August favourites

I'm not gonna bore you all with a huge paragraph about how I can't believe it's September already and 'oh my god where has the time gone?!' because I feel like I do that with every post and you must be getting bored with it - so I'm just going to get on with it.

1. Rimmel Stay Matte BB Cream - this has honestly been my saviour over the summer months. I normally struggle to find a BB Cream that doesn't make my skin look greasy by midday, but this really helps to keep my oily skin under control.

2. Navy blue dungarees - I'm thought for ages about whether to buy these in this colour or not, as I feel like they make me look like a car mechanic. But despite that I love them all the same, and are great to throw on now that the weather is cooling off.

3. Bourjois Color Boost in the shade Plum Russian - I've been wanting a darker lip colour for ages, and to keep in with the autumn trend of dark red/purple lips, I went from this one. The colour isn't too dark, it doesn't feel caked on my lips and it suits my skin tone really well.

4. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - obviously when I picked up a book set during WWII I didn't expect it to be happy, but the honesty with which this story is told makes it both stunning and shocking. I've not finished reading it yet, so expect a full review when I do. But it is genuinely one of the most captivating but heartbreaking stories I've ever read.

5. Soap & Glory Heel Genius - because I've been wearing sandals and slip on shoes without socks in the summer, my heels have been getting a little bit damaged and the skin has been starting to look a little gross. My mum gave me this to help and the difference in the softness of my feet has actually been incredible (I never thought I'd get so gushy about a foot cream, but there you go).

6. Green tea - I've been watching a lot of videos by youtubers that drink green tea, so I decided to give it a try. It took me a while to get used to the taste, as I'm a big fan of just a regular builder's cup of tea, but since starting to drink it I've noticed it makes me feel so much better - a lot healthier, and it's helped clear my skin up as well which is a bonus.

A Week in Spain

For the past week my family and I have been holidaying in a resort near Malaga in Spain called Puerto de la Duquesa. We haven't been abroad on holiday for a long time, as we normally prefer staying in England and travelling down south somewhere for a few weeks.

However this year we decided we would actually quite like to go somewhere hotter, and maybe even tan for the first time in 4 years

.

The resort itself was lovely - it was the perfect blend between being busy but also not so busy that you couldn't hear yourself speak. We timed it just right with the weather, as the weeks before Spain was having a heatwave which meant that it would have been dangerously hot. 

We also made the good decision to book a room in a privately owned complex, which meant we didn't have to fight people for sunbeds because there was barely anyone there. 

To give ourselves a break from just being at the hotel by the pool all the time we also went to a waterpark on the third day (after getting v lost and nearly ending up on a boat to Africa).

If we wanted to we could've gone and visited a nearby castle and gone to Gibraltar for the day, which is great for people who (unlike my family) don't like holidays where you just lounge on a sunbed all day.  

The two photos above show the view from near the pool at our hotel, being near the
sea meant there was always a lovely breeze to cool us off.

There were loads more restaurants and bars along the beach (which was too
pebbly for us to spend a day there), and walking right along it meant that you ended up
in another little town just like the one we stayed in.

I tried to get a cool, artsy photo of all the bars and restaurants lit up at night
by the mariner because I thought it would look pretty, but it kind of failed.

Dream Diaries

I've always been one of those people that's been able to remember their dreams really vividly. I think it must be because I'm a light sleeper, as barely anyone else I know is able to remember their dreams as clearly as I remember my own.

I'm fascinated by what dreams mean and what they're caused by. I sometimes have really strange lucid dreams - the only way I can think to describe this is that it's like being half-in half-out of your dream, and so you're conscious enough to be aware that you're dreaming but you're also still completely submerged in the dream. 

Due to this interest in dreams, I have decided to keep a diary of all the dreams I remember when I wake up in the morning. I do it as soon as I wake up, so I don't forget them throughout the day, and record every little bit of detail I can remember. If my dreams are really strange, I'll perhaps spend a bit of time searching the internet to find out what exactly it means. 

I started doing this last year, but lost motivation about a week in. However this summer I've started doing it again and have actually managed to keep it up this time. I love going back to last year's dreams and reading them over, because sometimes they actually jog my memory as if they're something I consciously experienced - rather than them just being a dream.

I love doing things like this - it's now become a little routine that I have in the morning, that instead of getting up straight away and getting my breakfast, I spend 5 or 10 minutes recollecting my dreams from the night before and writing them down.

