Wednesday 26 February 2014

Staying Positive

Hey everyone I'm back! I thought today I'd share with you a few ways that I try and stay positive giving the difficulties that have popped up lately.

Unfortunately, I tend to be rather pessimistic and so I have to try my hardest to stay positive, especially when things aren't so easy. Over the years I've discovered ways in which I can stay optimistic, and I thought I'd share a couple here!


Writing
Whenever I feel like I'm struggling in some aspect of my life, I grab my journal and I write. It's never anything structured or grammatically correct, just what I'm feeling. I always feel that once it's down and on paper my feelings are easier to control as I can analyse and figure out what has caused the issues and how I can fix them.
I feel writing is a quite important thing to help me stay optimistic as I can literally read my problems on a tiny piece of paper. That makes them a lot easier to manage than swimming around in my head.


Looking back at memories.
As much as I hate to say it (for the worry of sounding spoilt and selfish) I have days where I feel like I have nothing and I do nothing and just generally feel inadequate. That's when I run to my memory box and pick out the items and albums (like this one). In a busy college/work life it's very easy to forget all you've experienced, so collecting images and little pieces from all the wonderful places you've visited really reminds you of all you have. Not only that but looking back on past photos just brings back the happy memories and puts me in a wonderful mood.


 Reading
I've always been quite a book-ish person and so whenever I feel stressed or upset my first reaction is to grab a book. When I read I tend to go into a completely different zone and immerse myself into the world I'm reading about. I find this a major help to keep me optimistic as after a few hours of reading I feel relaxed, refreshed and ready to take on any problems I've been having. Obviously, If you don't particularly enjoy reading, there's always watching films and youtubers or listening to your favourite music. All of those seem to have a similar effect, reading is just the preferred for me!

Writing Lists
This is one I tend to use when I'm stressed over deadlines more than anything else. When you have multiple jobs that need finishing, it can become overwhelming and scary to begin them all. I've found that writing lists of the things I have to do (from eating lunch to writing an essay) gives me a lot more motivation as being able to tick the boxes and see the jobs decreasing takes a lot of the stress away!
On the topic of multiple jobs that need doing, I try to start with the most difficult so that later on in the day I'm not facing the tough challenges.


I hope you enjoyed reading this and that it's helped in some way (especially with AS Level exams coming up in a few months!)
I'd love to hear how you unwind and stay positive, feel free to comment with some tips!
Until next time
Lucy 
xxx

Friday 21 February 2014

Goodbyes

Just a quick one today, need to do some explaining to y'all. 
This week I've had to say goodbye to someone who's been like a sister to me for two years (without getting into it a lot she's leaving the UK) and it's been a very emotional week for various reasons surrounding that circumstance.
As it's all I've really been focusing on, every time I've sat down to write a new blog post I can't bring myself to write something good. I mean I probably could have written half decent posts about all the things I wanted to write about on my week off, but it wouldn't be great.
So I decided on Monday I was going to leave my blog alone this week and go back to normal either this Sunday or next Wednesday.
Basically, I apologise for the lack of posts but bear with me and all will be back to normal next week!

Lucy
xx

Sunday 16 February 2014

The best (and worst) skin care and beauty products that I own

Everyone has their staple beauty products that they couldn't live without. Unfortunately we all have our beauty products that were more of a miss, so I thought I'd give you a few of my favourite products and also a few that I won't be repurchasing.

The Good

Urban Decay Naked 1 & 3: I know, I go on about these a lot, but they have become staple palettes in my make up look. I adore everything about them, the simple yet gorgeous packaging, the soft brushes and of course the mix of creamy, pigmented matte and shimmer shades. I just adore the fact that most of the shades can go together to create endless looks!

Benefit World Famous Neutrals - Easiest Nudes Ever: I used this in my first ever blog post and I adore it. When I'm in a rush or can't be bothered to figure out what colours I'm going to use from my other palettes, I pick this up. The cream potted shadows are so smooth and don't crease and the powdered shadows are gorgeous colours and also don't crease. I love that this palette is so simple,  if you're feeling extra lazy, there's a step by step guide inside to a great eye look. 

Rimmel Lash Accelerator Endless Mascara: For around half a year now I've wanted to try out Benefits They're Real! Mascara because of how extremely long peoples lashes seemed to be after using it, but I have lost that extreme desire now I've found this mascara. For half the price, my lashes look almost unnaturally thick and long. This was actually an impulse buy because the packaging was so bright, I'm so pleased that I picked it up because I know I'm going to be re-purchasing this again and again.

