Lush Haul 💕

Earlier this week, I posted about the Lush event that I was kindly invited to, I spoke about my experience of the amazing new shop, but I didn't show you guys what I had received and purchased at the event! I was so excited that Lush had re-opened, I could finally repurchase some of my favourites that I had run out of and I could finally feel fresh in my new fancy bathroom that I'm so proud of.

So here's what I got!

(top to bottom)

Christingle Body Conditioner*

I've never actually tried a lush body conditioner before, we got the choice between snow fairy and this Christingle one, which is more fresh and minty which is my favourite throughout winter, I'm weird and I don't like floral smells and prefer a more fresh or fruity smell. It contains peppermint oil and menthol crystals. I'm really excited to try this, I feel like it will be quite refreshing in the morning.

Sugar Plum Fairy Lip Scrub

I've been after a lip scrub for ages and after finding out that Lush's were edible, I just knew I had to get one, I'm an avid lip chewer, which doesn't make a pretty base for matte lipsticks.. You can simply lick away the excess after using, which is abit gross for some people.. but I like it, I don't mind a bit of lip skin.. especially if it smells delicious!

'Never mind the ballistics' Bath Bomb*

We got to see this bath bomb in action at the lush event and its so beautiful, colours of yellow and pink swirls and it smells incredible. I think it's limes and orange oil, so again fresh and fruity. Unfortunately I don't actually have a bathtub.. but I'll probably be featuring this in my soon-to-be giveaway.

'Don't look at me' Fresh Face mask

Zesty and lemon-y fresh face mask, yas! I love a good face mask and my favourite is usually the mask of magnaminty (my all time fave) but I decided to go with something a little different this time around, so I chose this one I love the colour of it and it was so just fresh and relaxing I just couldn't resist.

Passion Fruit Lip Balm

So I lost my lip balm the other day and I was upset so after getting the lip scrub I went and bought a nice new balm to go with it. This one is the passion fruit one and it's quite light and not very sticky and of course it smells amazing.

Goth Fairy Shimmer Bar

I'm not really a shimmer girl, but I was sold on this item mainly because it was cute (sorry bank balance) but also because it's just a nice thing to put on, on a night out. One of the staff there says she uses it on her collarbones and stuff for a night out, so I  was inspired to maybe do the same!

'Whoosh' Shower Jelly

I've never used a shower jelly, the thought of it is just abit weird really.. I haven't tried it yet, but I was intrigued to see what it's like, but it again smells really fresh and I think it will be awesome to really wake you up in the morning.

Ocean Salt Scrub

Another one of my lush favourites, I went back and bought this but I bought their new self-preserving range, which is a different formula so it wasn't as gritty and a lot more creamier than usual, its a great scrub and I'm pretty sure my boyfriend likes it more than I do...

'Outback Mate' Soap

My favourite soap of all time. Outback mate, I am just obsessed with you! You can get as little or as much cut from the soap and it's bought depending on the weight like if you were buying cheese! I love this stuff, it lasts for ages and it smells amazing! 

And I didn't actually realise how much stuff I had actually bought before I wrote this post.. whoops. But I hope you enjoyed reading about some of my all time favourites, but also some new things that I'm trying out from Lush!

Let me know your thoughts and thanks for reading as always.

All products with an asterisk* were received at the Lush event as a gift, everything else was purchased myself.

Lush Bournemouth Opening Event

When I found out about this event I knew I just had to go! Lush is so close to where I live now and it's been closed for refurbishment for what seems like FOREVER, like seriously.. Forever. I've missed those beautiful smells down the street coming out of their doors and windows, that smell that distinctively says LUSH. I missed popping into the store and buying that new fresh face mask or my beloved outback soap that my shower has been missing for the last few months. So of course I had to go to this event.

Honestly, I thought it was going to be a little bloggers event, I didn't really know what to expect, but upon arriving there was a brass band outside and little railings and just loads to do and see it was all very exciting, but also quite nerve-wracking too! It was a full PR opening event which was so so awesome and I felt so privileged to of received an invite.

All of the scaffolding and paper boards were now down so we could see the beautiful shop underneath, unfortunately I was too excited by everything and forgot to take a good picture of the outside of the shop, but you should go see it for yourself, its beautiful!

When we got into the store we received little (plack cards?!) with our names on which was cool and then we received champagne, it was so surreal I felt like such a VIP (haha) it was abit chaotic as there were loads of people inside checking out the new shop, So trying to take photos for the blog was abit crazy with photographers, bloggers, PR people all trying to do the same thing so angles were really not an option!