I find it weirdly therapeutic, and I have even got a few of my friends doing the same thing - which means sometimes we have really interesting discussions about our dreams from the past few nights!

#hairgoals

Since Christmas I've been slowly getting my hair cut shorter and shorter, which seems ridiculous after spending the last four years trying to grow it long.

As much as I loved my longer hair, since having mine cut short I haven't had any regrets. Obviously there was the initial 'Oh my god what am I doing' as I saw a huge chunk of it fall to the floor of the salon, but that was quickly followed by a 'Oh my god why did I do this 2 years ago'.

I don't want to sound really pretentious about how getting a new hairstyle makes me feel like a new person, or that it's as if I'm starting afresh - I don't want to be too heavy-handed with the symbolism, but I will say that short hair is honestly so much more fun and so much less maintenance than long hair.

Before & After
(I am aware that this make me look like I've highlighted it as well,
but I think it was just a combination of natural lightening from the sun
and the difference in lighting in both pictures)

I especially love it now, as I've got to grips with styling it properly. I particularly love putting it in a top knot, which is also great now that the weather is getting warm. The other two styles I mainly go for are slightly wavy or full-on curled (by 'full-on' I mean tightly curled, I don't know why I couldn't have just said that in the first place).

Aside from the days where I wake up and my hair refuses to do anything but look like I've had a bowl-cut, I'd say cutting it short is one of the best hair decisions I've made in a really long time - it has now officially reached my #hairgoals standard.

Home for Summer

One thing I did miss about home - the view of the sunset from my
bedroom window.

I've been dwelling on how to write this post for the past few days, and no matter how I've thought about tackling it none of my ideas have seemed right. 

Being home is an odd one for me; I'm happy to have time off from university, and I enjoy being back with my family and old friends, in the place that I called home for 18 years of my life. However, leaving Lincoln, I couldn't help but feel disappointed.

University has certainly been a challenge. Homesickness mixed with feelings of stress and doubt did sometimes make me think "I just want to go home", but now that I am home I know that I wouldn't change my decision to go to university away from home for the world.

I've definitely got an amazing life at university. I'm doing a course I love and the friendships I've made are close ones, and it's hard now that I'm home not to miss that. I'm find that when I think about going back to Lincoln, all I can say to myself is: "I can't wait!" and that makes me feel guilty - because surely leaving my family, lifelong friends and familiar habits behind should be something I can wait for?

I don't know, I'm still finding it difficult to process being away from home and having a great time and feeling good about having a great time.

I've decided that my time at home should be a productive one - I'm blogging more frequently, I'm going to gym, I've started driving lessons again and have booked a test, I'm going on holiday (which may not be productive, but I'm looking forward to it all the same), and I am attempting to find a job/gain some work experience somewhere. 

I've found that filling my time up - and making sure I never have days where there is nothing to do - is the best thing I can do while I'm at home. I'm trying to find an equal balance between relaxing at home, working and seeing my friends, and so far it's been going great.

I know that coming home is good for me. It has been and will continue to be good for recharging my batteries. And as much as I'm looking forward to going back to university in September, I think part of the fun is waiting for it to arrive.

Losing Half a Stone?!

Source: TipsTimesAdmin, Flickr.

When I went to university my lifestyle changed in many different ways, the most noticeable of which was that the amount alcohol I consumed in a week increased a lot.

As much as I enjoyed, and still do enjoy, drinking, I realised towards the end of my first year that drinking as much as I had done wasn't healthy, and the fact that I was no longer going to the gym due to being unable to afford a membership meant I could no longer get away with it.

When I got home from university, I decided to swap my lifestyle for a better one in the hope that I could kick my unhealthy habits before they got worse. I joined a gym and started eating far better than I have in a really long time. After around 6 weeks I found that I had lost half a stone, which is around what I put on while I was at uni in the first place, so I've decided to compile a list of what I did in order to lose the weight and become healthy again.

Exercise:

My regular gym session includes around 40 minutes of cardio, 15 minutes of toning and 15 minutes of strength-building. However I make sure to switch up my routine every time I go, because otherwise I've found it doesn't have an affect. I also force myself to work up a sweat and get properly out of breath, because I don't think there's much point in me paying for a gym membership if I'm going to slack off and not work my hardest.

I also do a class once a week called meta-fit, which is kind of like the Insanity workout as it's really short bursts of intense exercise for half an hour, and the class finishes off with half an hour of intense ab work afterwards. Although I feel like I want to die 10 minutes into the class, I love the feeling that I have properly worked out afterwards.

