hair miracle???

If you're like me and have long hair then you are most probably aware that it can be VERY high maintenance. keeping it conditioned and what not. Well, I may have just found you lovely people a miracle in a box and it is made by the angel that is charles worthington and is better known as the "strength and repair hair repair kit." (other kinds of this kit are available such as one to create shinier hair etc but I haven't tried those yet....)

This kit involves three simple steps to follow once a week for four weeks so it's a bit of a "course" for your hair really.

In the kit you get: Hair repair oil 50ml, strength and repair shampoo 75ml, intensive hair repair mask 125ml,  plastic shower caps x 4, and an instruction booklet. 

The first step is to apply the hair oil to your hair and then cover it with one of the rather attractive looking plastic shower caps and leave it on for ten minutes.

You then rinse the oil out and use the shampoo provided.

Once you've shampooed the hair you have to ring out any excess water from the hair and apply the hair mask for five minutes. I also like to put the shower cap back on here otherwise I'd be covered in conditioner! After five minutes you just rinse your hair once more and style your hair as you normally would.

The result is shiny, smooth, conditioned hair that smells nice too! :) So what more could you want??

Just thought I'd let you all in on this little gem ;)

Alex

xxx

feeling stressed, nervous, excited and trying to be organised at the same time

So this post isn't beauty or anything like that. (sorry) I'm just going to blurt out how I'm feeling at the minute and hopefully it'll benefit some of you lovelies in one way or another :)

Incase you weren't aware I'm leaving for university in exactly 41 days (if you actually weren't aware you can find out more by clicking here) and this gives me a right old jumble of feelings and things.

Firstly I'm excited, it's a new part of my life and I can't wait to be a teacher and everyday I spend a few minutes being excited and then my brain reminds me of stuff I don't want to be reminded of like "ooh what if people don't like me? Why do I have to be a grown up and do things like ironing and cooking tea? Have I bought everything? What if I don't like it and end up leaving again?" *that part should have been read in your most whiney annoying voice* Once I'm finished worrying I then move onto being stressed and think about things like packing etc. If you don't know me then you need to understand when it comes to certain things I like to be VERY organised and packing is one of those things. I like my packing to be neat and tidy and categorised and all that weird stuff. (unlike my room) So the thought of packing my whole life away stresses me out beyond belief. However I have done this once before so I want to share a couple of things with you. (This is also so I can look at these things and remember them when it comes to leaving.)

Solving the scary things... 

1. People WILL like you I promise. I can assure you it's highly unlikely that EVERYONE in your university is going to hate you. 

2. Doing grown up stuff isn't that bad, yeah you won't be perfect at first but neither will anybody else so who really cares if you can't iron or cook to save your life? 

3. If you've forgotten something just get it when you're there. 

4. If you don't like the course that's okay but I'm 99.9% that if you're counting down the days to go you're going to like it. 

5. If you miss home it's okay, everyone is in the same boat. Trust me. 

Solving the stressful things... 

So I think it's safe to say the two most stressful things about going to uni are buying your stuff and packing said stuff so lets follow that theme. 

As far as buying stuff goes I suggest you follow these rules: 

1. go get yourself a piece of paper and a pen NOW 

2. write down stuff you need in order to live day to day life. This means stuff like a duvet and pans etc. 

3. write down stuff you need in order to make life a little easier like pens, pencil pots (you don't want them rolling everywhere) and files. 

4. Go and buy these things. 

Simples. 

Now packing follows some rules too. 

1. Pack the stuff you bought especially for uni. 

2. again, get a piece of paper and a pen NOW 

3. Have a look around your room, what stuff do you already own that you'd like to take with you? Things like Ipod speakers and what not. Write that stuff down like you life depends on it. 

4. Pack the stuff you've written on your list. 

See? not so bad! 

Things people forget that they shouldn't forget but still do anyway... 

First of all when packing you stuff don't pack it on boxes. Pack it in plastic bags. Either buy some bags for life, haud bags for a while or steal the ones your parents have. If you pack your stuff in bags you can fit more in your car boot you see. 

1. Extension leads. There isn't a single student room on this earth that comes with enough plug sockets. These will be your best friends. 

2. Hangers. You need to hang your clothes up! 

3. Phone/laptop/camera chargers etc. How will you use them otherwise?! 

4. Bring stuff to decorate your room so that it feels more like yours rather than an empty room. If you need ideas look at this. 