As you enter the shop now there is an entire section just dedicated to Bath bombs, bath fizzy things and just about anything to do with taking a bath. There's so many beautiful designs and colours and this new amazing mural on the wall which was my favourite part about the whole shop. So bright and vibrant it really attracts your attention straight away. It's so nice I can't even remember what it was like beforehand, the visual merchandising team did an amazing job with this store its beautiful!

Unfortunately I don't have a bath so I can't try out any of their bath bombs, unless I go visit my parent's or something. I can't even try this cute little Christmas penguin! ^ Look at it! So cute.

So I am sad about the fact I can't experience the true amazement of Lush's bath bombs anymore, but I can however use a lot of their other products, so I was mainly interested in everything else than the bath bombs. And lucky for me, they have a whole section dedicated to SHOWERS EVERYWHERE!

Just look at that HUGE-MONGUS snow fairy bottle, its massive! At a crazy 1kg its so big it just made me giggle, now snow fairy lovers everywhere can enjoy this ridiculously sized bottle of it. But hooray for showers! I'm more into the soap's instead of the shower gels, but I'm willing to possibly try one as the soap I usually get can be quite fiddley and annoying sometimes, e.g. falling all over the place.

I did get a lot of new stuff that I'm really excited to show with you guys, but I'll be doing a little haul post this week, I just love the new shop, it's amazingly laid out, it has wheelchair access now and all the staff are as friendly as ever. It's got such a nicer feel to it and I can't wait to spend my money in there!

I had such a lovely time at the event too, I met some amazingly fun bloggers in my local area that I previously didn't know about which was awesome, we drank some of the funky cocktails LUSH put out for everyone, took part in some activities making some products and just had a good chinwag and listened to the brass band. An amazing evening and I was so blessed to have the opportunity.

If you haven't yet seen it go see the new revamped LUSH store in Bournemouth, it's all finished and its looking as beautiful as ever.
Thanks for reading as always,

Changing your Instagram habits

Sorry about my lack of post yesterday, I think blogtober just got the better of me and I was feeling so down in the dumps, writing any piece of content was not on my priority list if I'm honest. I was just so uninspired the last thing you want to do is create some half arsed content that's probably going to be awful haha.

But I'm back today hooray! And today I'm going to talk about changing your instagram habits! We've all been there, wether you've neglected your feed by not being active, or having so many different lighting styles and craziness, its time to calm it down. Or maybe you're all cool with your insta and you just want to have a nosy that's grool too ;)

If you noticed recently I've stepped my insta game up, I've actually been attempting to hit my target of 3k followers as I've been stuck on 2500 for what seems forever and I like to measure my success by statistics. It's cool if you don't like to do it that way.. but that's what I'm measuring my efforts by, I'm used to it and it's my thing.

These are the thing I changed and what's getting me the best results!

Sticking to more of a 'theme'

I'm not as strict as a lot of other instagrammers can be, but I do like my photos to be bright and light. I try to use the same filter which is S1 on VSCO ..I don't do the whole colour scheme thing that a lot of others do, just because I find it more realistic to stick to my way (hehe) I find it quite hard and I admire anyone who can do this! just how??

Using appropriate hashtags

I use quite a blogg-ery vibe of hashtags on my photos, but with some internet googling you can find lists upon lists of various hashtags. There's also a website dedicated to finding the most popular hashtags affiliated with your search tag. I tend to put some bullet points and put my tags in a comment rather than on the photo itself, I think it looks less messy and you can put a few more tags that way!

Connect, connect, connect.

How will people know you exist if you're a ghost? The trick to this is follow people you like and just engage with their content, let them know if you love that dress they're wearing, or the way their home is decorated. Genuine comments are interesting, I know I always click on someones profile if they leave a nice or interesting comment.  

Engage, Engage, Engage.

aha! The opposite of the previous tip, again it's all about people being active. Engage with your followers, let them know they appreciate you, answer their questions, make them feel like an actual.. follower!

The more you are likely to engage with your following the more likely they are to actually write a comment, this is a huge stat of mine that has dramatically increased since I've been more active. I'm getting 100% times more engagement than I previously was. It keeps it exciting, and who wants to be posting to a bunch of ghosts? Not me..

Be Active in Posting

I'm currently aiming to be posting on Instagram about twice a day. I'm preparing and as sad as it is, making time to take a nice picture of my morning tea, or chilling on the sofa. People love to know what you're up to and it's an easy way to create content. It's nice to take photos on a better quality camera if you have one, and stock those up for random pics when you're too busy!

