Solait Facial Tan
I am loving this stuff. Recently it's been way too hot to slather on piles of foundation and so this is just perfect. It gives you this beautiful glow, obviously it tans too but it's not so much that it looks 'dirty' haha. It's very natural whilst giving you this beautifully bronzed highlight-y wonder. I use this as a base for the rest of my make up. This is going to be my summer love.


Emite Make Up Brush
I only own two Emite products both I've discovered from Glossybox. I have a single eye shadow in the colour NECT and then this brush. I've used this brush every single day this month- no joke. I tend to use it to fill in my eyebrows but I also love this for applying eye shadow as eyeliner because it is so easy to use and it's great for giving you a very precise flick. Their products seem to be great quality and I think sooner or later their going to be a very big brand!


Maybelline Colour Sensational Gloss in Glorious Grapefruit
I've already done a post on this beauty (click here) so I won't ramble too much I love this lipgloss and like the brush, I've used this A LOT this month.

Looking for Alaska
I loved this book. John Green's famous The Fault in Our Stars really did well (I mean making it into a movie, it must have been amazing) and I really did enjoy it. Then I read this book and I loved it even more. Absolutely great story and I cannot believe how much I connected with this book. It seriously affected me haha.

Salads
I have been really enjoying my salads recently, but only the way I make them. I like to add potato and quinoa to make them very very filling. Also, I'm loving the honey and mustard dressing from M&S, just ommmmmg. It tastes so yummy. I've been eating them like every day for lunch by making one big batch to last for 3 days. Sorry for the blurry picture!


Exercising
I am not an exercise freak. I like to walk, run (every now and again), do some pilates and zumba. I don't so much 'work out' I just enjoy to do them sort of when I can. I especially like zumba and pilates because after them I am exhausted yet completely satisfied. I've been trying hard to exercise more recently, and yeah, I'm enjoying it!


Pinterest
I must have mentioned pinterest in a favourites before. I love this site, it's just so inspiring and a great place to store all my ideas. It's great for organising too. You just really need to try it, it's amazing. I am slowly going to convert everyone I know into a pinterest addict one day...

Orange is The New Black Season 2
Last but certainly not least, an amazing, amazing tv series. The first series was great, this one was just incredible. It's so easy to watch, it's really funny and so so captivating even though an episode could be over like a toothbrush or something. It's just great. I took the 'which character are you' quiz and turns out I'm Piper, which I am highly unsatisfied with. Why couldn't I have been Red?

1. I love tea. To me it's a perfect way to relax and a good mug of tea is just very comforting to me.
2. I love finishing an excellent book. The feeling afterwards where you just reflect on the book and you actually miss it. Yeah, that really makes me happy.
3. Being outside. Something about being outside just makes me feel excited and free. I love feeling the breeze and just moving around. I love it especially when it's sunny!
4. Spending  time with people when there's no technology around and it's just one on one. It's just great to talk with no distractions and its just very raw and natural. I just love it.
5. Watching a whole tv series in a day. It actually feels like an achievement haha. It's kind of like point number 2 (finishing a great book) especially when it's a great show. I also think it's great when I watch them with Tom because then I actually have someone to talk about it to.
6. Spontaneous days out. Those days when you wake up, plan doing nothing and then it's like 2oh hey lets go to the beach" or "hey why don't we just go to the cinemas even thought it's already 9pm?". I love those moments.
7. Blogging and networking. The whole blogging network thing just amazes me. It just so fun and great to meet new people who love the same things you do. It's great to see so much community!
8. Pinterest. It's like my favourite internet site. It makes me happy because I feel so inspired from Pinterest, you'll see for yourself. It's just a beautiful site.
9. Reminiscing. Lying on my bed on a sunny day with the window open so the breeze can come in and just thinking about the past makes me ridiculously happy. It's very soothing almost like meditation and just really helps me to regain perspective on everything. I love it.
10. Long showers. Soothing, satisfying, rejuvenating and wonderful. Who wouldn't be happy?

So, I've kinda been trying to be healthier. My first year in university hasn't half helped me to gain weight and it needs to be shifted sooner rather than later. I want to lose some weight before going on holiday, but not only that my skin needs to clear up a bit. So this is just what I've been doing...





















I've been planning my meals the week before. I'll write out my breakfasts, lunch and dinners and then make a shopping list. If anyone would like to see a shopping haul then et me know :) I tend to follow the slimming word plan just because I've lost weight on that plan before and it's really easy to follow.

An app I've also been loving is My Fitness Pal. This just helps me track my calories so I'm not eating too much food and I'm getting the right amount of nutirents. It also helps me track my exercise. Speaking of exercise I now try to workout 5 times a week. I'm not doing anything too much just some easy exercise. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I run, walk or do some aerobics and on Tuesday and Thursday I love doing some blogilates workouts to balance the cardio with weights! I've also been loving the Nike Run app to help me track my walks/runs which is just so useful :)

I want to now start drinking more water, that's my next goal. I've actually been really enjoying being a bit healthier and I want to take it a bit more seriously now to really start shifting the weight. If you want to know more let me know!