Diet:

This is the kind of stuff I snack on
  now, rather than chocolate

I didn't so much go on a diet in order to lose weight - I just changed my diet for a healthier one. Rather than snacking on crisps, biscuits and chocolate, I now snack on fruit, yoghurt or combine the two and make myself a smoothie. I no longer eat food that I know will leave me hungry in another hour or so, for example eating a proper breakfast that I know will keep my going til lunch.

I make sure to have 5 fruit and vegetables a day, and I attempt to drink 2 litres of water a day to keep myself hydrated (although I struggle to do this everyday as drinking is something I'm really terrible with; I often forget to do it). I also don't have 11pm/midnight snacks any more like I used to, choosing instead to have a cup of tea before getting in bed.

The benefits:

I didn't want to call this 'the results' as I think that results are something you achieve and can then keep forever, like exam results. But weight loss is different as you have to keep doing what you're doing to stay at the weight your at. Probably one of the hardest things about dieting/exercising, is knowing that it isn't quick fix and you can't just do it for a month and then never have to worry about it again. It's something you have to keep up constantly.

The things I have noticed about my body since I started is that I now tone up a lot easier and quicker, my skin has got clearer in time for summer, I feel more energised and less like I want to nap the day away, I'm more motivated to get things done, and also that I feel a lot happier - in general I'm just less stressed, and if I ever do get stressed I know I can go to the gym to work it out.

If you're considering attempting to change your lifestyle in a bid to get healthier, or even to lose weight, I would definitely recommend it. It's never too late to start. I'm not going to lie and say that it's the easiest and best thing I've ever done, and even thought there are times at the gym where I have no motivation at all and I just want to eat a massive chocolate bar, I do still think it was a good decision for me to make.

June favourites

I know I've been very very absent from this blog for what seems like a lifetime, and rather than do a huge apology post that only a few people would actually be interested in reading, I've decided to just do a favourites post instead by way of saying sorry.

Top left - I had been seeing sandals like this in people's summer hauls and then inevitably found myself wanting a pair for myself, I found these in Primark for £10 and I adore them. They're like a normal gladiator sandal but with a slightly twist as the string pulls them in as far as you want, which I think gives them a really cool edge.

Bottom left - My family and I have booked a holiday to Spain in August, and so like everyone else who's naturally pale I've been making sure my skin tans slightly before I get there using the Garnier Summer Body gradual tan lotion. The build up to a natural looking light tan is great, and helps make my skin feel smooth too.

Middle - I know I'm late to the party, but I finished Gone Girl at the end of June and I still can't get over how incredible it was. I always love books where the people in it seem quite self-destructive, but I've never read a book that has gripped me so well. It's safe to say the whole book is basically one massive car crash of a plot, where nothing goes right and eventually gets the point where you keep reading just out of morbid interest as to just how much worse the character's lives can get.

Top right - At the beginning of June I treated myself to some lovely pastel/pale coloured nail varnishes, and these two from Rimmel are definitely my favourites out of all the ones I bought. They're quick to dry, last for ages, and match the beautiful weather England has been having recently perfectly.

Bottom left - The only necklaces I really have a huge statement ones for when I'm going out, so I decided to buy myself this lovely delicate one just to wear on an everyday basis. It matches everything, and just makes me feel as if I've made that extra bit of effort to look nice - even if I'm not doing anything particularly exciting.

January favourites

1. Chloe perfume that I was bought for Christmas by my parents - it smells so lovely and has replaced my beloved Calvin Klein perfume for nights out.

2. This black turtle/roll neck ribbed jumper has been my most worn thing throughout January, I absolutely adore it and kind of don't want to weather to get warmer because that means I won't be able to wear it anymore.

3. My friend bought me this bracelet for Christmas and it's so versatile and bold without being brash that I wear it with almost everything.

4. This body butter from Soap & Glory was one my little stocking fillers at Christmas, and it's great for getting rid of the dry skin that I get during the colder months.

5. I did a review of the John Frieda sheer blonde shampoo/conditioner absolutely ages ago on this blog, and for Christmas I got the set that makes hair go blonder (hence why it's called go blonder, duh). The conditioner has helped me to maintain a lovely soft feel to my hair and the colour is now a lovely bright blonde - so it does actually work!

6. The book that really stuck out at me this month has been Russell Brand's Revolution. Although I don't always agree with his opinions, I do think that this book will allow a lot of people to see things in a different perspective and widen their eyes to the kind of power they have. Not to mention it's incredibly well-written (although writing ability isn't something you should really doubt in Russell Brand) and really, really funny. 