Take advantage of 'stories'

When stories first came out I was like.. yawn, it's another snapchat without cool filters great thanks, insta. But Now I am just obsessed, it's all my favourite people I'm following giving us little snaps into their lives and although I loved snapchat, it's so nice to have it all in one place. Recently I've been taking advantage of the stories option, using it to document my hair 'story' of me recently dying my hair and I was surprised to see that 500+ people were engaged in the whole story, which is a lovely thought. I think stories will continue to grow and we will see a lot more from them.

So that's what I'm doing at the moment for my insta, if you've got any questions tweet me or leave a comment, or let me know what you're doing to change your insta! 

Thanks for reading as always,

10 Things to do this Autumn

Yay, all the leaves are changing and it's finally feeling autumnally, it's my favourite season of all, a crispness in the air, but not too cold to be freezing. Today I went for a little walk around the area to just take some pictures for my blog and I really enjoyed just being outside.

There's just something magical about bonfires and all the colours of autumn. It makes me want to do different things and I'll be giving my top 10 things to do in the autumn time and the things I'm planning to do.

1. Visit a Pumpkin Patch (these are usually around just give them a google in your area!)
2. Visit a park and take some lovely photos.
3. Buy a new jumper or cosy new blanket for your sofa.
4. Kit yourself out with a new Mug for your home.
5. Organise a cosy dinner night with your friends
6. Make pumpkin soup (yummy!)
7. Host a bonfire party on the beach! or just visit one.. haha
8. Go on a bike ride somewhere
9. Collect conkers!
10. Make an awesome costume for halloween!

Unfortunately at the moment I'm tied in at work on the weekends, so I'm unable to really do a lot of these which is really frustrating at the moment but we'll see how it all goes.. I am however working hard on my costume, which I'm doing Enchantress from Suicide squad and it is looking so awesome! I'm so excited to share it with you guys! But until tomorrow, see you later!

5 bloggers I am loving right now

I'm not really sure how I feel about my head in this picture, I need to dye my hair so there's that but I want to play the sims tonight.. so Im'ma just let that slide before my blog perfectionism eats me away.. so let's just ignore that right now haha

Today I'm going to be sharing my favourite bloggers right now, bloggers that I am LOVING. Since I've started writing again I've also started reading more which has been really fun but also quite inspiring at the same time, so why not share the love and show my favourites. All the name's are linked by the way so you can have a little nosy :)

aroraappleby

I really love Arora's content because I always can just seem to relate, all of her posts I'm just like yep, totally feel you girl and that's some of my favourite things to read. AND She's from Bournemouth, hooray! Her content is perfect for reading in bed thinking what am I doing with my life.. really beautiful posts and a pleasure to read.

arosieoutlook

You know when you're just obsessed with another person's life? I get that with Rosie.. in a totally 100% not creepy way I promise, but in a real follower kind of way. I love seeing what she's up to as her life is full of adventures, her super cute dog and other lifestyle posts that I always look forward to seeing, I love her local dorset style and it's just breath of fresh air.

coloursandcarousels

I always find myself clicking Charlotte's posts on twitter, either her buffer schedule is on fleek or I just really enjoy her content. Her blog is so pretty is makes me all happy everytime I'm on it! She's writing some really good posts at the moment so you should go check her out :)

katybelle

Probably my FAVE blogger right now, Katy is killing' it gurl. I'm surprised that she doesn't have a bigger following because her content is amazing. There just isn't one post of hers that I haven't read or didn't like. Honestly, it makes me have major blog envy that my blog isn't like hers.. oh and did I mention her photography theme is on fleek?

cattitudeandco

Tara's blog is so awesome, she's not afraid to blog about anything which is really cool and gives her blog something different, from feminism to sex, she writes about the things people don't really want to and that's why I love her blog. There's such variety to her posts, which is why I chose her to be on this list. <3

So that's my top 5 for this week! I'm so happy to of shared the love with you guys and confess my favourite bloggers at the moment, you should check them out and I'm going to play the sims.. tehe.

Thanks for reading as always,

Being realistic with yourself

Yesterday if you noticed I didn't post a post.. even though I'm doing blogtober. I was going to stay in and blog while my boyfriend and his friends went outing had fun, I had work the next morning so I thought it would be right to just stay in and cosy up.

But our friend came over and we were having a laugh and it was really fun and I can't remember the last time I was truly social. Being at uni and working and not seeing my boyfriend as much has really taken it's toll on me the last few weeks, I've been bored and honestly, I've been rather lonely lately.

