Friday I'm in Love #1

Friday I'm in Love #1

Friday, 30 May 2014

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After just over a year of chaotic, sporadic on-off blogging I have decided that the time is ripe to establish order. And by order I mean scheduled blogging. Introducing Friday I'm in Love. Named for the song by The Cure of the same name (listen to it here) from now on every Friday will be Friday I'm in Love where, funnily enough, I will be posting about the things I love that week. These could be anything from makeup (natch) to music, books, food, films, tv, other blogs...you get the gist.

This week I went home for a week of rest and relaxation, before going back to Bedford and the stress of moving and job hunting that awaits. My week has been full of shopping, make up, lazy days and yummy food and I can't wait to share it with all of you. So without a further a do let the inaugural Friday I'm in Love commence!

Matte Nail Paint by Barry M in Cancun & Rhossilli

Matte Nail Paint by Barry M in Cancun & Rhossilli -  I have never really been a fan of matte nail polish, not being overly keen on the chalkboard effect. However when in Boots on Tuesday I stumbled across Barry's M new matte nail collection for the summer and fell in love with these two beauties.Whilst I am still getting used to the rather curious matte effect the colours are absolutely gorgeous and very summery.The formula, as with all Barry M nail paints, was very easy to use being lovely and creamy and only taking two coats to become opaque, however it did only last two days before chipping. Despite that the colours were so lovely that I will be reaching for them again.

No 7 Beautiful Skin Eye Make Up Remover

No 7 Beautiful Skin Eye Make Up Remover - This is a re-purchase, having first tried this eye makeup remover last year I quickly fell in love with it. Whilst it is for all skin types I have incredibly sensitive skin and have found that some other eye make up removers made the delicate skin around my eyes sore, sometimes even causing a rash. This is incredibly gentle on my skin whilst still removing all my eye make up, I love a smokey eye so it has quite the challenge. However it does have quite a greasy texture that I am not overly fond of BUT I still think it's an excellent product.

The Simpsons 

No 7 Beautiful Skin Eye Make Up Remover - This is a re-purchase, having first tried this eye makeup remover last year I quickly fell in love with it. Whilst it is for all skin types I have incredibly sensitive skin and have found that some other eye make up removers made the delicate skin around my eyes sore, sometimes even causing a rash. This is incredibly gentle on my skin whilst still removing all my eye make up, I love a smokey eye so it has quite the challenge. However it does have quite a greasy texture that I am not overly fond of BUT I still think it's an excellent product.

Herbal Essences Bee Strong Strengthening Intensive Mask with Honey and Apricot Extracts for Damaged Hair

Herbal Essences Bee Strong Strengthening Intensive Mask with Honey and Apricot Extracts for Damaged Hair - My step mum gave me this hair mask after the ends of my hair became really dry from hair dye and straighteners and all the bad stuff I shouldn't do to my hair but do anyway. On Wednesday night I massaged a handful of this gorgeous smelling goop into my hair, focusing particularly on the ends, and left it for 35 minutes before rinsing it off.  Since then there has been a noticeable difference in my hair, rather than being dry and brittle it now feels stronger but also really soft and smooth. This hair mask worked wonders with my dry and style damaged hair and will definitely be making a weekly appearance in my haircare routine.

The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner read by Tom Hiddleston (swoon!) - I have a lot of trouble sleeping. I grew up in a pub and because of this I can't sleep in total silence. Herein lies the problem if I put the tv on then I'll watch it and it then takes me hours to drift off. If I have music on I'll sing along and get super pumped up and won't sleep. So I was at something of a loss and then someone, I forget who, suggested audiobooks. Now usually I spend my sleepless nights reading so this seemed like the ideal solution. Intrigued I downloaded The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner read by Tom Hiddleston. It is no secret that I am a lover of Mr. Hiddleston, being a fully paid up member of Loki's Army. The combination of the story - from what I remember it was good - and Tom Hiddleston's beautiful voice - which honestly sounds like melted chocolate and really good sex - lulled me into the first good night's sleep I had had in a long time. I will definitely be downloading more.