Quinoderm 10 Cream: This is actually a pharmacy over the counter product. I don't suffer with acne, but when I get a skin breakout I've found it really hard to find a product that gets rid of my spots. This cream does the trick, it reduces the spot with in a day, normally they're gone in 2-3 days. The only thing I'd say about this is it is quite harsh on the skin, If I don't moisturise a lot my skin gets very dry in the areas I've placed the cream. (but I guess it is quite strong as it's used for acne, so what should I expect!) I couldn't live without this cream for bad breakout days. OH! And it's ridiculously cheap! £2.65 for 25g (which lasts me months)

Molton Brown Skinboost 24 Hour Moisture Mist: Unfortunately, you can't get this any more which sucks, but I've still got some of mine left from a previous Christmas set. I use this when I get unusually dry skin, one or two sprays on my face make my skin feel hydrated and healthy, I'm going to be gutted when I use the last of it because it's really helped to keep my skin moisture locked!

And the bad..


Maybelline Fit Me Powder: This is probably my least favourite product in my entire make up collection. I have dry-combination very fair skin and this powder seems to leave me with a shinier face than I had to begin with, if I have a very dry spot it tends to cling to it more and become more clumpy. It also tends to have a pretty poor coverage unless I build it up a lot, and then it doesn't last throughout the day. I cannot wait to purchase a new powder and say goodbye to this product. 

77 Eyeshadow Palette from War Paint: I have to say I didn't expect a lot from this palette. I received it as a Christmas gift and I knew it was a very inexpensive palette. The colours are very chalky and have quite a bad pigmentation to them, so to get the colour you have to apply a very heavy amount of shadow. The colours don't last for an entire day, but for a few hours you can build up an okay eye look, if you remember to remove all the fall out. However, it was very cheap and was one of the first palettes I owned, so for a younger me it did the job. 

Tea Tree Facial Toner: First thing - this product being in 'the bad' is no fault of the actual product. I was told by a Body Shop representative that the tea tree range would be great for my dry-combination skin. As I often got break outs and red patches I agreed and ended up buying most of the range (big mistake). After using this toner a lot I realised it actually dried my skin out terribly (which after research was understandable as this is meant for oily skin.) . The only good thing about this product is the fact it did leave my face very clean and reduced the spots I had. (much unlike the tea tree concealer that made me break out a treat)

Freederm Fast Track Spot Gel: This product did, well nothing. I purchased it for it's miracle '3 hour redness reducing' qualities, but after using it the product had no effect on my skin. The only noticeable difference was a dryness and actually slightly more spots than before. At £5 a pop I wouldn't recommend this for anyone, this was a case of a bad impulse buy!

I hope you liked reading this, comment below with your best and worst beauty and skin products!
Until next time
Lucy 
xx


Friday 14 February 2014

Valentines Day Make Up Look

   My first Friday post, oo how exciting! I'm hoping to add Friday to post days if I can get organised!
This week I thought I'd do a make-up look that would be suitable for valentines day.
I apologise in advance for any low quality photos, the family camera's run out of battery so I've had to use mine.

So first up, here's the list of products I'm gonna be using in this post.
 - Maybelline Fit Me Powder (Nude Beige)   -Powder Blush (No idea where its from, the packaging is faded, all I can make out is 'Shade 12 Rose Jasmine')  

Obviously, the first step here was to create my base. I applied my foundation, powder (which please, please do not purchase it's terrible, I still haven't got round to buying a new one), concealer and then applied the blush along my cheekbones and on the apples of my cheeks. To apply my blush I used The Body Shop Blusher Brush, the fibres are so soft and help to apply the blush really easily.

















Next it's on to the eyes. For this look I've used a few different colours from the Naked 1 and 3 palettes (look out for a post about Naked 3 soon!)

Before I applied any eye shadow, I just put a dab of Urban Decay's Eye shadow Primer Potion on my eyelids (which by the way, is a life safer. Makes the eye shadow last 10x longer and stops creasing for every palette I've used so far)
               For an all over base colour I used burnout from the Naked 3 palette and lightly applied dust over the top for a bit of extra shimmer.
I then took Toasted from the Naked 1 palette and put it in the outer corners and crease of my eyelids. For the inner corners of my eyes I used sin from Naked 1 (sorry it's not pictured!). Finally for my brow bone as a highlighter I used Strange and then just to fill in my brows I used Factory (both from Naked 3).
Remember, you don't need any Naked Palettes to recreate this look, just some pinky eye shadows similar to the ones pictured here!




