First Beauty Haul of the Year

I hadn't been shopping since before Christmas. I had desperately wanted to go shopping in the sales after seeing some good offers online, but with so much work to do it simply wasn't feasible. Last Friday I took the first chance I had and spent the afternoon wandering around some of my favourite shops in Brighton.

Hydraluron by Indeed Labs £24.99
I have heard so much about this, mostly from Caroline Hirons, that I felt like I just had to have it in my skincare routine. About half a year ago I started investing more into my skincare products, but it still takes a lot of deliberation before I take the plunge on a more expensive purchase. After seeing it on offer on Boots website for only £16.66, it was a price I couldn't refuse.

The Body Shop - Pink Grapefruit Body Mist £7.50
Just over a month ago when I was in London, we went into The Body Shop and I sprayed the tester of this on my wrist. I remember repeatedly being pleasantly surprised when I got a whiff of the scent throughout the rest of the day. Since then it's been on my list of things I want.

Superdrug - Aloe Vera Mud Mask £2.49
After hearing lilypepples talking about this face mask, it sounded like a great inexpensive one to try. I very rarely use face masks but thought it would be a nice treat to add to my skincare regime. This isn't yet on the Superdrug website, although the sachet version is.

Gillette Venus Proskin Sensitive £9.69
This is a re-purchase of the best razor blades I have tried. I only recently invested in the razor with changeable heads rather than the disposables that I sed to use. 

Superdrug Deep Cleansing Fruit Mask £0.99
A buy one get one half price offer, so I couldn't resist trying a different mask for just 50p. If the bigger size tube of this one was included in the offer I may have gone for that instead.

The Body Shop - Pink Grapefruit Body Butter
As above, there was another buy one get one half price offer on, so I went for the body butter in the matching scent to the body mist I had chosen. The only size I could find of this in store was the 50ml version, yet on the website I can only find the 200ml version.

Rimmel Glam Eyes HD in Brixton Brown £6.99
I had spotted this in Boots a month or so ago, but was very hesitant to try something else when I love my Naked palette so much. This is another one that I saw recommend by lilypepples (here) and compared to the Charlotte Tillbury Dolce Vita palette. I could see myself getting a lot of use out of this, and as I hadn't had any new eyeshadows in over 2 year I thought, why not?

Have you tried any of these products? What did you think to them?

No Heat Waves

I don't actually own any curling wands, or hair straighteners...I don't even own a hairdryer! This is what I do when I want to add some waves to my hair. It's so easy and creates really lovely waves, I really should do it more often.

Day 1
After I've showered and washed my hair, I put it up in a towel to dry while I get the rest of myself dressed and ready. When I've finished my makeup, I will take the towel of my hair and comb through it with a wide tooth comb. My hair takes quite a while to dry and at this stage it is still very damp. I split my hair into two halves and do a french braid on each side of my head. On my left I leave out my side fringe, and I like to make sure the braid is quite neat and tight all the way down.

Day 2
After I've finished getting ready in the morning I take out the braids, using my fingers to separate them. I don't brush or comb through my hair at all as this ruins how the waves look. I give my hair a light spritz of hairspray to help maintain the waves throughout the day.

Day 3
On the third day, I brush through my hair gently. The waves are still a little visible, but mostly my hair just has a slightly crimped affect and more volume than it normally would.

Hope you give this super easy hairstyle a go, and let me know if you have any other ways of creating no heat hairstyles.

A Piece of Thoughtful Writing

My boyfriend, Michael, asked me to share something he had written, so I thought why not. It's something he had written a few years ago, but I like it. It's meaningful and makes you think.  

          Home is where the heart is,
          To build a strong castle you must begin with a strong base,
          It does not matter where your heart is,
          But who it is with,
          My heart is with my family,
          I begin with them,
          I must build my base strong before I build my middle and top floors,
          My floors are my future, but will become my present,
          I travel into the future, but cannot travel back into the past,
          My past will be lost,
          My past isn't in a place, but a time,
          In my mind, time stands still,
          Memories have no time scale,
          In my mind, my past is my base,
          It is my heart,
          It is everything that I fight for,
          Make my base better, make my base stronger,
          When my future becomes my present,
          My base will keep my castle strong,
          And when my castle becomes my past,
          From foundations, to ground, to middle, to top,
          When my past becomes their past,
          Death comes to us all,
          I shall die happy,
          And when my past becomes their past,
          My castle would have stood strong for centuries,
          And when their past becomes their past,
          My castle would have been admired for an eternity,
          As I have admired those past, who made my base strong.

          By Milrus

 

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

I've heard this book recommended by so many people, that it had to be the first book I brought on my Kindle Paperwhite. After just recently finishing it, I thought I would do a little reveiw.

To save from giving too much away, I decided to share with you the synopsis written on the back of the book:

"They say that the cure for Love will make me happy and safe forever. And I’ve always believed them. Until now. Now everything has changed. Now, I’d rather be infected with love for the tiniest sliver of a second than live a hundred years smothered by a lie."

 This is a dystopian novel. If you don't know what that means, a dystopia is a society that is frightening or undedesirable to live in. In this case, the society is made to believe that love is a disease and live in fear of becoming infected (falling in love).

The story starts of with the main character Lena, who has believed what she has been told her whole life and is counting down the days until her procedure. She believes that the cure will give her safety and security, stability. She doesn't know any different until her friend Hana opens her eyes to things Lena didn't know existed. And then she meets Alex, and the world she lives in is changed forever.