Have fun lovelies! Let me know how you're getting on if you're in this same situation or if you have any tips to give people! :) 

Alex 

xxx 

To BB cream or not to BB cream?

Be warned, this is a product rave. If you don't like this sort of post look at my previous one here which is a little more on the emotional side but hey ho, beggars can't be choosers.

So everyone has heard, read, lived, and suffered the hype of BB cream and if I'm perfectly honest I've always been a little sceptical for a number of reasons but mostly because 1. I have oily/combination skin and thought it would never work for me and 2. Quite frankly I didn't think one that gave me the coverage I feel I need existed....

But there are clearly some cosmetic angels up there praying for us slightly more "glowing" girls. (Glowing sounds better than shiny okay.) The lovely cosmetic angels at maybelline have found the solution believe or not! Or at least I think so.

This miracle comes in the form of Maybelline's "Dream pure BB cream" and boy do I love this stuff. Now I don't know about you but I'm quite partial to a moderate to full coverage foundation but sometimes I find that when you get the coverage you also get the heavy "I can feel the makeup on my face" kind of feeling and some days I just don't want to put up with that. Or if I've gotten up late I don't have the time to put up with that.

This BB cream gives quite a good coverage yet doesn't feel nor look like there is anything on your face, it just looks like skin. Which is amazing I know. What's even better is it comes in two formulas, one of which being for oily skin! Yay! We can finally jump on the bad wagon! This cream does claim to do 8 things but whether it actually does that all of them I don't know but who cares? It looks good and doesn't slither down my face!

I like to use a primer under this still as I feel this gives it a better staying power and I also like to apply it with the real techniques "expert face brush" which is amazing in itself.

Go get yourself some of this stuff girls it's only £6.99 and it's probably the best £6.99 you'll ever spend. 

Alex 

xxx 

P.S. I am not sponsored by anyone! I just love the stuff.

Becoming a teacher is okay...

So this is going to be a bit of soppy post and I apologise for that... If you're not into that feel free to look at any of my other posts and just skip this one ;)

Recently I've been talking to people that are applying to go to university for the first time and they've been telling me how scared, anxious and nervous they are. Some are even unsure if it's the path for them and I just want to let everyone know that it's okay to feel like that! To do that I want to tell you my story :) This will also give you the chance to get to know me a little better, obviously that only applies if you want to...

It all started when I was at the ripe old age of 17. For around four years I had been planning to go to university to do paediatric nursing only to find out that due to some sight problems that I have (that's a story for another time kids) I wouldn't be able to do it. I was heart broken, I felt lost, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life. So I did what I thought was best at the time and just applied to do a uni course in the subject I was known as being one of the best in ICT. So I applied to do web systems development.

It was great, it interested me, I liked doing practical work, my ICT teacher was VERY proud to have a girl in his class go on to do the course... everything was perfect! Until.. dun dun duhhh I went.

So let's set the scene here, I'd moved into university and was two weeks into my course when I realised I couldn't do it anymore. I was feeling incredibly home sick and I thought that was just because I missed home but in actual fact it was because I wasn't happy and I just wanted to feel happy somewhere. I realised that even though I liked the course I could never do it as a job. I'm not the sit at a desk all day kind of person. So I spent a good few hours one night crying to myself worried that I had let everyone down, my parents, family, teacher etc. Everyone had been so excited for me, I was the first girl in my family to go to university I was the only girl in my year to do an ICT course and I felt as though I was going to let all of those people down. Even so I managed to bottle up the courage to phone my mum and let her know what was going on. But I wasn't going to do that without a plan.

The people I lived with at the time were all trainee teachers and I had a massive interest in their course, more so than my own and this led me to the decision that this was what I wanted to do with my life. Something I should have realised sooner as leading up to results day that year I would quite often find myself looking at teaching courses "incase I didn't get in" when in actual fact it was because I didn't want to get in.

So I phoned my mum and we had a little chat and do you know what? She wasn't feeling let down at all. Nobody was, if anything they were even prouder of me for changing my mind and following what I REALLY wanted to do. So here I am a year later sat at my computer, heaps of education books read and weeks of work experience under my belt and about to head back to university once again.

