with it. It's too risky and it's harder to cover up if anything goes wrong. Instead if you want your face to be darker invest in some self tanning drops specifically for your face. I've used a le tan one and it was great.

1. Know your limits. If you've had a lot of socialization and it's beginning to drain you then be intentional about your plans. Don't keep saying yes to everything if you know that you won't enjoy it and will drain you further. 
2. If you're a busy person then get your alone time when you can. One thing i've started doing recently is having my lunch breaks on my own reading a book. I used to just go find a seat with a work colleague and chat about general things but now I enjoy it SO much more just sitting on my own reading. 
3. Plan your "ME" time. This tip sounds lame but I actually think it's so important. It's easy to get caught up in constantly doing things but make sure you fit in time on your own to recharge. What I like to do is either read, have a bath, watch Netflix, watch YouTube videos, do face masks, or do some baking. 
4. Don't book up too many social things in a week. I'm guilty of this, sometimes at the start of the week i'll end up making plans every day with different friends and by the end of the week i'm so tired and grow bitter at having too much on. So to combat this I just plan only a few things, giving myself plenty of time to myself but still socializing. 
5. BUY MORE BOOKS! Well, this point is more for me because i've gotten obsessed with reading. Books are the best way to unwind though. No technology but just yourself getting lost in another world. Reading is the best.

Flashback to 2013 and I was an 18 year old girl with a raging social life. I used to have plenty of friends, more than I could count on my fingers. I went from being quite a low-key girl in school with not a large friendship group to becoming a lot more confident and having slightly improved social skills (I used to be very awkward, still am a bit haha).

I remember being 18 and having plans almost every night of the week. I used to have a night each week appropriately titled "board game night" where I would get together with close mates to play games or watch movies. Sunday night was church (a cool one with lots of young people) and after the service we'd all go get coffees and hang out. Other nights of the week i'd find friends to hang out with. When I started uni my social calendar got even fuller adding uni friends into the mix.

Flash forward to 2017 and being now 22 years old my social life has completely changed. I went from being such a socialite to being someone who spends most nights in and with less friends.

You know what though..I actually like it better this way. Sure, I had a great few years always being busy and having lots of friends but I much prefer having more close friends. The 20's are where people start to really go in different directions. Sometimes it sucks when you aren't as close to some friends but it's important to learn that some friendships are just for a season and it's only natural for us all to do different things.

In your early 20's it'll become more "quality over quantity". You'll find it's better to have less friends than to have lots of friends. You'll find people you genuinely connect with and bring out the best of you.

Hello! I’m currently writing this update in the car on the way to dropping my parents off at the airport (..well Dad’s currently driving and I’ll drive the way back, don’t worry I’m not being naughty and using my phone). The last few days have gotten really quite busy. After the work week I was excited to sit down and pump out a few new blog posts but I’ve ended up becoming so busy 👀. I’ve gone on adventures with my dad while he’s had time off work, I’ve shopped for my one of my best friends birthday presents, run other errands, and just generally haven’t had solid time to sit down and put a decent effort into coming up and writing posts.

So today (or should I say tonight as I type this in the late hours of the night) to continue with my Blogtober and not be a quitter I’m just going to do a basic little life update.

Last night I went and saw a great band called “The Kite String Tangle”. I raved all about them in my “music I can’t stop listening to post”. They were amazing! Full of energy and had many songs that would it hard for the stiffest of people not to bust out and boogie. I came home, got my makeup off, grabbed my little Cavoodle Harvey, and slept in. I must add, at 6am when Harvey woke me up all excited to get up for the day I dumped him in my brothers room cause I NEEDED a sleep in. I’m a bad sister. Today I just ran must needed errands and got ready for one of my best friends birthday parties. Her party was great - her family is Lebanese so the food was absolutely delicious. I definitely went back for seconds and thirds.

Next weekend I’m going away for the weekend with two of my best mates and we’re going to stay in a nice little Airbnb. Will take lots of photos!

Will try and stick to my Blogtober dammit, even though I have full time work this week. It has been so fun and challenging for myself, and I feel I’ve created content which hasn’t lacked in substance to what I usually would post on my usual posting schedule (which really is once a week, or whenever I go “oh crap I havent posted in ages”).

With a catch phrase of "Shop now. Take now. Buy in 4." it's no wonder Afterpay has become a raging success among online retailers.