I've been really focusing on my blog and trying to improve all my social channels and content and it's gotten some really amazing results but I don't really know if I can actually say I'm happy with my day to day life at the moment. You may of seen a few posts recently about just trying to better myself and be more proactive and I haven't really been focusing on that much.

This week I'm aiming to be more realistic with myself, set myself achievable targets, wether that be creating a post that helps me go out of the house or schedule time away from my blog to really focus on my university work.

One thing I have learnt over these last few weeks is my time management and just general planning and organisation and how I can go about changing this for the better.

It's exciting but it's also a step in the right direction, it's finding the balance between not putting all my eggs in one basket but also succeeding in lots of different things, uni, my life, blogging, finding a way that I can improve and enjoy all things instead of just one.

So I didn't post yesterday because I was out when I probably should've been in but I had fun and it just made me realise how much I had ignored everything else around me. I still want to take part in blogtober but I need to be more organised and not scared to do things.

Tomorrow I'll be creating a new schedule. A schedule for me. Let's see what happens!

October Wardrobe Wishlist 🎃

Its already day 14 of blogtober! I can't believe that I've actually achieved it so far, going from 0 to blogging everyday I feel so much more happier with the progress I'm making. Im also enjoying it so much more now, its always so lovely to feel like you're achieving your goals.

This post is a little 'wardrobe' Wishlist for October, I've been swooning over these items and although there's not a lot of them, I'm very selective haha, besides the fact I think I'm actually addicted to homeware...

Pom Pom Headband - Missguided/ASOS

I love love this, anything to make my hair super cute I am all over it. Perfect for the spooky season, I do however love misguided, but hate their delivery service, so I always buy their stuff through Asos. Never had any trouble with Asos, so excited to buy these. (link)

Kitty Pumps! - ASOS

How super cute are these! I am such a shoe lover, anything quirky and I'm like yes girl I need those. Hence why I have way too many shoes, but they are adorable, perfect for the spooky fest coming up and I am probably going to buy these straight after writing this post! (link)

PUNKY PINS 

Not really sure how or why I didn't find this brand sooner, but I love most of their pins. I made an order a few weeks ago and waiting as one of them was out of stock, but should be arriving soon! But these 2 pins are on my next 'to-get' list, they're cute and spooky.. what's not to like? (link)

That outfit - ASOS

You're probably thinking what the hell is this heading but look at that outfit, YAS!  It doesn't need any other explanation really.. It's right up my street, with that cute blouse and loose fitted trousers. Just gimme it, Give it to me! (link)

Pink Beanie - River Island

Now my hair's a cute orangey peachy pink I'm on the look for cute items to match for the winter, I really like this hat and I'm having a cute pom pom phase.. so thumbs up for me! (link)

I'm sure I'll do a homeware edition soon, I'm trying to cut back my spending so it just makes me sad making wish lists! (whoops)

What are you lusting over this autumn? Leave a comment with your links!

Thanks for reading as always x

OOTD // Take me to your leader 👽

Hi Gang!
So today's blog post is another lookbook hooray! I'm really loving these new fashion-y posts, and I've got so much good feedback from them, I even got reposted by lookbook on their instagram and twitter to over a million followers which was amazing! so hey ho, I'll continue making them. Today I was feeling really space girl vibes and I just decided to wear grey, because WHY NOT.

My makeup was also super sparkly, but I couldn't really get a decent shot that I don't look like some rave mess haha

SO here's the lowdown on my outfit! Which is surprisingly cheap AF.

All these items the top, skirt and tights are all from PRIMARK. Yep.
And the boots are from New look!

My hair is now this beautiful pinky peach colour which I am LOVING. However its not really going along with my cold blue theme I've got going on haha, blogger problems.

I think this was the shortest post I've ever done (sorry) but yeah they're all mostly primark except for the boots. I Love this look, it just screams autumn for me. What do you think?

Return of the Colours

THEY ARE BACK. I repeat they are back! I have missed them so much.
Aside from being able to wear whatever the hell I want to, I really missed those crazy I don't give a crap what my crazy hair looks like days, and I'm happy to say that my crazy colourful hair will be staying for a little while.

This decision came after I just became fed up with 'natural' looking colours. I went black a few months ago to cover over the blue/green tone that had stained my blonde hair, I wanted a more natural colour so I could wear different clothes that would go with my hair. But after being black for quite some time I got bored of it and wanted to go grey again, little did I know I had been putting silicone in my hair from the XXL Live colour black I had been using.