And finally I thought I would end with my song of the week (another new feature of my blog). Matchbox Twenty's How Far We've Come. I only discovered this song about a week ago in a film trailer, I forget which one, and after downloading it I have been listening to it pretty much constantly. The lyrics are just really apt for what's been going on in my life at the moment. Now that I have finished university and still have no idea exactly what it is that I want to do with my life I am in a state of flux not knowing what my next move is. Like the title suggests this song is about how far I've come, and reminds me that in the past four years I have changed and achieved so much, more than I thought possible and it's a nice, albeit very scary, feeling.

So that was my first ever Friday I'm in Love. Hope you liked it. Would love to know the things you are loving this week - use the hashtag #FridayIminLove if you want to share it with me.

Until next time feel free to check me out on twitter, facebook, Bloglovin, instagram & pinterest.

Love love love xx

10 things I'm looking forward to when I finish my degree...

10 things I'm looking forward to when I finish my degree...

Friday, 16 May 2014

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I am in the final weeks of my last year of uni and I am stressed beyond words. I mean seriously it has gotten to the stage where I am no longer sleeping because sleep is not a productive use of my time. The one thing keeping me going is the fact that in just over a week it will be over, the thought of which makes me both ecstatically happy and devastated at the same time. On Wednesday I handed in my dissertation and the feeling of relief was so intense, but sadly short lived with another essay due in today, an exam next week and yet another essay after that.

However I thought whilst I had a moment to spare (and it literally is just a moment) that I would catch up with you lovely lot and share the list of things I am looking forward to once it's all over (yay/sob).

Plucking my eyebrows - I am aware that this is such a weird thing to be excited about, but normally I am incredibly strict with the upkeep of my eyebrows. Due to my incredibly heavy workload most of my normal routines that keep me looking human have been left by the wayside as I have been struggling to meet deadlines and as such my eyebrows are reminiscent of Charlie Simpson in his good old Busted days. I cannot wait to attack them with a pair of tweezers until they look normal again. I do not enjoy looking like a she-wolf. I'm sure they're not as bad as I think but as far as I'm concerned they are not acceptable.

Binge watching Seasons 2 and 3 of Once Upon a Time - I discovered Once Upon a Time rather late in the game, way back in December I obsessively watched the first season but from January onwards I got distracted by work and all 9 seasons of The US Office. Since then I have watched season 2 every now and then but I haven't had the time to sit down and watch every episode. So the minute my final essay has been handed I will be hibernating in my room with chocolate and cookies until the credits roll on the season 3 finale. I will also be binge watching Suburgatory.

Spring cleaning and reorganizing my room - Again this seems a strange thing to be excited about but ever since my dissertation completely took over my life my room has been a total mess.Whilst I am not the tidiest of people I do have my standards and at the moment my room looks like it has been hit by Hurricane Lauren, who has blown in grabbed what she needed before heading back to the library, leaving mess and devastation in her wake. I honestly cannot wait to get my room back to it's tidyish glory.

Watching Dirty Dancing - I don't think this one really needs an explanation. This just needs to happen soon.

Finishing the Divergent Trilogy/Re-reading The Hunger Games and reading just about everything else I haven't been able to - I am an avid reader and I absolutely hate it when I can't read the things I want too. I can't wait to take my kindle to the embankment and just read in the sunshine.

Getting back into a normal sleeping pattern - I miss sleep, so much. The fact that I am awake right now at 1:30 in the morning rather than happily sleeping is just agonizing.

Dying my hair - I truly hate dying my hair, it is boring, it takes forever, the fumes are poison and unbearable but alas, it is a necessary evil. Currently I have an inch of ash blonde hair trying to force it's way through all the red and I hate that too so I cannot wait to daub on the dye and make my roots history.

Taking a sunlit walk down by the riverside - I totally just made myself sound like Huckleberry Finn, proving that my three years studying English have not been for naught. The River Ouse is my happy place, it is just so beautiful and peaceful. I haven't been down there properly in so long. I can't wait to get down there.

Earning some money - again this is pretty self explanatory. I am so broke!

BLOGGING - I miss it so much!

One thing I'm not looking forward to is leaving, whilst the last 6 weeks have been an unrelenting bitch the last 3 years have been amazing and I am dreading leaving it behind.