I think it teaches people unhealthy habits with their money. It makes the price of a product look more appealing by dividing it by 4, telling you that you can have it for a cheaper price straight away instead of having to pay a full amount. It doesn't change anything though - you still will pay the same price if you pay for it up front rather than do it in 4 payments.

My motto is "if you don't have the money for it then don't buy it". I've always done this in my life. At times when money was tight I didn't bother excessively buying things like makeup or clothes because I knew it would be wiser to save it or spend it on essentials like food and petrol. In those times it would have been so easy to buy into the Afterpay craze and purchase a range of things online, but it wouldn't be wise. It's not good to get into the habit of repaying things. I only ever want to be in debt when i've purchased a house or something that's a proper investment.

I think it targets vulnerable consumers who haven't got sound budgeting skills and who have developed a "I just want it now" mentality. I think it is a dangerous way of people to get in the habit of buying things.

If somethings that's good - then save up for it and buy it when you have the money.

Okay now we have that uber silly and cringe song away I want to celebrate the fact that i've stuck to blogging for 3 years! It has gone by so quick, i'm amazed. It's so fun going back to old posts seeing the products I used to write about and the life updates I did. It feels really cool knowing i've had this blog to document a lot of the big milestones in my life - traveling, university, finishing placement, getting my dog Harvey, graduating, getting my first job etc. Shout out to my ride of dies who have been here reading since the start (you know who you are!) and also to the new readers who have joined in. It's been so fun interacting with all of you, it means a lot.

The highlights...

• Getting to have a creative outlet which is all my own! It's so cool having my own website where i'm the designer, creator, writer, and editor. 
• Getting better with my photography skills - I used to be pretty terrible but these days i'm actually getting a lot of shots I like. I even bought my Canon G7X camera which is my best friend.
• Interacting with other bloggers - there are so many lovely people I have met along the way, all from different countries. It's awesome coming together with people who share common interests. 
• Getting better at makeup! Having my own blog which features A LOT of beauty products has meants my makeup skillz have leveled up. Still not amazing, but a whole lot better than I was.
• Blogger events - i've actually only been to two but the last one was amazing. It was great fun and I got to make quite a few blogger friends :')

Hello everyone! Continuing on with Blogtober (blogging every day of October) i'm doing the Wanderlust Travel Tag. I thought it was quite a fun one with some interesting questions. :)

1. Where have you traveled to that you would love to travel again?
Europe. I've actually been three times, and even still there is so much more of it I would love to see. I just love how it's so easy to travel around and each different country has a completely unique culture.


2. You're leaving tomorrow, money is no object where are you going?
CANADA. I reallyyyy want to go to Canada, i've been obsessed with it lately. I follow a lot of Canadian photographers on Instagram and it just looks stunning. If I went i'd love to travel around the whole place, perhaps rent a car.

3. Preferred method of travel; planes, trains, or cars?
Trains! There's just something I love about trains, there's much more ease with them opposed to planes. Unfortunately living in Australia and being so far away I have no choice but to go places on planes (eek) but I like taking trains when I can because you get to the see the countryside. Plus I just hate airports haha, they're always so stressful.

4. Favourite travel website?
Does AirBnB count? I just love going on there and looking at places to stay, even if I don't any travel planned haha.

5. Where would you travel to just eat the food?
It's gotta be Italy. The land of pizza, spaghetti, arancini balls..it's carb loaded but so delicious.

6. Is there a place you would never go again?
Probably..Hong Kong? I didn't mind it but I didn't love it.

7. Can you recite your passport number from memory if asked?
Definitely not, I can't even remember the first number! Or does it start with a letter? Gosh, I have no clue.

8. Do you prefer the window, aisle, or middle seat?
Who would willingly choose the middle seat?! I prefer the window, always. You get to look out and watch what goes by, see the twinkling city lights as you land, and you have your own little space. The only downside is having to awkwardly ask people to get up when you need to go to the bathroom but I feel that's an okay trade off to have your own space.

9. Favourite travel memory?
There's SO MANY I could choose from. Still to this day I think what stands out most is my first time going to England. We caught the dreaded 24hour flight to London airport, caught a taxi to the house we houseswapped with (you can read about the experience here) and it was the most beautiful cottage covered in so much snow. I had never seen that much snow before. It was just a wonderful moment realizing we were going to spend the next 3 months living there.


