Blogging Friends💕

One of my favourite parts about blogging is how supportive and encouraging other bloggers are. Majority of them want to see you do well, are excited for you when you are granted with an exciting opportunity, and are there to help out with any blogging issues you have. Along the way, I have made a few, some of which I am closer to and talk to more often than others, but I know I can message them regardless.

Blogging friends are there to help you. If I'm having an absolute blogging crisis, I know I can pop over a quick message for their assistance. For example, if I can't work HTML (which is indefinite), they can assist me. Having a dilemma between layouts or pictures? They're always willing to help me choose. I love it. Of course, if they were to come to me, I'd help them out just the same. Why? Because that's just what you do. 

It fascinates me how blogging stretches far beyond the UK. People from America, Australia, Europe etc read my blog, and I read theirs. We also communicate with each other which is brilliant. Sure, time zones can be a bit of an issue because sometimes it can be the middle of the day here meanwhile it's nighttime elsewhere. Even with the time difference, I know that they will message me back as soon as they possibly can.

Three of my blogging friends include Kirsty, Hannah and Amie. I don't necessarily talk to them all every day - we can go for a few weeks without messaging and it's as if I only spoke to them yesterday. They listen to me, advise me and we just have a general chit-chat whenever we fancy. I go way back with all three infact, so far back that I forget how I even stumbled upon their blogs. The point I'm making here is that they are fantastic girls, I admire their blogs and they are superb friends.

I often see tweets where other bloggers are saying things along the lines of "Wish I had blogging friends". Honestly, there is nothing stopping you from making some! Enjoyed a blogger's post? Tweet them, or send them a direct message. Some people are shy in terms of speaking to people first (I'm not haha), so sometimes sending them a message can blossom a beautiful friendship - perhaps they feel the exact same way as you! It's amazing what blogging can do.

I am forever grateful for my blogging friends. I do think blogging would probably be lonely without a few friends. The best way to communicate with them is via Twitter, especially by participating in blogger chats - I follow so many people from them chats!

Happy socialising!

xx

Lord and Berry's Creamy Duo💕*

When it comes to contouring, I'm very picky with my products. I find it very hard to find products that aren't too orange toned nor too grey toned either, especially as I'm so pale things can look "dirty" on my face. Perhaps I haven't quite hit the nail on the head here, but I don't like how powder contour looks. Quite frankly, I don't feel as though it does anything; cream contour is my friend when it comes to contouring. As for blush, well I don't tend to use it, but I'm the opposite to contouring. I tend to use powder blush as opposed to cream blush. I couldn't quite believe it when an email from Lord and Berry landed in my inbox - of course I replied as soon as I saw the email and I was ever so excited, especially because the PR was so lovely!

Lord and Berry Cream Blush* || Shade 8233 Sweet Pink || £20 - Please don't tell me I'm the only girl who finds cream blush impossible to work with at first? I just struggle. This blush is a beautiful pink, almost a bubblegum pink. Personally, I'd say this is a S/S shade because it's brighter pink. A small bit is all that's needed when it comes to this blush as it goes a long way. I've found the easiest way to blend out is with a damp beauty sponge and just blend the heck out of it. It's a really pretty, light and girly blush which looks gorgeous and natural on pale skin tones.

Lord and Berry Cream Bronzer* || Shade 8932 Biscuit || £22 - Cream contours are my jazz, and if I didn't make that clear enough in the first paragraph, then I don't know how I could. At first, I was worried it was going to be far too dark for me because it looked dark in the pan, but I went ahead with it anyways and gave it a bash. It turns out it looks pretty great on my skin and in the blink of an eye, my cheekbones become instantly visible. Although it gives a chizzled look, it still remains natural and I love that. It may be a bronzer, but it works incredibly as a cream contour. Some cream contours can be "dry" but this blends out effortlessly. All I use is a real techniques pointed foundation brush to apply to the areas I wish to contour, then blend out with a damp beauty sponge.

I love the packaging of these products. Although they're simple, they look, and feel, expensive (after all, they are on the pricey side). They do have a slight fragrance I have noticed, but it doesn't bother me whatsoever. I feel that these are a luxury for any beauty lover to have stored in their makeup collection. 

Have you ever tried Lord and Berry? Any products I should try?

xx

University: Is it the be all or end all?💕

University. A pretty daunting word, eh? A place that could make or break your future. The stresses of picking a course, and the potential heartache of rejection. How a place of ten letters could determine your future is scary. Spending years attending lectures, stressing over essays and fearing over exams. Sounds fun, am I right? In this modern society, young people feel pressured to go to uni and be successful after they graduate. Do they necessarily enjoy their course? No. Do they regret it? Perhaps. Once they leave school, they are automatically assumed by others that they will go to uni. But, uni is not for everyone.  