Cutting it short.. (no pun intended) after trying to tone my hair multiple times, going to a hairdressers twice.. my hair was some super damaged, nasty gross green tinge colour. I was a true swamp girl. It was making me really unhappy and I didn't really want to leave the house, nothing I did worked, violet shampoo and all that stuff but what I really needed was to put warmth back into my hair.

I was patient and didn't just chuck the first colour on my head, which probably would've been black and caused more damage, which I'm so happy I did, because I had bleached and damaged my hair and it was actually blonde underneath the colour. So to limit the damage to my hair, today I put a colour remover on which removed most of the toner, and I'm back to using the vegan conditioning, non-peroxide dyes I know and love.

Although bleach london aren't my favourite hair dyes in the world, they don't last very long, which is why I'm using them in case I have a colour disaster and it doesn't work.. at least it will fade out fairly quickly. I chose orange/pink to try and neutralise the green tinge I have from putting too much ashy tones in my hair and if it works, who knows maybe it will stay!

If you've been keeping up on my instagram or twitter you'll see I've been documenting the process today on my insta story for anybody who is interested.

Now to go wash my head!

Thanks for reading as always,

That unproductive feeling..

We all have those days where we just don't feel productive at all and with being at university it really counts with how you go about using your time. This week I've been struggling a little with just making myself do things like university work or just leaving the house to do things. I'm just feeling a little low lately, I had my hair done at the hairdressers and it's really not me at all, I'm not loving it and it's really effecting my self confidence and I don't really want to leave the house.

Maybe I'm feeling the strain of being comfortable on my own again seeing as I'm always at home while my boyfriends at work but I'm fed up of feeling really unproductive. This week I'll be working on a few goals to jolt myself back into productivity and not feel so lame about myself.

Sort my hair out

It's really bugging me, I had my hair done at the hairdressers but it's sort of a grey green colour and it's just really getting me down, as somebody who cares a lot about her hair, it doesn't make me feel good at all. SO I'm determined to sort that out tomorrow because I can't go on this way. Dramatic I know but I want to feel good about myself.

Get out the house and take my camera with me

I'm trying to vary my blog photography a bit and I just have loads of flatlay's and it's just making me feel crap about my blog. I think going out into the world and taking some beautiful autumn themed photos will really help me out so I don't have to worry so much. 

Make time to read before bed

I feel as though my time is being taken up by work and blogging at the moment, so I just want to take maybe an hour before bedtime to just relax and read my many books I've just purchased.

Use my time wisely

I've just neglected university work because I've been feeling so uninspired recently, I really need to kick myself up the arse and sort out some kind of schedule where I sit and do work. So I'll be planning that and reading up on a lot of scheduling posts (hehe) and hoping it will just inspire me a little.

Autumn playlist

I am OBSESSED with spotify playlists and I actually have 18 playlists I made myself! I have everything from rock to country to movies. For myself the £4.99 I pay a month (thank you for student rates) is totally worth it. I don't spend money on buying albums or anything so spotify is my main source of music gold.

I'm loving that autumn has come around and already there's that crispness in the air, walking to my car in the early mornings are so beautiful and I'm so excited to wear my coat more. But obviously.. it means my autumn playlist comes out from last year, I've added a few more songs to it recently, but I'm loving it.

Here it is and see what you think!

SUNDAY#1 - My Week

YAY ITS SUNDAY.
but I've been at work all day and I'm so tired, I literally had 0 energy to even begin to think of a blog post to do today for blogtober, but hey ho, I'm going to write about my week! It's always nice to see abit of the person behind the blog and I enjoy reading what people have been up to in their daily lives.

This week's been really hectic in that blogtober is going on and for somebody that really had a schedule when it comes to blogging, it's been so good to kick things up a notch and try to hit a goal of posting everyday for a month. But besides being caught up in blogging I've also been going to university and work on the weekends, so it's so manic at the moment, but I'm sure that I'll eventually settle into some kind of schedule. But this was my week!

The Stable 

(top left photo) So me and Howard and a couple of our friends went to visit a new restaurant that opened up in Bournemouth. It serves pizza and pies and a huge selection of ciders, so Howie was totally in his element. I went for the ol' pie choice which was delicious. Such a lovely evening but I couldn't get too tipsy as I had work the next day (oops)

The sunrise at the beach

I get to see this amazing view on the weekends because I'm lucky enough to live by the seaside, it's so beautiful and this morning it completely took my breath away. I love the autumn season so much because you get to look at this view but still have that slight brisk chill in the air.