10. What is your most ideal holiday?

Somewhere cold to escape to when it's the middle of Australian summer. It gets soo hot here and i'm not a summer person. Probably going somewhere I can see the snow and go snowboarding.

"Discussion is an exchange of knowledge, argument is an exchange of ignorance". - Robert Quillen

We live in a generation where more and more people have access to wide platforms for voicing their opinions. In prior decades, and without the comfort of the internet, people would resort to soap boxes and writing to newspapers to air out their thoughts on topics. These days there is an abundance of opportunities to get your thoughts out there - like Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. They're an easy way to reach a large amount of people which are also in a sense a safer way to voice opinions as you suffer less repercussions than if you were to stand in the street yelling out your views.

Due to the ease of expressing opinions online I believe people have become more intolerant of listening to other people.

Just the other week I was blocked by someone on Twitter. I kind of want to laugh at that statement as it's something I never thought would happen as I don't engage in speaking rudely or negatively to people online. This blogger tweeted saying how she thinks people are total snobs when they refer to their job as a proper or adult job. I replied to this jokingly saying how it made me feel bad as I occasionally refer to my job as an adult job only because I studied hard through university and my current work feels different to my uni jobs. This was met with a string of quite rude comments calling me a snob. I was a little taken back because, as I said, I never engage in being uncivil/mean to anyone online and was surprised someone would be unkind back? I tried to explain as nicely as I could how I never intend for it to be a demeaning statement and I think what everyone does in life is important as we all make the world go round. Gosh, I even added in a smiley face to sound friendly in case my original statement could be interpreted the slightest bit mean haha. Without much discussion or anything I was blocked. It just made me more disappointed than anything that we weren't able to enter into a civil discussion so I could hear why she felt that way and then also reiterate how my intentions were not to be snobby in the slightest. Well, I guess that's the internet for you.

In my opinion: discussion is power. We should never get stagnant listening to other points of views and hearing why people believe what they believe. I think it's important to hear what people have to say. In the past i've held certain views on topics only to have them completely changed when having a conversation with someone. One of my best friends (shout out to you Cherri!) comes from a different background to me and holds quite a lot of different views on topics to myself. I absolutely love chatting to her as we both have such civil conversations discussing soo many things. I love trying to understand her point of views and rationale, similarly she also likes trying to understand my views. Discussing doesn't mean you always have to agree with each other but it just means you're trying to absorb more knowledge and gain an understanding.

Unfortunately, the media is a very one sided thing and if you happen to have an opposing view to the alleged popular opinion of the day you face ridicule and an onslaught of horrible comments. This is probably why I never post my opinions online, because I know for talking about certain topics I could face a lot of backlash from people who don't have any intention of understanding where i'm coming from. It just shouldn't be that way. The best way for our society to grow is being able to have open conversation with one another which is free from judgement and argument.

I do think social media is good in many ways for acting as a forum for discussions but it's so important for us all to treat each other as HUMANS. It's the simple things like being respectful, not judging people, not throwing out hateful words, asking why someone feels a certain way.

In my life I think I strike a great balance of: working, catching up with friends, exercise (okay I only go for a few walks a week but that still counts right?) and being at home. As i'm naturally more introverted I cherish being a homebody and chilling around my house when I can. Sometimes i'll be productive and do some work and blog, but sometimes I just want to relax and find a new series to get into.

These are the shows I have binged over the last few months, all of which I have recommended to anyone and everyone in real life. You know a series is good when you find yourself bringing it up in conversation just so you can get someone else into it.

Everyone has their "thing". Some it may be baking, reading a lot of books, photography, sports..mine happens to be music. Music is just my absolute passion and I love nothing more than discovering new bands and going to various concerts. I'm always making playlists for myself and friends, burning CD's for my car (yes i'm still a little oldschool, I love my mix CD's!), looking up what bands are touring soon, and trying to find new music.

This year there have been some absolutely fantastic albums released. The ones I were mainly excited for was Lana Del Rey, Asgeir, and Foster The People due to them being my favourite artists. I was also lucky enough to discover new artists with some were recommendations and some being just found at random. These ones mentioned in this post are the standouts, the ones I keep going back to and the ones I can't stop telling people about.

PARCELS - HIDEOUT EP

Now this isn't really going to be a proper life update but just a post to announce.....i'm going to be doing Blogtober! If you don't know Blogtober is basically where you post everyday for the month of October. I'm quite excited for this challenge and have a notebook full of ideas for various posts. I did my first post of the month yesterday (my Colourpop haul) and this is my second.