It seems these days that people apply for uni and just pick any course they fancy without considering it. Perhaps they feel pressured, or want to go to uni purely to say they go. Some young people feel pushed by their parents to go - it appears that these days, life is a big competition. It’s as though people want to brag about which uni their child, or children, attend, and their course. One thing that gets under my skin is the belief that in order to be successful in life, you must attend uni, despise every moment of it and graduate with a degree. Wrong.

You may be wondering what sort of perspective I’m writing this from, and I can tell you this: I am a young person living in society whereby I’m expected by others to go to uni however I have chosen not to. Uni doesn’t appeal to me. I could’ve got in, but I opted for college instead. These days, colleges are overlooked. They’re discarded. It’s sickening if I’m honest, because you can still do really well in life by attending a college course instead. I haven’t been greeted with half as much stress if I were to have went to uni. I am enjoying myself, and I am happy. Why would I go to uni just to brag about it when the option of going to college instead and I’m enjoying my course? I know what I’d rather.

After saying that, college and uni just aren’t for some people, and that’s totally cool; everyone is different. Some prefer to work full time from the minute they leave school, and there’s absolutely no harm in that whatsoever. Education may not be their thing whereas working is. They could have top grades from school but just don’t want to pursue them, yet they can still be happy in life, not to mention successful - they may start at the bottom, gradually climbing the employment ladder and end up at the top. How exactly do they get there? With four key ingredients; hard work, positivity, ambition and determination.

With that being said, some people know from an early age what they want to do as a career, and uni is the pathway for them to achieve this goal. Out of curiosity, I have looked at uni courses (I like to see the sort of entry requirements specific courses have at varying unis) and I often wonder to myself what job you will find post graduating with the degree. On the flip side, once people have graduated, they realise they wasted their uni years as they didn’t particularly enjoy their course and they don’t use their degree and spend their life doing something else. So when applying, considering the consequences is a crucial stage.

Two perfect examples for this topic are Richard Branson and Alan Sugar. Both are entrepreneurs who left school at sixteen and never went to uni, and to say that the two of them are successful is an understatement. They are a living proof that you don’t need a degree to do well in life; they worked hard and have every right to their millions that they have earned over the years. Sugar started selling electrical goods from the back of a van when he was sixteen, and Branson started up his own magazine, despite being told by his headmaster that he was a failure and wouldn’t get far in life. And where are they now? Living their best lives, minus a degree, yet are successful and making millions.

So, where exactly am I going with this post? It’s simply a reminder that you can be successful without uni and it isn’t the be all or end all. All of your friends may go to uni and you may go to college or work full time, but it doesn’t make them a better person than you. Don’t feel belittled because you don’t go, and don’t feel pressured to go to uni because it’s seen as the “norm” these days, or because everyone else is going. Make decisions based on yourself, for you and for your future. Across social media, I have seen people posting about their uni offers. For some people, this can be quite a crushing time because they’ve may not had any offers, or don’t have the grades to get in. Either way, you shouldn’t let someone else’s offers affect you. You do you, work for yourself and you will get somewhere. Trust me.

By no means am I saying don’t go to uni, of course it’s some people’s dreams to go and that’s fine. All I’m trying to get across is how uni doesn’t always mean success, and that alternative pathways do exist which may be more beneficial for you as an individual. Some people may really want to go to uni yet don’t have the grades to get in, so college is the route from them. Once they pass their course, they may be able to attend uni if they wish. Some go for both, not because they don’t have the grades to go to uni, but purely as a stepping stone, because they may feel there is too big a gap between school and uni.

Do I feel as though I’m missing out by not going to uni? Absolutely not. And I’m certain there are many more individuals out there who feel the same as me. You can be successful and you can do well in life without a degree. Just don’t rush into things because your friends are doing it. Take a gap year if needed. Prioritise you and think what’s best for you. Just because your best friend goes to uni doesn’t mean you’re not successful in life, and don’t ever base your success on someone else’s. We all take time.