Anyway until next time you lovely lot, check me out on twitter, facebook, BlogLovin, instagram & pinterest.

Love love love x

Be back soon!

Be back soon!

Saturday, 3 May 2014

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Picture via confessionsofacouponclipper.com

Just a quick post today to let you know that I am still around, despite my prolonged absence from the blogging world. The end of my third and final year of uni is in sight (sob) which means that I am absolutely drowning in uni work at the moment. I can't even tell you how many late nights I've spent in the library frantically typing and freaking out. What with trying to get my Dissertation finished, revising for exams and everything I haven't had time to think let alone blog. Still... I promise I will be back with a bang come June/July.

I've got loads of new ideas to shake my blog up a bit. Can't wait for you guys to see it. Until then lovely people I will sadly remain absent, but I promise I'll be back soon.

Lots of love xxx

P.S. Despite my relatively silent blog I am still tweeting, Pinning & Instagramming if you feel like checking me out & giving me a follow x

Not Another Happy Ending: A Review

Not Another Happy Ending: A Review

Friday, 21 February 2014

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Today I thought I would review the film Not Another Happy Ending starring the beautiful Karen Gillan and the equally beautiful Stanley Weber.

 

Not Another Happy Ending tells the story of writer Jane Lockhart; who following the immense success of her first novel is suffering from writer's block whilst writing her second. Jane's obnoxious yet exquisitely gorgeous publisher Tom believes this is due to her happiness so makes it his mission to make her life a misery. In doing so Tom (who's French by the way, ooh la la) starts to realise that he is love with her. The problem is Jane finishing the novel means that there won't be a reason for Tom to see her anymore (that and Jane's dick boyfriend, the aptly named Willy).

Not only was this film both funny and clever with some incredibly romantic moments, it also featured some amazing vintage fashion rocked by the fabulous Miss Gillan and an excellent soundtrack (particularly the song Crash Land by Twin Atlantic)

I won't give away the ending because I think everyone should watch it but it is amazing. I've watched it repeatedly and it is now one of my favourite films. If ever a film was underrated this one is. Karen Gillan is amazing as the tortured and incredibly talented Jane and Stanley Weber is wonderful and gorgeous as the slightly mean-spirited but unbelievably sexy Tom. I love RomComs but they're something of a guilty pleasure because they can be so cheesy but Not Another Happy Ending isn't at all, it was brilliant. If you haven't seen it you can watch the trailer below but trust me y0u're gonna wanna watch it. 

Until next time lovely people check me out on twitter, facebook, BlogLovin, instagram & Pinterest :) 

Love love love xxx

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns): A Review

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns): A Review

Monday, 17 February 2014

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I've been looking to expand my blog into other areas as I'm on a no new make up ban until April. So far it's going well but unfortunately that means my main source of inspiration is currently in short supply.

I absolutely adore reading, always have done. According to my mum I taught myself to read when I was 3 (I don't know how true this is) even now I love nothing more than curling up and losing myself in a really good book, particularly when it's raining or cold outside.  I recently read and loved Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling and I thought I would review it for you lovely lot.

 As a third year English student I spend most of my time reading however I usually don't have the time to read something I actually want to read rather than something I have to for my degree. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) -hereafter referred to as IEHOWM - is the first book in a long time that I've read purely because I wanted to.

IEHOWM is a memoir interspersed with observational essays, detailing Mindy's life from a geeky yet adorable child, to working as a babysitter in New York and then finally to landing her dream job as a writer on the brilliant and hilariously funny US adaptation of The Office. Usually I am not a fan of autobiographies, much preferring to lose myself in a fictional word where children are forced to fight to the death (I realise that sentence makes me look like a psycho) or a boy wizard who has the fate of the magical world on his shoulders. Having said that I utterly adored it, Mindy's book was both hilarious and utterly absorbing. I could not and did not put it down.

I love Mindy, I'm a huge fan of both The Mindy Project and The Office (US) so I'm not even a little bit surprised that I thoroughly enjoyed her book. The thing I love most about Mindy is that she knows who she is and is completely unashamed of that fact. This comes through in her writing and I adored it. A self confessed "vain flake" Mindy comes across as both funny and honest, making the book like a conversation with your best friend where neither of you can stop laughing.