What's best of all is, it's all okay because I changed my mind. That's what I want you to take from this, don't be afraid to change your mind about anything! As long as YOU are happy nobody will mind! Your happiness is what matters really :)

Alex

xxx


A few other tips I'd like you to take into consideration:

1) Only choose to do something if you REALLY want it, not just because you feel you should or because you feel as though it's your only option.

2) Think about the career afterwards and not just the degree.

3) You're never going to let anyone down if you're doing something to make you happy.

4) It's okay to have doubts but when it comes to things like this maybe think about why you're having them.

5) And most importantly, mums are ALWAYS right! My mum had always said I should be a teacher and I never listened hahaha now look where I am!


P.S. good luck to any of you going to university in september!!!!!!

My mission

So over the past couple of months I decided to give myself a little mission. Partly because I like to give myself things to do and who doesn't want to feel like a spy ay? ;) But really, I have given myself the mission to try and step out of my comfort zone.

I wanted to try new styles, new makeup, new hair styles etc.. you get the idea. This all came about because I watched these videos. They're all about helping people come out of their comfort zone when it comes to clothes and that is what inspired me.

Now if you know me then you know I only really wear neutral coloured lipstick and am always jealous of how good everyone looks in bright colours because I always thought I didn't. So that's where my mission has started, new lip colours! I've experimented with a few, red, burgundy, bright pinks... This may seem normal to some of you but to me this is a HUGE change! What's even better is, I'm happy about it! I can totally change up my makeup I don't always look the same now :) It also means if I can't be bothered I can just do simple eyes with liner and mascara stick on a bold colour and there you have it, looking like you've made an effort!

This is only a small post I know but I thought I'd let you know and I hope it inspires you to step out of your comfort zone too :) I promise it's not as scary as it looks out there!!

I'll keep you up to date on how it's going etc :)

Let me know if you decide to do the same! If you do write a post on it so I can see how you're doing and be sure to mention who inspired you in it! :)

Alex
xxx

P.S. Sorry for the bad picture quality, I don't have my camera at the minute :( So I had to opt for my Iphone 4 camera... sad times for all of the photography geeks out there :(

My usual lipstick colours 

My new lipstick colours! Adventurous hey? ;)

I've found love..

Now when I say I've found love I don't mean I'm running off to get married or anything like that. (sorry to disappoint) What I have found however are products to be in love with. Whether it be their price or their looks. Kind of like a man I suppose then, you know, money and looks is what every girl wants really hahaha.

To start this off I'm going to give you what may possibly be my best find of all time. Maybe even the best find known to all women! Now brace yourselves... Ready? You may want to sit down for this... I found O.P.I. nail varnishes for £1!!!!! Yes that is definitely right and they are definitely real. I came across them in poundland and if I'm perfectly honest I looked at them thinking they were cheap nail polish in a similar looking bottle but it turned out to be GOOD nail polish in the RIGHT bottle. Who'd have thought it ay? Now admittedly they are only shatters and I'm fully aware that trend has been and gone but for £1 who cares?!

From left to right: Gold shatter, shatter the scales, super bass shatter

My next find is a perfume. I was just casually strolling around my local river island as you do and I spotted their perfume stand. Now I had read that they had a perfume very similar to Dior's "miss dior cherie" but was unable to find it at first. So as I was already there started to spritz a few of them and then I came across this bad boy. River Island's "paris" perfume. Admittedly I wasn't completely love struck at first but I'd sprayed it on Keeley and as we were walking around it kept sneaking up on me and asking me to buy it, so I did. The only way I can describe this perfume is if a bottle of marc jacobs daisy and a bottle of the paco rabanne lady million got together and had a baby this is what it would smell like. Only it would be a cheap baby because it's only £12 for the biggest bottle...

I also recently ventured into the river island sale and came across this beauty. My ideal little black dress. It's just simple at the front plain black dress, fitted at the bottom lose on top but the back is where the real show stopper is. This really is a "party in the back" kind of dress. I'm so funny... not. I found this little beauty for just £15!

This dress has an open back with a beaded strap running through the middle.

I've also been loving pastels and creams at the minute. When I say pastel I mostly mean pastel pink but I've also been LOVING mint green lately too. So needless to say I've stocked up on a few items in these colours.