Perfect Winter Highlighters💕

A change in season means time for a makeup rotation. I absolutely love digging through my makeup and bringing my A/W makeup to the front and putting my S/S items away. Berry lipsticks, darker eyeshadows, I'm calling you. As well as this, I like to change my highlighters. In the S/S, I use warmer toned highlighters but in A/W, I prefer a cooler toned highlight (it matches the weather better hahaha). Whilst rooting around my makeup, I decided to create a blog post with some of my favourite Winter highlighters and have picked out a stick, powder and liquid version.

theBalm Mary Lou || £18 - If the above image doesn't stress how much I love this highlighter, then I don't know what will. It's literally the most beautiful, dreamiest highlight ever which is sure to leave you glowing like a night sky. It's oozes pigmentation and even with the lightest hand, the glow is insane. It's a stunning gold toned highlight which isn't on the warm side at all, and is honestly a pale gal's best friend - it compliments my skintone so well. I could go on for days raving about this highlight, but to save boring you - read more here.

Natural Collection Highlighter Stick in Rose Glow || £2.49 - As you can tell, this highlight is definitely on the cool side and there's no denying it. Believe it or not, this stick delivers quite a glow indeed. Considering the size of the product, there is a lot of pigment in the little stick. It works well with my pale skintone, and is more on the natural side than Mary Lou. I find it a bit tricky to apply because I'm afraid incase it appears "streaky", so after applying, I always ensure to blend it out. If you want to find out more about these highlighter sticks, read here.

Seventeen Skin Wow Highlighter || £5.99 - Whenever I use a liquid highlighter, I tend to use it as a base, followed by a powder highlighter for intensity, however, this highlight is strong enough that this isn't always needed. Less is more with regards to this because the pigmentation is strong enough to blind people, it's incredible. I like to apply two to three dots on my cheekbones, then blend out with a damp beauty sponge. This delivers a more natural look whilst still glows like mad. It can be used as a primer however I would not risk this because a glowy primer and oily skin does not sound like a good combination to me, but it may work for you.

As you can imagine, I own numerous highlighters, but these are my favourite Winter highlighters. And, do tell me about yours!

Resolutions For 2018💕

I know I'm not alone when I say it's really satisfying that the 1st January 2018 is a Monday. An ideal time for a fresh start. I don't do this whole "New Year, New Me" thing because if you want to change your life at any point, then you can. I also don't tend to set New Years resolutions because I enjoy setting myself daily, weekly or monthly goals. I have decided that I am going to share a few of my goals which I hope to achieve by this time next year. These are just general because I personally break them down further to achieve them.

1. PHOTOGRAPHY: I feel this is a never ending goal for bloggers in general. I'm forever working on my photography, trying out new techniques to try and improve my photos. You may not know, but I enjoy photography out with my blog (cheeky plug but you can check out my work here and here). As of October 2017, I upgraded my camera to the Canon EOS 1300D (my first ever DSLR!) and I'm loving it so much so far.

2. SAVE: I'm not the biggest spender ever, I'm most definitely a saver, however, I've decided to save even more this year. I have a jar which I used to use to save my £2 coins and it builds up so quickly, and for some bizarre reason, I stopped, but I've changed my mind and decided I'm going to start saving them up again.

3. BLOG: I kind of slacked in the blogging department throughout 2017, it was completely unintentional; sometimes life gets in the way and that's normal. For 2018, I'm going to put in a lot of hard work. Although my blog is predominately beauty, I haven't been into makeup and all that jazz lately (who am I?!) which makes blogging hard - how can I review makeup if I'm not wearing it? I'm going to be steering my blog in a slightly different direction, incorporating more "lifestyle" posts. I'm not going to give too much away right now, I'd rather keep you on your toes! This also means posting more on my Instagram. I suck at that but I need to try more!

4. MOVE ON: 2017 was a pretty positive year for me. A lot of good things happened for me, which caused certain things to change slightly, but life happens. It taught me to move on, and don't look back and dwell. Which is for the best. It's my life so why wait around?

5. WORK ON ME, FOR ME, BY ME: Basically, I just want to work on me as a person. Improve. I find working myself with my own goals and intentions means I'm able to strive myself to achieve my dreams. Hustle guys, and keep going.

6. LANGUAGE: Fun fact, but I can speak French. By no means am I fluent in the language, but I know quite a fair bit. I do like French of course, and I intend to consolidate my vocabulary further, but since the Summer, I have been teaching myself Spanish! It may only be the basics but I'm definitely glad I made the decision to start because I've been enjoying it. Spanish is very similar to French, and I believe that this is why I've been picking it up quite well. Duolingo, you are my favourite app.

Happy New Year, and welcome to 2018!

What are your 2018 Resolutions?

xx