Obviously I loved finding more about Mindy, (she's my spirit animal, her and Jennifer Lawrence), but what I really loved about this book was the random lists, I am the kind of person who makes lists for everything in life. My To Do List has it's own To Do List (would that be a To Do To Do List?). I particularly loved Best Friend Rights and Responsibilities and Types of Women in Romantic Comedies Who Aren't Real. Both were hilarious and accurate. In fact I found myself saying "it's funny cause it's true" whilst giggling more times than I can count throughout the course of this book.

My absolute favourite part though was entitled When You're Not Skinny This Is What People Want You To Wear. As a fellow not skinny girl I know how awful it is when people pick out clothes that they think you should wear, I'll give you an example for Christmas my size 8 sister bought me, among other things, crop tops. I'll say that again crop tops and that's plural, as in more than one . I would not be seen dead in a crop top for a lot of reasons and can't even begin to fathom why she bought them for me. Oh we'll it's the thought that counts. Anyway...

  

I thoroughly recommend this book for anyone who wants to have a giggle with one of the funniest ladies in comedy. I loved it.

Until next time lovelies check out my twitter, facebook, Bloglovin, instagram & pinterest. 

Love love love xx

Maybelline Color Show in Coral Craze

Maybelline Color Show in Coral Craze

Saturday, 15 February 2014

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I have been using my much talked of make up ban as a reason to make the most of the make up I already have. Particularly where nail varnish is concerned. My nail varnish collection has reached the dizzingly high number of 170 and I am pretty sure that I have used less than half.

                                   

   Maybelline Color Show in Coral Craze

I bought this at the height of my nail varnish obsession last year (it was bad guys) and I've never used it. I have 7 Maybelline Color Stay polishes and haven't used any of them, so I thought I would test out Coral Craze first to get me in the mood for spring.  The colour is absolutely gorgeous and had a really smooth formula that made it super easy to apply. On the downside it did take 3 coats before it became opaque and has already begun to chip even though I only painted them a few hours ago, however I think the colour is beautiful and more than makes up for what is lacking.

Until next time feel free to take a sneaky peek at my twitter, facebook, Bloglovin, instagram & pinterest

Love love love xx

Why I will continue to wear heels and people can just damn well deal with it....

Why I will continue to wear heels and people can just damn well deal with it....

Thursday, 13 February 2014

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Recently I went out on a rare night out clubbing with my friends, all was going well until a dear, dear friend (and sadly one of the biggest sexist pig I have the misfortune of knowing) said to me quite out of the clear blue sky that I am frighteningly tall (I am 5ft7 barefoot, in heels I can be anywhere between 5ft11 and 6ft) and that is the reason I rarely pull on nights out. This angered me for three reasons... 1. It clearly never occurred to him that maybe I don't want to be pull some randomer I met in a club. 2.  If I did then I am perfectly capable of approaching someone myself . And 3. He blamed me for my height, which is not something I can control.

Heels make me feel confident and sexy, two things I am sorely lacking in my everday heel-less life. Whilst I am not the most graceful of people nor am I nearly hardcore enough to last the whole night without changing into flats at least once, I don't see how something giving me confidence is a bad thing. Nor do I understand why my  height is so "threatening". I am a inch taller than the average woman. One measly inch which elevates me from average to "frighteningly tall".

 I have never felt insecure about my height, despite being the tallest woman in my family by a good 5 inches, but this comment made me feel like an monstrous giantess, crushing all the prettier more delicate  females beneath my ungainly heels. And then I thought... f**k him if he wants to be intimidated by my height then let him. I refuse to kowtow to someone else's insecurities. I love wearing heels, I love the way they make me feel about myself. So I will continue to wear them and anyone who has a problem with that can suck it :)

  

Until next time love love love xxx

P.S. Check me out on twitter, facebook, Bloglovin, instagram & pinterest x

The Cheer Up List (from damn unpretty to pretty damn happy)

The Cheer Up List (from damn unpretty to pretty damn happy)

Wednesday, 5 February 2014

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So this post is a follow up to my last post Damn Unpretty (read it here). I thought I would share with you the list of things I do to cheer myself up when my self esteem or my mood goes on the down swing. Try any of these when you are having a particularly bad day and I guarantee you will feel better :)

 

Nails in Hip Hop by Rimmel London Salon Pro Plus
      

Paint my nails - Usually red, red is the colour of confidence and it seems to be my signature colour (I love that). I love painting my nails it's really therapeutic and I like looking at them when I've finished, it gives me a small sense of pride (particularly when I don't smudge them) and seeing the pop of colour on my nails makes me happy.