I'm not sure if Russell would particularly want me to put his book amongst such consumerist products like shampoo, perfume and clothes, but hey ho.

What have been your favourite products of this month? Are you a fan of any of the products mentioned in this post?

Flaws | An Exploration

I have terrible, unruly eyebrows that have never done what they are told, and awful dark shadows under my eyes for as long as I can remember.

But in between my eyebrows and dark shadows, I have bright green eyes and long eyelashes - the features I am most proud of.

There are times when my mouth looks too big for my face, and I have a lump on the inside of my top lip from when I split it open as a child.
But behind those lips, I have white teeth that are perfectly straight. I always look better in photos for showing them when I smile.

 

I have suffered from blackheads around my nose for as long as I can remember - they are the one thing that always needs to be concealed whenever I am putting makeup on.
But the rest of my skin is practically blemish-free, and I am always told by friends and family members what a lovely complexion I have.

Sometimes I look at my collar bones and wish they didn't stick out so much; they are my least favourite part of having a frame like mine.

But being this way means that I have a slender, elegant and delicate neck.

 My hair is often wild and can't be tamed. I find it very difficult to style my hair and keep it that way.

But having such a mane of hair gives me something to hide behind when I'm feeling shy or uncomfortable.

 The skin on my legs is pale and I am covered in bruises from God knows where.

But the skin on my arms tans to a lovely shade of golden brown in the summer and features dozens of moles that cluster in patterns all over.

Flaws are a natural part of the human body, and although we are told we should be proud of them, it is hard to in a society that judges us so harshly.

The solution is not to cover them up, to pretend they don't exist, or to hide them. The solution is to find one thing we like about our body for one that we don't. A positive for a negative; a personal strength for a perceived weakness.

Humans are both perfection and imperfection. To try and change that would only be unnatural.

But why say you're a FEMINIST when you could say you're an EQUALIST?

And so the saying goes every time somebody dares to declare themselves a feminist.

Source: Julie Jordan Scott, Flickr.

I was recently confronted with this very problem in the form of a Facebook status. I know what you're thinking, why on earth are you wasting your time getting angry about a Facebook status? And honestly, I have no idea. I think I was just feeling that way out.

The status is question was not specifically related to women's rights, however the comments quickly turned into a discussion about feminism. One person stated that 'the feminist movement is now tainted by man-hating maniacs and tumblr fanatics', and others agreed, with one commenting skeptically that 'Apparently feminism nowadays is about bashing on every male who ever makes a statement that involves women... And there I was thinking feminism was about equality'.

And there I was thinking that we had begun to move past the idea that 'feminism' is a dirty term, but hey ho. 

The comment that bothered me the most, however, was one that provided the belief that anyone who wants equality should call them themselves an equalist, not a feminist. 

And to that comment I call absolute bull- well, let's just say I don't agree. 

To me, 'equalist' is a blanket term that refers to a basic belief in equality. 'Equalist' is also the umbrella held over all movements towards equality: anti-racism, feminism, LGBT etc. Someone who calls themselves a feminist is an equalist - the two stem from the same belief, it's just that one is general and one is specific. 

It's exactly the same concept as somebody being a gay rights supporter considering themselves an 'equalist'. You wouldn't ever catch somebody calling out the LGBT community on being too exclusive because it ignores race/religion/gender.

Again, it harks back to this idea that feminism is full of man-haters. 

Like we have time in our busy schedules of being mothers, daughters, wives, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, balancing work and leisure, at the same time as trying to self-improve through things like eating more organically or taking bubble baths because Cosmo says we should, to actually specifically target men and bully them.

I don't know about anybody else, but I am getting very tired of people assuming feminism is a direct hit at men, rather than a direct at the ascribed power and privilege that surrounds them. 

So next time somebody asks me 'Why are you a feminist rather than an equalist?' I am going to refer them to this: 

Hopefully they will see the word 'equality' in there, and make the connection between that and 'equalist' in their heads before feeling very, very silly indeed.

And if they're still feeling left out because of the words 'women's rights', I'll point them in the direction of the millions of women who have felt exactly the same way due to society advocating men's rights over the centuries, and see how they feel then.

So, I've taken up yoga...

And it's the greatest decision I have ever made.

Source: Jean Henrique Wichinoski, Flickr.