Pink blazer: Primark. white lace panel back collared shirt: Primark. Cream lace dress: New Look. Pink makeup bag: Ted Baker. Mint, pink and gold bracelets: Primark. Nail varnish: Rimmels 60 second polish in princess pink.

My final and probably one of my more expensive purchases in life is a bike. I love this bike so much I can't even describe it! I mean, it has a basket, white wheels, leather handles and seat and looks vintage, what more could a girl want?!

This is the Victoria Pendleton Somerby bike in blue. I couldn't get a picture of it with the basket for you :( 

Needless to say my bank balance isn't looking its best at the minute but at least me and my blog are! That's all that matters ;)

Alex

xxx

The guilty pleasures tag!!!

This is a tag that was created by my friend keeley and she tagged me in it! I feel so privileged to be the first person to be tagged!! :) 

1. You must name it 'The Guilty Pleasures Tag' so we all know what is happening and the blog reading community don't feel swizzed out of anything.
2. You must tag at least one person at the bottom and as a comment on one of their posts with a link to this post in the comment
3. You must not try and be cool. The aim of this is to have fun!
4. If you could, copy and paste these rules at the top
5. Leave a link to my blog page. You can find keeley here

1. What is your beauty guilty pleasure (you can choose for this one whether to pick something which you love but you feel guilty as it is expensive, OR maybe a beauty look that isn't necessarily 'on trend' e.g. Taylor Swift Teardrops on My Guitar face diamonds)

My beauty guilty pleasure has to be expensive perfumes. Now, I swear I don't purposefully go to the expensive ones and automatically want them, but whenever I seem to smell a perfume I like I look at the price and it's usually around the £50 mark. *cry* Examples of some of my favourites are: Marc Jacobs Daisy (ALL of them) Juicy Couture, Pacco Robbanne 1 million, Laura mericer vanille gourmonde... and the list goes on... sadly. I also have a love for expensive bags... Just expensive taste I guess? I like to believe it's because I was born to be rich or a princess, or both.

2. What is your TV guilty pleasure?

Now this is going to sound really strange.. I LOVE programmes about people that have been through accidents or are suffering from weird illnesses! I just find it really interesting! Things like "extraordinary people" just draw me in! Is that weird? 

3. What is your music guilty pleasure?

Now, before I tell you this there is something I need to explain. First of all I am quite a nostalgic person. Secondly I used to compete in dance a LOT. So my guilty pleasure would be songs that myself and my friends have competed to and a few of them are with me on this one. They just bring back great memories! and lets face it, who isn't up for a bit of chav drum and bass now and again? 

4. What is your film guilty pleasure?

My film guilty pleasure would have to be mean girls and the twilight films. As awful as they are I can just watch them over and over and over again. I think it's safe to say that I know the words to mean girls off by heart now and will quite often use mean girl quotes in everyday life. 

5. What is your food guilty pleasure? (Maybe something you love that nobody else does, or perhaps something you feel guilty about eating because of the calorie amount. Either one, we're not fussy here.)

I am OBSESSED with Philadelphia cheese. It's sad but true. I love it with almost anything, pasta, on a sandwich and most of all, on cream crackers with cucumber... oh. my. god. 

6. What is your guilty pleasure read? (Let's keep this PG people, no 50 shades discussions)

I love what most people would call "easy reading" books. You know the kind where there's always a girl who has a shopping addiction and has major relationship problems? Yeah them. I don't know why I just get sucked in. For example I have read the entire series of sophie kinsella's shopahlic books. 

7. Your guilty pleasure celebrity? (Seems obscure but roll with it)

This is a hard one for me to answer. This may shock you but I'm not into celebrities at all. I don't even know who most of them are! They just don't interest me... sorry if this has meant you have lost any respect for me... 

8. Your guilty pleasure? (Something random here, like maybe you enjoy clipping your nails out the window or something)

This would have to be singing and dancing around the house when no one is in. I just have a whale of a time! And obviously I become beyonce. 

This is a really cool tag and I challenge anyone that reads this to do it! It's really fun I promise! hahaha Have fun guys!! 

Alex 
xxx

Perfect pamper products!

So last night I decided to give myself a little pamper night and I thought it might be nice to show you what I like to use when I do this :)
I like to run myself a nice warm bath and whilst this is running I remove all of my make up. I then like to light a candle or two and add some bubbles to my bath.