University Project

So university has kicked off and I've having to get back into the swing of things despite being away for a year, it's all abit strange and it hurts my brain trying to put a decent enough concept together for a project. Also trying to stay focused and not start wandering into social media is pretty challenging surprisingly. 

Starbucks

I got the lovely surprise of being delivered starbucks in bed, which was awesome and super cute <3

Our new flat

So our flat is slowly and finally coming together, we have a few bits and pieces to finish off, such as a lamp and blinds and all that boring adult stuff, but there's just something satisfying about finally living in our place. 

A new Book

Reading ember in the ashes was my favourite book last year, so as soon as I found out the sequel was finally released I ordered it and hooray! It arrived and it's just so beautiful I can't wait to start it!

That's just a little insight into my week this week, I'm hoping to do this every Sunday, it's abit more relaxing after work and it's nice to show you guys what I've been up to!

How's your week been? Let me know in the comments :)

I READ // All The Bright Places

YAS. I finally did it, I finally completed this book. It was a hard one & I was really disappointed with it as I thought I would really enjoy it. I've tried to make this review thing as unspoiler-y as possible as not to ruin the whole complete book for people still reading, just my thoughts on the overall book and story :)

So the story is basically boy meets girl. I really really struggled reading this book, like seriously. I just I don't know I just couldn't really get into it, it all felt a little naive and not really well structured at all. I didn't really understand most of it, like why they were doing certain things or just in certain places, in all honesty it just felt abit rushed and pointless.. it didn't really have any plot to it all and I felt like you were just aimlessly following this couple around while they did boring AF activities.

I also feel like the book almost romanticises unhealthy mental health, I get that the end of the book it's about preventing suicide and stuff but why create a "love story" about it. It's sort of trying to be fault in our stars and paper towns almost mixed together. Paper towns is in my opinion is such a boring book and why you would want to combine the two just makes this huge chunk in the middle of the book a total yawnfest.

I really wanted to enjoy this book, I really did, but after struggling the entire way through it and only getting an emotional feeling towards the end, I thought this book fell short if I'm I'm honest. I did try :(  I don't want to delve too deeply because I don't want to spoil it if you are reading this book.

I'd give this book maybe 2/5 I will probably never pick it up again and it's probably going to sit gathering dust on my bookshelf... (sorry not sorry)

What were your thoughts on the book? Or are you still reading it? :)

It's okay to not have any friends at university

I'm constantly my own worst enemy.

Recently I've been going back to university to finish my degree, it's my final year and after dropping out last year, all my friends and acquaintances I had made for the duration of the 2 and a bit years I was there, have all graduated and fleed the nest! This really leaves me in a strange position as I go into uni and literally know nobody. (apart from my tutors of course) But it's such a surreal feeling not having anybody to even say a little hello to in the corridor or a catch up in the canteen.

I used to struggle with social anxiety pretty bad. I hated going into university because I felt like an outsider on my course. It's amazing what anxiety can make you feel and think and I constantly thought I had no friends and nobody liked me, I knew I wasn't a bad person or mean or horrible - So why wouldn't I have friends right? And although I felt that way at the time, I did have friends. It was just my mind telling me I wasn't good enough to have them.

So this year is a huge strange leap for me, because I now know nobody. All that time my mind was telling me I had no-one but I had lots of people to talk to even if they were just people I knew.

I don't really know where this post was going or what I was trying to conclude from it, but I just know that having friends at university isn't the end of the world. At the end of the day we are all just there to study. I've sort of got a fresh head on my shoulders.. Of course it still bothers me that I have to sit alone at lunch sometimes but hey, I just whack out a book and read that.

I guess I'm feeling a lot more independent, I feel like I can finally function like an everyday person and not be too terrified of getting on a bus and being around people. I actually attend university now which is great and no longer do I eat my lunch in the toilet like a scene out of mean girls. I have crap days when I still can't say out loud what I think to the class or ask for help from my tutors, but at least I'm actually there and making progress.

This title was abit literal. Because I do have friends and they are amazing. But for now university is just an acquaintance in my life before I can finally hit the big wide world and it should be the same for everyone. Just be nice to people because you never really know what they're struggling with. Be kind. If you're at university and you're abit of an introvert like me, well it's okay to not live up to those party and popularity expectations that people have of university. It's unrealistic. By all means have a good time, and say yes to as many social things as you can, but it's okay to be abit of a loner too. work hard, and cut yourself some slack.