Ok. I don't really know how to start this post. I guess I should start with saying that I am no way a health professional nor have I spoken to one about my own personal experiences in this area. I've noticed recently that a lot more people are being open and honest about anxiety and stress, now it just doesn't seem so much of a big deal as what it used to be. Before, I suppose you could say people were more conserved around the topic and felt that maybe it would be better to dismiss it rather than face it. But recently I've seen a lot of tweets, blogs and videos around the subject, very open and helpful videos about personal experiences of anxiety which I think is just fantastic. I know that sounds crazy, but I love hearing people talking about it because it makes me feel a whole load better about it.
I thought I would share my own experience with you for that same reason.
I've always worried and stressed a lot through my whole life, usually over nothing. I can sometimes be in a room where there is nothing wrong at all and then suddenly my stomach starts turning and I suddenly feel very hot and smothered. My chest gets very red and I sometimes even feel like I can't breathe or I feel sick. I've had a few panic attacks, no where near as many as some people and I haven't had one for a while now which I am very grateful for. But what I will say about them is that they really are not nice and they make me feel extremely embarrassed and almost helpless. I haven't been diagnosed with anxiety but I feel that maybe (especially this time last year) I definitely suffered with it.
What I mean by this is that instead of me being worried when I was supposed to be, like before taking a test or before singing in front of a group of people, I literally felt worried over absolutely nothing and I felt like it a lot. Even now when I don't consider myself to suffer with anxiety I still say I worry more than the average person should. I think this is partly due to my obsessive attitude. This is also a trait I've had since a very young age. For example, if I plan to do something at a certain place and at a certain time and then suddenly plans change I do not deal with that well and I find it very difficult for me to change my sense of mind. For example if I arranged with my friend to meet at McDonalds and then 10 minutes before I leave they want to meet me at Subway instead, I just can't really comprehend the change which actually makes me anxious.
I know this sounds ridiculous but when I watched Zoella's video on youtube the other day she described a person with anxiety as the car in the street that their alarm is triggered by a little gust of wind when actually there is nothing to be alarmed about at all. This made so much sense to me and actually made me feel a little relieved. A lot of people I know understand that I tend to stress a lot about things that don't need to be stressed over, but I have really improved especially over the last year.
One thing that has really helped me (I think) has been moving away from home and realising that I am responsible for myself. It was sort of a wake up call in realising that I can't just go back to my house and snuggle up in bed with a cup of tea every time I'm anxious. It's helped me find other ways of dealing with it other than being in my 'comfort zone'. For example, I'll make myself a cup of tea and just have a bit of a breather to reflect on what's going on and to ask myself 'what actually is the problem'. I love taking long showers, they are just so relaxing to me and just really help to de-stress me. I also like to take some 'me-time' and watch youtube videos, blog, read or watch tv or something, even go outside or shopping online, anything to take my mind off being anxious. Something else I've found to be really helpful is being around people I love. Friends that I have made in university, old friends and family are all so wonderful to me. It really helps sometimes to just sit down and just tell them how you feel. Even though I may feel embarrassed I've found that most times I feel way more relieved when I've spoken about it. Tom has helped me so much over the years to deal with me being obsessive and anxious, without him I'd be so much worse. I am so grateful and lucky to have him. He's made me realise that instead of thinking about the worst possible outcome always think of the best possible outcome.

Since it's the summer holidays I've had my fair few lazy days. It usually starts with me rolling out of bed at goodness knows what time. Lets be honest I don't always make my bed but if I can, I will give it a good darn try! I'll usually then stroll downstairs for some breakfast and a cup of tea. Since today I was feeling extra lazy, I just had a bowl of cereal.

First I made sure that my skin had the pamper of its life! Then I applied my Fix and Perfect primer from Rimmel and smoothed that all over my face and eye lids. I applied some of the Eraser concealer from Maybelline to my eyelids just to correct the purple tones a bit and to act as a base for my eye shadow. Then I completed my eyebrow routine (I made sure they were nicely taken care of before hand). To see my brow routine and the products I use click here. Then taking w.o.s from the naked basics palette I swept this all over the lid to brighten and correct the colour, then I blended naked 2 into the crease for a very soft definition.


I then decided to add some heavier definition just through the outer crease with the colour faint. Before adding some smokier colours I decided to highlight the inner corner with the colour venus and highlighting the brow bone with the colour Nect from Emite make up. Then to smoke up the look I used he colour crave. I applied this along my bottom lash line and then I blended it out on the outer corner of the eye. I started off with a light smokey eye and then I started to build up the colour and really intensify it.






Next: base! Foundation wise, I'd say full coverage. Of course you don't have to, but when it was my prom I definitely went full coverage, I wanted to be flawless. To do this I used my favourite Wake Me Up Foundation by Rimmel and applied this with a buffing brush for the fullest coverage I could get. I'd say get a foundation without SPF to avoid the 'ghost look' in flash photography. To see more tips on getting the perfect foundation click here. I also used my Eraser again by Maybelline and added extra coverage to the areas that needed it (under eyes, spots, redness...). Definitely powder that face! This ensures you don't look like a hot sweaty/greasy mess in your prom photos AND it makes your foundation last longer! Whilst this is pretty essential, please don't turn yourself into a cake...


Finally, make up wise, it's lippy time. I'd say that lip colour depends on the dress. I went for a nude-pink colour by first applying MAC's chatterbox lipstick and then layering Maybelline's colour sensational gloss in glorious grapefruit. I'd say really glam up by using lipgloss you'll feel so much more gorgeous! Just choose your lip colour wisely on whether your dress is warm or cool tone and just work with it! Or of course you can go with a nude lip and a bit of colour on the eyes!



The next thing I did was section the back section into two (one higher and one lower). I dtook the lower section and tied it away with a bobble. Then I section the top section into 3 and teased each part until it looked like this:

Then I smoothed it down a bit with my tangle teaser and hair sprayed it (quite a lot). Then when I was happy with the placement I pinned it into place.


Then I took the bobble out from the bottom section and tied both sections together. Once I did this I teased the ponytail a bit just for a little bit more volume and texture.





Here's the completed look. All I did then was curl the rest of my bangs and straightened my fringe a bit. I love this hairstyle, I've worn it for lots of occasions and it looks awesome whilst being very very easy to do. This is also the case with the make up. I love it so much! I think it will suit a lot of prom dresses and styles so I hope you like it too!