For those of you that read my post on new year's resolutions, you will know that I have decided to become more organised this year to combat/reduce the amount of stress in my life.

Improving my organisational skills has been a massive benefit to me already this year, however to help me even more in my quest for what I like to call 'Ultimate Calm Mode', I decided to start doing yoga.

Now I'm not talking about attempting to contort my body into various poses that even the most flexible of beings would not be able to achieve - I simply mean a gentle 20 minutes yoga exercise every morning to help me throughout the day.

I've downloaded an app on my phone called Yoga For Beginners, that gives a choice of exercises depending on exactly what kind of result you would like to achieve. For example, there are routines that combat stress, make you feel happier, relax you and make you feel more energised. 

I normally choose the energising exercise, and hopefully I'll eventually be able to replace my morning cup of coffee with my yoga routine in order to feel more awake (alas, I am not quite there at the moment).  

Not to mention there are huge health benefits from doing yoga, including improving your posture, preventing breakdowns in your joints, building up on muscle strength and flexibility, as well as allowing your blood pressure to drop. 

There's even been research to suggest that yoga can bring down levels of inflammation in cancer patients(!)

Although I did feel a little silly at first as I tried and failed to combat half the poses thrown at me by the app, I now feel strange not doing yoga in the morning. 

If anything - and I can't believe I'm actually saying this - 20 minutes of yoga is worth more than that extra 20 minutes in bed I would get otherwise.

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides | Review

Source: Hannah Karina, Flickr.

Written in beautiful prose, sometimes hilarious and often creepy, The Virgin Suicides tells the story of the five Lisbon sisters and how they came to kill themselves. 

It's set in a suburban town in America, from the narrative viewpoint of the men who were once the boys that witnessed the suicides of Mary, Therese, Cecilia, Bonnie and Lux. 

All through the book the reader is subject to the yearning they felt as boys to be close to the Lisbon sisters; to speak to them, or reach out to them. To touch these untouchable girls and let them know that they exist. The style and tone of the book casts an image of these angelic yet unreadable girls, gliding through the halls of their high school, affecting everyone but never noticing.

The book depicts wonderfully the way a community reacts to crisis. It is shown best of all when, after Cecilia is the first of the girls to kill herself by jumping out her window and onto the garden fence below, the men of the street come together and decide the only way to respond is to take the fence down.

One of the many, many things I love about this book is that it is in no way a book that is trying to explain suicide. In some parts of the book, it's difficult to distinguish if Eugenides is even trying to make a point about suicide at all. 

It could be argued that the Lisbon girls did it to escape from the tyranny of their over-protective mother, or because they were sick and tired of being watched, gawped over and idolised by the boys in the town. But none of that seems right.

For the most part, it just feels like a story about an interesting turn of events that happened over the course of a year. The way that the boys' efforts to save the girls seem almost silly, and how now, as men, their attempt to try and understand why the Lisbon sisters had to die is depicted as futile, conveys the idea that there is nothing to be understood, nothing to be interpreted.

To me, there is not explanation as to why the Lisbon girls killed themselves. And to go looking for one is a waste of time. The suicides are simply things happened and, unfortunately, something that the boys will find hard to forget.

December Favourites!

 December has never been a favourite of mine - I hate cold weather, and when I was at college it was the time when I had to start revising for January exams which were always a major stress. 

However, despite not getting along with the month itself, I have found a fair few things that have made December a bit more bearable!

1. I was given this checked fleece jacket by my uncle and I absolutely adore it. It's great for keeping warm, and looks great to throw on over a pair of jeans

2. I wear this dark gold necklace all the time on nights out, and the three little bracelets next to it are what I wear on a daily basis.

3. Continuing on with my 80s obsession, I recently watch St. Elmo's Fire. As it's not a John Hughes film, I did notice the difference in the way it's been directed, and it was strange seeing the likes of Judd Nelson and Ally Sheedy in a film that was styled differently, but I fell in love with it all the same.

4. The one book I've read that stuck out at me this month has definitely been The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. I'm not going to say much about it, as there is a review coming very soon - but I've not felt this deeply affected by a book for a long time.

5. I've been wanting loads of the Kate Moss Rimmel lipsticks for ages, but this one has become a particular favourite this month. I love the colour of it, and I think pale lips often go unnoticed as being perfect for winter fashion.

6. This combination of a black and white patterned dress with a chunky black jumper over the top has been my go-to outfit this December, I've worn it so much I think people are starting to assume they're the only clothes I own.