OOTD // Letters To Ghosts

Hi guys!
Im really excited to play the sims right now because I can relax a little as I get Friday's off uni so I can chill out and just prep for work this weekend.

Today's blogtober post (number 6) is another fashion post, Hoozah! This is one of my favourite jumpers for autumn and its so comfortable and cosy, I know I will be wearing this non stop throughout winter!

So here is what I am wearing!

Block grey jumper - River Island (link)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this jumper, I bought it while student discount was on so I could get 20% (wood woop!) it really gives me crazy 60's vibes, with the whole high turtle neck going on, then this big square kind of shape to it. This looks awesome with a skirt or jeans. LOVE.

Faux leather grey skirt - Primark

I realised the other day I had like no skirts, let alone a leather-style one. The last one I had I tried on the other day and it didn't fit over my butt (oops) so I went abit skirt crazy in primark. This was like £7 I think, just super simple, versatile and goes with pretty much anything.

Suede knee high boots - Faith (I think)

I'm pretty sure I bought these boots a couple years ago from faith in Debenhams.. they were on sale and I wear them every winter, so comfy and again just goes with everything. Perfect for the colder weather.

So that's another look from me!
Don't forget I'm over on Lookbook, Twitter and Instagram :)

Colourpop Ultra Matte Lipsticks

My favourite lipsticks hands down, have to be the Ultra matte formula from Colourpop, I'm hoping and praying that they open a UK store because the postage from America makes me really sad. But they are amazing I have 5 now, and I prefer them over my MAC lipsticks most of them matte formula too.

There's just something really satisfying about a liquid lipstick, I feel like they give much more coverage and they literally do no budge off your lips. I have tried some liquid matte lipsticks from some cheap brands like MUA and Makeup Revolution, but they are often too thick and heavy or just not great coverage but Colourpop have just got their formula so so right. I can wear them all day and not have to top them up which is awesome.

Shades from top to bottom, SOLOW, INSTIGATOR, CHI, MIDI and TRAP. 

One thing I do find about these lipsticks is that they come out quite dark as swatches and on the lip as opposed to in their bottles.

Solow 

Its a lot different in person, its a darkish mauve-y kind of pink colour but it's really really beautiful and what I love most about these lipsticks is that they're super wearable.

Instigator

Very very similar to midi but it has much more of a orange undertone to it unlike solo which is a lot more mauve pink. 

Chi

A dark nude colour, very brown toned. I didn't think it would be this dark, but it's quite a medium brown shade.

Midi

A real neutral pinky nude tone. Beautiful for everyday wear, this is probably the one I use the most as it's super wearable and really flattering on my skin tone

Trap

This was my first one that I bought as I wanted that cool greige lip that everyone was going for. Again its a lot darker on your lips than in the bottle. I wouldn't say it was 'griege' as such but more of a purple-y browny nude. Its lovely though and does give off that purple vibe.

And here are some swatches for you (same order)

(Top to bottom) 

SOLOW, INSTIGATOR, CHI, MIDI, TRAP. 

Do you own any colour pop lipsticks? Which one's your favourite?

October Reading List

I love books, ever since I was a little girl my mom used to take me to the library every week and I would take out the maximum amount of books I was allowed and 2 days later I had probably finished them all. I just loved loved reading. This was obviously before the internet was a thing and took over everyones lives. Its so easy to just chuck on your laptop and endlessly browse the web. I think I spent 2 hours on youtube today just watching complete crap (haha)

So recently I've done abit of a book haul, although I don't need more books but I'm hoping it will spark the bookworm in me again.

Im still trying to finish "all the bright places", which I think is just abit naff, I'm so bored of it, but I'm just going to have to power through, because I love to finish a book anyway.

But here's my reading list for October..

Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

So yeah, I feel abit embarrassed that I haven't actually read this book yet but my boyfriend keeps pestering me to read it because I refuse to watch the film, before I've read the book, it just ruins it in my opinion. So this is probably first on the list, mainly because if I don't I won't hear the end of it!

The Marble Collector - Cecelia Ahern

Cecelia is probably one of my favourite authors, I finished 'the year I met you' a few months ago now and it was such a lovely read. I love how her characters have a sort of life progression to them which is really beautiful and sort of uplifting. I saw another blogger who picked up her latest book, which I'm yet to get but really enjoyed the last book I read, so I bought it and I'm possibly the most excited about this one.

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins 

Another read before seeing the film book, I've seen this floating about the blogging community and it looks really exciting. I don't think its my usual book kind of type, but I've said that with quite a few books before so I'll give it a chance and see how it goes.