Finally I took my Scandal Eyes Precision liner and drew(?) wings in the outer corners and then lined my top eyelid as close to the lash line as I could. Then I used my endless accelerator mascara until I was happy with my lash length (you could also use falsies here, my lashes are quite long naturally so I don't bother usually). 
To complete my look I just applied Rimmel's Kate Lasting Finish Lipstick in shade 16 which is a gorgeous pinky yet slightly coral colour that goes perfectly with the eye shadow colours.



VOILA! And there you have it, a pinky, yet not to full on look for Valentines Day! 
Let me know if you liked this, I feel my instructions may have been a tad waffle-y...

Thanks for reading!
Lucy 
xx

Wednesday 12 February 2014

5 Ways To Spend Valentines Day When You're Single

As February 14th gets closer and closer, Valentines day can be a day of dread for some people. Whether you're single by choice or not, sitting in your room watching stupidly romantic Rom Coms can be pretty depressing. So for this year, I thought I'd come up with 5 ways to spend your valentines day if you're not with a romantic partner!

1) Pamper yourself
Cue embarrassing picture of friends and I at some point last year! 
Whether by yourself or with a group of friends, putting on a face mask or giving yourself a manicure is a great way to spend the day. Give your skin some care and take a gorgeous lush bath or treat yourself to a luxurious hair mask. 
I don't know about you but for me, there's nothing more relaxing than spending a day doing your nails, pampering your hair and just spending the day not doing much.

2) Have a movie day with your besties.
This is actually the plan for my valentines day. Inviting a few friends over for a movie day can help you to distract yourself, especially if you're single for the first time in a few years! We're gonna watch camp takota (AH HOW EXCITING IT'S ACTUALLY HAPPENING DJFHG) and a lot of other cheesy RomComs that will ~probably~ leave us all sobbing. 

3) Spend the day shopping

There's nothing better than a little retail therapy, so why not visit your local shopping centre and treat yourself to an amazing new outfit or buy those gorgeous shoes you've been staring at for the past three months. 

4) Take a family member out for lunch

Whether it's a family member you see daily, or someone you haven't seen in months. I always find going for lunch with my Mum or Step-Grandmother is such a nice treat. You can catch up on all the family gossip or just spend a nice few hours talking about life. Plus, I guess you're spending Valentines day with a loved one (unless you don't get on with your family, then maybe this one isn't for you)

5) DO NOTHING!
And by do nothing, I mean pretend it's just a normal day. If you're extremely anti-valentines day then the perfect way to spend it is to forget it exists, start your spring cleaning, spend all day on tumblr, go to work or spend all day vegging about doing absolutely nothing! Just generally go about your day to day life (maybe with some added extra chocolate). 
After all it is only Valentines Day, if you don't get the day off it can't be that important, right?

If you liked this kind of post, please let me know. (its my first one, I'm fairly new to all this)
Thanks for reading!
Lucy 
xx


Sunday 9 February 2014

Urban Decay Naked Palette



As you may know, it was my birthday last week. My godmother and aunt gave me vouchers to buy the beautiful  Naked palette. I've wanted to own one of Urban Decays amazing palettes for god knows how many years, but I've always though £37 was too much to spend on makeup. Especially as a young 14/15 year old without a job!
Now I know that these palettes are actually a fairly reasonable price for what they are (not to mention that they come with an amazing shadow primer!). They are very pigmented and require little product on the brush to get a strong colour. The brush is incredibly soft and good quality, no bristles have come out whilst using it and it isn't rough on the skin at all.
With the beautiful neutral colours in the Naked Palette, there are so many different ways to combine them, with day looks and night looks.
I've always been fairly nervous with using eyeshadows, always being afraid of going too over the top, so this purchase is actually perfect for me. I like that there's a mix of matte and shimmer shades, meaning I can be as subtle or outgoing with my look, whilst still keeping it fairly neutral.
I attempted to do a swatch of this palette, but my pale skin has kinda hidden Virgin and Sin, sorry!
The shades I've fallen in love with are buck - a matte, warm brown colour, half baked - a shimmery golden colour that's going to be perfect for Summer and Creep - a black with flecks of silver glitter. However, I can honestly say there isn't a shade on this palette that I dislike and would stay away from, which I find really rare in any make up palette.
I absolutely adore everything about this product, from the velvety box to the soft, wide brush to the beautiful range of natural colours. I would recommend this to anybody, whether a make up pro, or just starting with it, as it allows you to take your look as far as you're willing too.