 

Put on lipstick - I think my lips are my best feature. Elizabeth Taylor famously said 'Pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick and  pull yourself together.' I love that. Whilst I'm not a big drinker, I feel like I can face anything if I've got the right lipstick on. My favourite winter lipsticks are: #1 Seduction by Collection 2000, #500 Diva Red by Rimmel London & Pom Pom by Soap & Glory. I am also obsessed with Apocalips by Rimmel London in Apocaliptic (pictured).

Happy Place :)

Go for a walk - I live a five minute walk away from Bedford Park, which during the summer is absolutely beautiful. Whenever I feel myself stressed to the point of breaking I put on my iPod, listen to happy music and walk round Bedford Park until I feel better. It's so peaceful and secluded that even though I am in the middle of the park it feels like I'm the only person in the world. It's my happy place.

Listen to music and dance my face off - I defy anyone not to feel better after dancing around and getting out of breath and silly. My personal favourites to do this to are: ACDC's You Shook Me All Night Long, Journey's Don't Stop Believing,  Amii Stewart's Knock On Wood and Grace Potter's Something That I Want.

Read - There is nothing I love more than forgetting my troubles and immersing myself in a good book. I don't have a definitive favourite book because I love so many but some of my favourites are: The Girl in Times Square by Paullina Simons, Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, How to Love by Katie Cotugno, The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins, Harry Potter (obviously) and The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood. I love anything by Jodi Picoult, she's a fabulous writer. I also just finished reading Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by the gloriously funny, beautiful and amazing Mindy Kaling, I strongly recommend it.

  

                 

Knit - Knitting is my therapy, and I'm not alone Amanda Seyfried, Ryan Gosling, Zooey Deschannel, Julia Roberts and Tom Hardy all enjoy knitting. It's so therapeutic and calming because you have to concentrate and can't think about anything other than what you are doing. It really quiets a frantic mind and I always get something cool out of it. Win-win.

Baking - Is amazing and when done right results in untold deliciousness. It is simply not possible for anyone to feel sad whilst baking and then getting to eat chocolate fudge brownies. I'm not the world's best baker (I'm trying to get better) but I love it so much.

Have a bubble bath - Normally I prefer showers to baths, I have to really be in the mood for a bubble bath but when I am there is nothing quite so relaxing as a hot bath full of gorgeous smelling Soap & Glory Calm One Calm All bubbles (my favourite bubblebath). My flat only has a shower, so whenever I go back home to see my mum for the holidays I make sure I have as many bubble baths as I can to make up for it.

Wear super fluffy slippers - I was originally going to say wear high heels around the house just because. But I wore heels out last night and my feet have not forgiven me yet for subjecting them to shoes that torture them no matter how beautiful. So instead I'm saying slippers. Slippers are one of man's greatest inventions, closely followed by Smartie cookies, the iPhone and MAC make up. These beauties are currently adorning my feet.

Honestly it is not physically possible to be down about life when I have the plush, yellow face of Homer Simpson's face looking back at me. Plus if I wiggle my ankles it looks like he's eating my feet, there are literally hours of fun to be had in these slippers.  

 

Go swimming/for a run/to the gym - I will be the first to say that exercise SUCKS. However the feeling of accomplishment when you have finished coupled with the endorphin high does not. I personally prefer swimming because it's like a form of meditation. I just zone out and before I know it I've been swimming for over an hour and am exhausted. Before I came to uni I used to go to the gym at home twice a day. There were 2 reasons for this 1. There was an instructor there who was so beautiful and amazing I was hoping he would become the next Mr. Lauren (he didn't) and 2. I got a little bit addicted to the rush I got after, which is not the healthiest thing in the world.