So they're my book goals for October, how exciting. I'm hoping to get abit more involved in books again and combining them with blogging. I've started taking part in a lot more twitter chats so I'm hoping it will keep me inspired! 

What are you reading this month and what keeps you motivated to read?

You can keep up with my reading progress over on goodreads! Here

How NOT to dye your hair

How not to dye your hair, a post I thought I would never write.. but look at where we are. It's not really a surprise I can hear most of you saying.. How long could this crazy woman go about dying her hair left right and centre. Well my friends, the time has come where I have and sadly admit that I have quite frankly fucked up my hair.

It all started when I went to university, I had previously rebelliously dyed my hair bright pink, but sixth form made me change it so I never really experimented with my hair apart from the odd toner here and there as I was always a blonde, naturally and dyed. So it was bound to happen, the moment I was set free from the chains of parents I went a little mental.

Blue, green, pink, pink and yellow, orange, red, purple I'm pretty sure you could name a colour and I've probably been there. I think it all comes down to the fact I'm pretty proud of my hair, so it always has to look on fleek, or it makes me all irritated and sad. So I was constantly topping up my hair.
The crazy bright colours were ok because they don't contain peroxide, its just vegetable dyes which was great for my hair and it would soak it all up and be all delicious.  But I used to change my mind and get bored and try a new idea.

The pain started when I decided to take a chill pill from my insane colours. (*I was blonde over Christmas and I stupidly decided to go back to crazy colours because I'm an idiot so I had to fix it)

I've always bleached my hair, it's been through a lot with me (strokes hair lovingly) but I wanted to go a natural colour because I got really annoyed with not being able to wear certain colours (burgundy I'm looking at you) and it was just so frustrating to see all these cute autumn outfits and I was constantly stuck with a black wardrobe because my hair changed so much.

So after trying to bleach the crap out of my hair and go blonde it was stuck green. GREEN. Experience has taught me that blue/green shades just don't come out of my hair. No matter what. Ketchup, toners, I've been on holiday for 2 weeks in Turkey.. super hot, super chloriney and it still never came out.

So I went black.
and I got bored.
and I wanted grey hair.
it went green,
and I spent a small fortune trying to get it fixed at a hairdressers.

So here I am.
a stupid girl with a frizzy damaged mess.
and here's my lesson from this story..

Please don't use box dyes on your hair.
They are full of crap. Because customers have such different hair they have to ramp up the peroxide so it will lift and may people don't need such a strong amount on their hair. I also found out that some box dyes are also full of SILICONE. This is so it stays looking nicer for longer, less fade etc, but guess what, that crap is PLASTIC. SO whenever you use heat, straighteners etc, that gross stuff is melting into your hair. yep.

MELTED PLASTIC HAIR. which a lot of hair removers can't get out.

So please please look after your hair, and be careful when changing colours. Use professional colours when you're dealing with bleach and/or peroxide and if you have any doubts or you know you probably can't fix it, then do a me and hold your hands up, admit defeat and go see a pro ;)

OOTD // Witchcraft

'Witchcraft' - OOTD

It's second day of Blogtober and I'm still feeling pumped despite the fact I've been at work all day and I'm so tired. It's nice to challenge myself to post, otherwise I know I would never do it as other things just sort of take priority. I'm really getting into the spooky spirit, hence my music choices on twitter and the title..

Anyway! Today is a fashion post! (ooooh I hear you say) some of my most popular posts have been fashion related and it's a shame that I stopped doing them, but a shopping spree later I am equipped and I'm feeling really inspired to express myself through the means of clothing!

 that's the end of the super posey pictures and here is the 'low-down' on what I'm wearing. *Not sponsored, just wanted to share my clothes with you guys..

Yellow turtleneck top - River Island 

(I couldn't find it online :()

This is quite a thick top, and it's ribbed, but its super cosy and just perfect for the chilly weather we are starting to have and It's a great colour for Autumn!

Grey pattern scarf - New Look [Link]

Super cute scarf that pretty much goes with everything, I chose something neutral so it will fit with many outfits over the colder months 

Grey Leather Look Skirt - Primark

I bought this the other day as I needed some more skirts in my life and I love it! It goes with almost anything and it goes with my hair really well (lol) I think it was about £10 :)

Black Boots - New Look [Link]

I picked these up too last week, just a super versatile plain black ankle boot. They go with everything and they're just really comfy!

SO that's this look! You can find me over on lookbook here 

Don't forget I'm also on twitter and Instagram, Follow for updates on #blogtober