I really enjoyed reading this book and learning about this new society, thinking about the ideas brought up. When you're told the symptoms of disease 'amor deliria nervosa' they are all things that can happen when someone falls in love and it's easy to understand why in this society it is looked upon as a bad thing. But as you continue to read you learn that everything they know is built upon lies.

I highly recommend this book and loved it so much I started reading the second in the trilogy right away.

New Year 2014

Once again, we've come to the end of yet another year. Where does the time go? This year has been an amazing one for me with so many great memories to look back on. 

At the beginning of the year I had only recently met Michael. We spent the first week of the year together in Norwich, and by June we had moved into our first flat together. I passed my first year at University, and am now halfway through my second as well as halfway through the course. I put together a short video to sum up my year.

I don't usually make new years resolutions, but this year I thought it would be a great opportunity to make a few changes and achieve a few goals.

1. Make changes throughout the year towards a healthier lifestyle.

2. Pass my driving test.

3. Be less lazy and more productive.

4. Pass my second year at University.

By the end of 2014 I hope I can say that I have achieved these things, and have another great year to look back on.

Pumpkin Pie

Before making this pumpkin pie I had never even tasted it. I wanted to make it purely to try it, and it turned out I really like it. Pumpkin pie is very popular in America but in this country it seems very few people have tried it. When asked what it tasted like I've described it as a cross between an egg custard tart and carrot cake...sounds strange, but trust me when I say it's good and you should at least try it! It is a very seasonal treat for Autumn and especially around Halloween when we see so many pumpkins around. If you don't go to the effort of making your own shortcrust pastry, this is very quick and easy to put together.

You will need:

400g Ready-made Shortcrust Pastry
425g Tin of Pumpkin Puree
340g Evaporated Milk
2 Eggs
¾ cup Granulated Sugar
1 ½ tsp Cinnamon
¾ tsp Ground Ginger
⅜ tsp Ground Nutmeg
⅜ tsp Ground Allspice

Method:

Preheat your oven to 220 C. Start by lightly greasing a 9-inch tart tin. Dust flour over a clean work surface and roll out the pastry in a circular shape until it is about half a cm thick. Wrap the sheet of pastry around your rolling pin and use it to lift the pastry onto the tin. Lower the pastry into the sides of the tin without stretching it and lightly press into the corners. Trim any excess pastry off leaving about 2 cm around the edge. Fold the edge back on itself. Using a fork, carefully prick the pastry on the base of the tin.
In a large mixing bowl measure out all of the remaining ingredients. Using a hand or electric whisk, mix all the ingredients together. Pour the mixture into the pastry lined tin, leaving about cm gap at the top of the pastry. (I had a small amount of pastry and a small amount of filling left, so if you have a small tartlet tin you can make a mini pie with the leftover.)
Put the pie into the oven. After 15 minutes turn the temperature down to 175 C. Leave the pie in the oven for a further 50-55 minutes. The filling should still be wobbly when it is done. Take it out of the oven and leave to cool completely before taking it out of the tin. Store in the fridge, as it is best eaten chilled.

The Beauty of Going for a Walk

I have many memories of going on walks with my family. It was something we often did. Something to get us out the house, get some fresh air and blow the cobwebs away. Maybe it was something to wear us out when we were young and full of energy, and something free that we could all do together.
More often than not we wouldn't even get in the the car. We would simply walk out the front door and see which direction took our fancy.
I remember walking to primary school. There was a few others from the village that also did and we would sometimes be all walking together. Even though it was at least a half an hour walk, only the rain or lack of time would stop us. In the Summer we would enjoy the walk more, playing and chasing each other on the way home. I remember the steep hill we had to walk on the way out of the village and the many times that I fell and injured my knee. In the Autumn we would collect conkers and play with them in the school playground.
I remember many of the walks we took as a family to Meanporth beach. I specifically remember the time when my Dad taught me how to whistle. He spent the whole way there showing me with persistence how to shape my lips and blow, demonstrating himself, until I finally mastered it. I then spent the whole way back whistling, so pleased with my achievement. 

When we got a dog, I would walk him to the beach with my Dad almost every day of the week. I would love running across the beach with Sam, chasing him and throwing sticks.
On a cold windy day we would often get wrapped up warm and walk along the cliffs, or drive to kennack or cadgwith and take a walk through the woods. We would appreciate our nice warm house all the more when we returned.
If I ever needed time to think. If life ever felt like it was getting too much. If I just need time alone. I would take myself out for walk, usually with Sam, to the top of the cliffs. I would sit on a bench up the there looking out to sea, listening to nothing but the wind and waves, and the thoughts in my head.

It didn't even matter if it was wet outside. We would dress up in waterproofs and embrace whatever the weather was. 

In the autumn our walks would often take us blackberry picking. This was something me, James and Dad normally did and then Mum would make a lovely apple and blackberry crumble with our pickings. On cold days we would sometimes stop to get a hot drink from a cafe on the way back.

I've realised I don't go on walks hardly at all anymore. Where I live now is quite different to the cliffs and valleys and beaches of Cornwall. I had lived in Cornwall my whole life and so knew the place well. I knew all the places to go on a day out, all the beaches along the coast, all the footpaths we could walk along. There's certainly advantages to where I'm living now but there's also many thing I miss in Cornwall. I suppose after time, and a lot of exploring the area we will get to know the place we live now better.