This is a candle I've been loving! This is Yankee candle's "vanilla cupcake" candle and it smells exactly like cupcakes! (just as you'd expect I guess.)

To add bubbles to my bath I like to use the lush bubble bars. This is one from their christmas collection that smells exactly like the snow fairy/godmother soap. If you don't know about these soaps they have a very sweet, sugary, candy floss kind of scent. It comes on a wand so you just swish it around in your bath to make bubbles! (pretending to have magic powers whilst doing this is completely optional but I like to think it just isn't the same otherwise.)

Once I'm in the bath I wash my hair and then I like to apply a hair mask. 

At the minute this has been one of my favourite hair treatments. This is soap and glory's "glad hair day" treatment. Like everything else soap and glory, it smells AMAZING.

Whilst this is doing it's job I choose a face mask to apply. 

This is a sample I received in a glossy box and I will definitely be purchasing the full size once it has run out! This is the Murad "clarifying mask" in type 2. Words can't describe how amazing this is. If you have oily/combination skin like me this is a must have.

If I don't choose the murad face mask I will opt for one of these ones which are great! They're really cheap (about 3 for £1) and you can get different scents, peel off ones or wash off ones and they all do different things. 

Once I'm all masked up I make a start on my body. For some reason when I'm having a pamper night I feel its more essential to exfoliate than ever so I do that first. 

I like to use soap and glory's "breakfast scrub." This stuff is incredible it smells like toffee!!!

By the time I've done this it's usually time to wash off my hair and face mask. 

This face scrub is great for getting rid of any dry skin and leaves your face silky smooth! It can also be used as a face mask :)

I then like to give myself a good clean and get out and apply some body butter :) 

The combination of these two from soap and glory's sugar crush range have quickly become two of my favourite things of all time. Like most soap and glory products they work amazingly well and they smell incredible! They don't have the usually soap and glory smell. They have a lime scent but it is a very sweet, sugary lime scent. If you're ever in a boots that sell soap and glory I highly recommend you go and have a sniff. But be warned, you will become hooked.

Sometimes I like to treat myself to a little extra... 

If I feel like adding a little extra something I like to use the lush vanilla puff. This is essentially just talc but it smells like vanilla. It has a real vanilla pod in the bottle too which makes the scent quite strong too :) This can also be used in your hair if you're running low on dry shampoo!

Once I've done all of this I usually finish off by doing my clinique 3 step skin care regime and then I'm ready for bed after all of that hard work! :) 

Alex 

xxx

Ambre nails!!

Now we all know that ambre has been in trend for quite some time, whether it has been ambre hair, clothes or even on items of jewellery but today I learnt how to do ambre nails! Here's my step by step guide. I hope you enjoy this little gem of nail goodness!

You will need:

makeup sponges

you can buy these anywhere, you only need cheap ones, nothing fancy!

white nail polish

This is elf's nail polish in "white" (imaginative I know)

colours of your choice

These are chanel's "coco blue number 551" and topshop's nail varnish in "parma violet."

clear top coat

This is rimmel london's 5 in 1 base and top coat.

and nail varnish remover

I recommend using the nail varnish remover pads. You'll see why later on. These are just cheap ones from prim ark.

step one

Paint your nails white. This will make the colours more opaque later on. Let the white dry completely before you do anything else!

I recommend applying a couple of coats to make sure the white is completely opaque.

step two

Brush on your chosen colours to the square side of the sponge.

Don't be stingey here! keep pasting on that varnish but do it quickly! *stressing*

step three

Push the sponge onto the nail and move it around a little. This will create the ambre effect.

If you wiggle the sponge the ambre effect will be more gradual.

messy huh?

step four

Tidy up the edges around your nail with the nail varnish remover.

step five

Apply a top coat.

Repeat these steps on each nail and you're ready to go!

I also recommend experimenting with different colours.

Here I used three colours!!

From left to right: Topshop "parma violet." Ted baker, this one has no name! sorry *hangs head in shame*, YSL's nail varnish in number 34.

Don't be afraid to go bright!

Rimmel's 60 second nail varnish in "instyle coral" and Topshop's "causing a stir"

Colours that clash a little look even better!

Barry M's Gelly nail varnish in "greenberry" and Barry M's nail textured effect nail varnish in "kingsland road."

What my hand now looks like! haha

Hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think in the comments :)

xxx