Today has been the cosiest day in a longgg time. Where I live (Queensland, Australia) has not had rain in ages to the point we're currently in a drought. Today I awoke to find the sky gloomy, the air cool, and the trees being embellished with many raindrops. It's currently 5pm and I haven't left the house all day. Suuure I probably should have gone to the shops to buy some food to do meal prep for my work lunches this week but I couldn't bring myself to get out of my comfy gear and become presentable. Not today, not today. So instead I have had many cups of earl grey tea, written up some blog posts to get ahead of the blogtober game, had a friend come over briefly for tea, and watched the latest season of Doctor Foster with my brother. *sighs* Isn't this the life? Unfortunately I have work tomorrow and as much as I love my job I also love rainy days so it's going to be a major struggle to get out of bed. Wish me luck.

Colourpop is quickly becoming one of my favourite makeup brands ever. It's super affordable and pretty much every product i've used by theirs I have LOVED (minus the ultra matte lips which are more drying than the sahara desert).

I did an order with my sister and my parcel finally arrived a few days ago. Honestly, nothing makes me become crazy like ordering stuff online. I check the tracking every five seconds!!

Would absolutely recommend Colourpop to anyone and everyone. When you purchase over $50 you get free shipping, and it's easy to get to the $50 as there's so much to buy.

Now aint this the most perfect palette if you've seen one?! It was only $16 too! I absolutely love the shade range in this, completely wearable featuring some gorgeous shimmer shades. My favourite shade of the bunch is the one on the bottom left, it's sooo pretty. As you can tell from the swatches above this palette is very pigmented. I don't even need to apply fix+ on the shimmer shades as they are so strong already without it. Can see myself using this non-stop.

Colourpop palettes usually sell out super quick but I just checked online and this is still in stock - so if you like the look of it then I think go for it cause you'll get a lot of use from it. Link here.

Aquarius was a wildly popular lippie stix from the Kathleen Lights collection that they asked her to come back and create it in all their lipstick formulations. As I was a huge fan of the Aquarius lippie stix I knew it would be worth buying the other formulations. The ultra satin lip is one of my favourite formulations of lipstick EVER as it's highly pigmented, non-drying, and lasts allll day. Only $6 too.

This is easily going to become something i'll go through tubes of because this shade is my perfect nude. It kinda reminds me of the Koko K lipkit by Kylie. Except this formula is waay nicer and not as drying.

Guys i've got the guilts. I haven't done a blog post in 12 days and...I feel baddd. in my defense the last few weeks have been super busy with work and going away for the weekend so there really hasn't been time to rustle anything together. Also I always like to post stuff that i'd want to read myself!

Last week my mum and I went for the weekend away in Melbourne for no particular reason, just to have a nice getaway. The past few months have been quite full on at work with so many learning curves so I was really needing a nice trip away to reset and treat myself. It was full of lots of shopping, drinking lots of wine and coffee, eating lots of cheese, and exploring around the city. My highlight would be either going to a Wallace & Grommet exhibition or seeing The Book of Mormon.

The Wallace & Grommet exhibition was sooo amazing. We weren't aware it was even on but saw a sign in the city promoting it so we had to go. I don't know about you guys but Wallace & Grommet was my childhood!! I think I have seen each episode hundreds of times. I felt like a little kid running around the exhibition excitedly. My favourite part was at the end where you got the chance to make your own plasticine characters to then make a little short animation - similar to what they do. Would definitely recommend you checking this out if you go to Melbourne, it's only $24 and worth it if you were a huge fan (like me!).
The Book of Mormon was hilarious. The easiest way to describe the humour is that it's South Park kinda humour. Very politically incorrect and offensive at times, but generally funny. I wouldn't recommend this to the faint hearted, if you don't like South Park or shows like The Inbetweeners then I don't think is gonna be your kinda thing. Absolutely loved it though.
A random cute coffee shop we discovered in Fitzroy after destroying two delicious croissants from Lune.
Also I went back to my favourite spot which is a cafe called Higher Ground (photo above with the huuuge pancake). It's the prettiest place with high ceilings, exposed brick, plants, friendly staff, and a killer menu. I mentioned this in my  Best Spots to Get Breakfast At in Melbourne post a few months back. The thing to order is the Ricotta Hotcake which apparently no one has ever finished. I tried, and only got 3/4 through which was a solid effort.
And lastly we went to Lui Bar which is a gorgeous bar 55 floors up and overlooks the city. It does great cocktails and is ultra classy. It's wildly popular so we had to wait awhile to get a seat next to the window but when we did it was all worth it. Maybe avoid going on a Saturday night like we did because it was very busy.