An Evening and Daytime look that I created with the Naked Palette, having a brain like a sieve I can't actually remember what colours I used - whoops!

Thanks for reading,
Until next time!
Lucy
xx




Wednesday 5 February 2014

January Favourites

Here we are, a month into the year already, I guess it's time to do a January favourites!
I was actually hoping to do this post before February had begun but college and work seemed to always get in the way!

As this is the first favourites post I've done, I was entirely unsure what topics to cover. After hours of contemplating, I'm just gonna include it all! I'm hoping as the months go by I'll have more substantial favourites as I discover what it is I love this year.


The first favourite of this month is make up related. This Benefit World Famous Neutrals - Easiest Nudes Ever eye shadow palette has been a life saver. I use it daily and it's just so easy to create an effective, light look. The shadows are beautiful, don't crease and last all day, my favourite part of the palette is the cream shadows in the pot. It was a Christmas gift from my godmother but I can tell that when I've used it all up I'll definitely be buying a new one. At £23.50 I first thought it was a tad expensive, but with the minimal amount you need for a day time look I can tell it's going to last a very long time. I actually used it in my first ever blog post .


Another Christmas gift I've been loving is my Inheritance Cycle book set. I've been wanting to read this series ever since I saw Eragon in the cinemas (little did I know then that the film and book are so ridiculously different) Reading is one of my favourite past times, so new books are always a perk for me. Fantasy is one of my favourite genres, and ever since I've started to read these, I couldn't put them down. I'm halfway through Brisingr and I absolutely adore them, they're such an easy read but also set my imagination off leaving me wanting a pet dragon (but c'mon, who doesn't want a pet dragon?!)




Funnily enough, my next favourite was also a Christmas present (a recurring theme I think? What else was I to expect a month after Christmas!) I'm a bit candles nuts if I'm honest, I have so many in different fragrances, yet I've never had a yankee candle before. My Mum got me the Christmas Cookie scent which smells absolutely delicious. I'm not really the type for really sweet candles but this literally smells like cookies, I don't know how you couldn't love it. The smell is stronger than any candle I've used before, I assume that's a Yankee trait? By no means is that a negative thing, for once I can actually smell the candle when it's burning.
I light this way too often, and I'm definitely taking a trip to the Yankee shop to get some yummy spring scents!



Finally, my last favourite is something I've raved about in my TIGI S Factor Review. Its the Smoothing Lusterizer! I use this almost every day because it leaves my hair looking healthy, and without frizz (which with my hair, is a near miracle) I'm pleasantly surprised with how long this product has lasted and it's definitely become a staple hair care item in my life over the past few months. The best part of it is that it doesn't cost an arm and a leg, at only £15.25 it's a bargain, especially for something that lasts so long.











I hope you enjoyed this post, comment below with your January favourites!
Until next time
Lucy
xx

Sunday 2 February 2014

Birthday? Birthday.

On the 31st January I turned 17, which in itself is completely insane. I'm not entirely sure where the past years have gone, my 10th birthday seemed like it was 2 years ago, not 7!
I've always thought of 17 as a very practical year, learning to drive and all that. So I didn't expect any physical 'gifts' from anyone, just driving lessons. Turns out I was spoilt rotten by friends and family members, not only did I get 10 driving lessons, I got some pretty amazing gifts. This isn't a post to brag, just to express my gratitude for people and how caring they are.
This is the main bulk of my gifts from friends and family, minus a few things. They got me some pretty special gifts, from music to films to tv shows to lush, they all know me so well. If any of you read this, thank you so much, you're awesome!


Until around 7:30pm the night before my birthday, I wasn't expecting to do anything! It was gonna be a stay at home and watch films with the family kind of birthday. My friend Hayley sent me a text asking me to keep the night of my birthday free. It was so nice to know that I was actually going to see her, as two of my best friends go to a different college, we rarely meet up.




It was so nice to spend an evening with them, gossiping and catching up with each others lives. In a way not seeing them constantly makes it even better when we do all see each other. 


It's funny because one of my other close friends, Alex, has the same birthday as me. So to celebrate his, the next day we all went over for pizza and movies. Alex is essentially a 70 year old man (not sure if you can tell by the dressing gown) which is the funniest thing when 17 year olds are there making your house messy. It was so relaxing to get a big group of us together and just mess about, even if we did argue about pizza for around 30 minutes! I much preferred it to a party in which you rarely speak to the people you want to. 



So basically, I had an amazing birthday and my friends are great! 
Thank you for reading, I hope you all have fab birthdays this year
Lucy
xx