SING - Singing has been scientifically proven to improve mood. On days where I am feeling ugly or sad (and I have the house to myself) I love nothing more than expressing my sorrows through the medium of song. My favourite songs to belt out are Barbra Streisand's Funny Girl, On My Own from Les Mis, Don't Rain On My Parade again by Barbra, Idina Menzel's version of Let It Go from Frozen, The Rose by Bette Midler, My Man (Barbra again), Defying Gravity from Wicked, Don't Stop Believing by Journey and anything by Queen or Meatloaf (as you can see I do this a lot). No matter how bad I sound I always feel so much better after. It's really therapeutic. I find it's best to choose a song where you have to belt out the notes, because you can let all your emotions out with the song and afterwards you feel so much better.

I have loads more - including a Pinterest session involving animals wearing hats/pyjamas, watch a film or a entire TV boxset (I strongly recommend Scrubs) in one sitting, facemasks and surfing youtube but I think I might be starting to bore you now. Hopefully this list helps you go from this...

to this...



Until next time lovelies check me out on twitter, facebook, Bloglovin, instagram & pinterest :)

Love love love xxx

Damn Unpretty

Damn Unpretty

Saturday, 1 February 2014

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I was watching the feat of televisual gloriousness that is The Mindy Project a couple of weeks ago and there was a line in it that I have been turning over in my mind ever since... this was "You're a woman and that's good, you should look like a woman." spoken by the delectable Danny Castellano, this as you can imagine made me go all gooey inside but it also made me think.

I, like every woman in the world, have massively struggled with my self esteem and my body image. My struggles go back to when I was 8 which is a shockingly young age now that I think about it. I have spent more than half my life feeling inadequate, fat and ugly. And frankly I am SICK of it.

I hate my stubby man hands and my stomach, I hate my bum, my thighs, my boobs, my feet, my love handles, my ears, my arms and I am not overly fond of my hair, my cheeks or my nose. Some days I don't want to leave the house because I feel that my overall appearance is not suitable for human eyes.

                                    

In one sentence I have summed up all my insecurities and completely torn myself to shreds. As women we are our harshest critics that is a fact. No one likes criticising themselves more than a woman does. I don't want to criticise everything about myself anymore. I don't want to feel like this anymore. I want to love myself and all the flaws that I come with. But I don't.

At 22, nearly 23 I have kind have got to a place where I don't let my low self esteem and body image control me as much. Don't get me wrong the nasty voice in my head is still unbearably loud. But rewind my life 7 years and you would find a very different person. A very, very sad, lonely, self-conscious 15 year old girl filled with self-loathing who covered up the mirror in my bedroom so I didn't have to look.

Recently on the cover of US Elle (the beautiful) Mindy Kaling was pictured. In black and white, showing only a close up of her face and shoulders, the same thing happened with Lena Dunham's Vogue cover

 

    

Whilst the pictures are beautiful I find it disgusting, not Mindy and Lena's faces obvs, but the fact that normal sized, beautiful women are pictured in close up to deliberately not show off their bodies. Mindy made light of the situation on twitter however I don't think it's something that should be taken lightly. We live in an image obsessed world, and sadly a world where even the stunningly beautiful (and tiny) Jennifer Lawrence is considered fat. No wonder self esteem in women is at an all time low.

The media presents an unattainable ideal of woman and none of us can compete. We are constantly bombarded of what we SHOULD look like, how we SHOULD dress and no one is safe from it. We are expected to meet these impossibly high standards. And when we inevitably fail to conform to these images that's when we start to blame ourselves for our shortcomings and that sucks! Luckily we do have ladies like Mindy Kaling, Lena Dunham, Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone and Lady Gaga (to name but a few) fighting for us but I'm worried that it might not be enough.

My issues started when I was 8 and what makes me really sad is that I know that I am not alone. I have a 3 year old niece who is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen (that includes Tom Hiddleston) and I am terrified that she will grow up feeling the way I did.  What is scarier is the thought that I may not be able to stop it.

What do you guys think? Do you agree? Or am I being overly sensitive?

Until next time peeps,

Love love love xxxx

(P.S. I sincerely apologise for my use of the word 'peeps' it won’t happen again plus feel free to follow me on twitter, facebook, BlogLovin, instagram & pinterest)