It seems like this brand just came out of NOWHERE. My sister mentioned it to me saying she had heard some good things about it, then an ad for The Ordinary popped up on facebook, then I saw a few blog posts..and it made me realize: I must try this brand.

The Ordinary is a cruelty free Canadian brand which offers high quality skincare at affordable prices. Their value statement "clinical formulations with integrity" was formed due to seeing brands overcharging on skincare when it doesn't need to be so expensive. The team is specialized in materials chemistry and biochemistry which no doubt explains the success of their products. From reading multiple reviews online it's difficult to find anyone who has a bad thing to say about it. 

Today I went into Myer with my sister and bought quite a few products to try. It's so hard not to overspend who everything is so damn cheap!! 


I first heard about this product on Wayne Goss' YouTube channel (video here) where he raves on about how incredible it is. Can't wait to properly try it.

Price: $13.90
What is claims to do: "This new generation of primer is a lightweight serum-like formula that increases the spreadability of subsequent complexion makeup to help avoid unnatural and uneven accumulation of pigments especially around the eyes and on dry skin". 

From reading reviews online this primer seems better suited to those with dry skin.

Price: $9.80
What is claims to do: "This formula offers non-greasy hydration that acts as a direct topical supplement of impaired Natural Moisturizing Factors. It offers immediate hydration and lasting results with continued use."

Some reviews i've read online say that it's great for sensitive skin and gives great hydration to dry skin. The only negative thing I read said how they wish it came in a bigger tube, but for $9.80 I think it's pretty affordable to re-purchase.

Price: $21.90
What it is: A brightening serum with stabilized vitamin C derivative. pH is 6.0-7.0
What it claims to do: "Vitamin C is an effective antioxidant, brightens the skin tone and reduces signs of ageing. In its pure form, Vitamin C is unstable in water. Ascorbyl Glucoside is a water-soluble derivative of Vitamin C. It is much more stable in water but it is less potent than direct L-Ascorbic Acid. Being more compatible with water allows for a very pleasant serum texture. It is considered a gold standard of Vitamin C derivatives due to its high stability and comfortable use, but it's impossible to achieve extremely high L-Ascorbic Acid potency with this solution. Aside from the general benefits of pure Vitamin C, Ascorbyl Glucoside has been shown to offer specific skin brightening benefits."
When to use it: Apply a few drops to face in AM and PM, use before other oils and moisturizers. 

This seems like one of the most popular products from The Ordinary so i'm excited to give it a whirl

Price: $12.70
What is it: A high-strength lactic acid superficial peeling formulation (basically an exfoliator)
What does it claim to do: "Lactic Acid is an alpha hydroxyl acid that exfoliates the skin. This 10% formulation offers mild exfoliation and is supported with a purified Tasmanian pepperberry known to reduce signs of inflammation and sensitivity that is often associated with exfoliation. "
When to use it: Apply once per day. The pH is approx 3.8 so it's important to avoid mixing with other products with a much higher/lower pH. 

Price: $17.90
What is it: A stable emulsion of next-generation forms of retinoid. Retinoid is vitamin A derivatives and have anti-aging properties. pH is 5.0 - 6.0.
What it claims to do: "This product uses next-generation retinoid active technologies which have been shown to achieve better reduction in signs of ageing than retinol without irritation."

On The Ordinary website there is a lot of science jargon I don't really understand but basically from a lot of the reviews i've read people have said it has made a noticeable difference to their skin making it look healthier than ever. People have said it works with all types of skin. pH is 5.0 - 6.0
It's important to know the pH as it can alter when you use a product and what you use it with. To get the greatest benefits it's advised to mix similar pH products together otherwise it can be counterproductive to use ones on opposite end on the spectrum. I'd get into the nitty gritty details but this article here explains it INCREDIBLY and a lot better than I could. 

So basically out of my products I should use the Advanced Retinoid 2% and Ascorbyl Glucoside Solution 12% together and avoid using the Lactic Acid 10% + HA 2% at the same time. My plan is the use the lactic acid in the morning and use the other two in the evening.