Wednesday 26 September 2012

birthday shopping

Apologies for how long it has taken me to get this posted, I properly started uni on Monday and I've only just found time to actually sit down and write this.

My birthday was on the 18th and I turned 19. So far, I prefer it to 18 - mainly because there's no drama this year. My mum and I went shopping on my actual birthday as I didn't have to be at uni that day and I thought I'd show those of you who are beauty-minded a few things that I bought with my birthday money...


Illamasqua Pure Pigment in Beguile
I seem to have lost my mind slightly in recent months. With the exception of nail polishes, I never used to like glitter. Now, if it sparkles I'll probably buy it. The glittery pigments were all extremely pretty, but this one was 'plain' enough for me to know that I'll use it on a regular basis. This looks lovely just patted over eyeshadow and unlike some glittery eyeshadows (UD Sidecar, I'm looking at you) it doesn't end up all over your face.


MAC Cremesheen lipstick in Creme Cup
Here's a little story for you... I bought Hue (also by MAC) for college prom and while I do love the colour, it is occasionally slightly too light on my lips and the formula is a bit...meh. To me, Creme Cup is a slightly more pink version of Hue, and the formulation is tons better. I also noticed that it stays on my lips for several hours, which is incredibly rare with me.


Nails Inc 'Nail Jewellery' nail polish in Diamond Arcade
You know what I said about glitter? Yeah, you see it now, right? The photo doesn't really do it justice, but this polish comprises of differently shaped pieces of glitter. I tried to take a photo of it over a plain white polish, but that photo doesn't do it justice either...


I suppose you can kind of see the difference in the pieces of glitter. Those nails looked much prettier in 'real life'. But even though it's a real pain to photograph, this polish is still absolutely gorgeous and perfect if you love a good glitter polish. The wear was decent (I'd say about 5 days before it started to look like I needed to either re-do it or change it completely) but that was without a top coat.

So, they were just a couple of purchases that I thought I'd share. I had a nice, low-key birthday this year, which was definitely necessary during a week of rushing between meetings and making new friends/acquaintances.

SOTD is Daughtry's 'Start of Something Good'.

Hope you're all having a good week :)

Rx



P.S. Jess did the coffee talk tag, go and read it here :)

Friday 21 September 2012

coffee talk

Hi guys :) I'm back after a long week of commuting and fairly dull 'induction meetings' with a cute little tag - the 'coffee talk tag'. I was tagged by the lovely Gabriella of Love From Londres, whose blog is one of my favourites. The tag itself is all about autumn (or fall, depending on where you're from), so without further ado here's the tag :)

1. It's finally autumn, what are you most looking forward to in this season?
All of the colours - autumn is without doubt the best season for being able to step outside and be mesmerised by the colours of the trees etc. I'm also looking forward to the whole ''it's cold and rainy so I'm going to snuggle in bed even though it's only 7pm'' thing.

2. Which autumn item in your closet are you most looking forward to pulling out?
Because we don't really have a summer here, my clothing hasn't really changed from winter until now. I'm looking forward to wearing my beautiful new boots from Zara more. 


3. Since Halloween is the first holiday to celebrate, we all get treated with a horror movie marathon all month long. What is your favourite scary movie to watch?
I really hate horror films (though obviously if you love them then that's totally cool). I just can't understand why people would want to be scared. The closest I've ever got to a horror film is Pan's Labyrinth. Sad, but true.

4. What is your favourite autumn treat?
Since I rarely drink coffee during the summer months, a grande caramel macchiato from Starbucks. That, and my hot buttered rum shower gel by Philosophy. 

5. Now that summer is finally over, what will you miss about it?
As dull as it may sound, the hours of daylight. Now that I'm commuting, 3 hours of my day are spent walking, on the train or on the bus, and the other hours will often be spent at uni. I can just tell that I'm going to miss the amount of daylight we get during the summer as I always feel it makes the days seem longer.

6. Which make-up/beauty products do you love for autumn?
Without a doubt my Nails Inc polish in Madison Avenue. I believe it's been discontinued now, but it might be available on Ebay. It's basically just the most gorgeous deep forest green and is the perfect autumn shade for me.

7. What have you recently bought in preparation for the autumn season?
The Zara boots I mentioned and, because I'm in the UK, an umbrella. Ha.

8. Have you ever been trick or treating?
Yes :) I was usually a witch (in fact, I think I was only ever a witch) and the last time I went was when I was in year 8.

9. Name the first 5 things that come to mind when you think of autumn...
Leaves (a bit obvious)
Lamps (to make the room all cosy)
Edinburgh (I went to Edinburgh last October)
Josh Groban (such an autumn/winter musician, his music always starts the transition to winter)
Stand-up comedy (it's become something of a tradition for me to see live comedy in autumn/early winter and it isn't the same without it [this year is Mark Watson with Poppy :D])

10. What is your favourite season and why?
Summer (when we have a decent one) or autumn. I really don't like winter, and our spring is often just the same as winter.

Once again, I tag Jess and Beckie :) But do feel free to do it yourself and leave me a link in the comments :)

Thanks for reading :)

Rx

Sunday 16 September 2012

onwards and upwards

I can't be the only person who still watches Pooh Bear...
I wish I had a good excuse for my blogging absence, but I'm afraid I haven't. After all of the pre and post results day hype, I've mainly just been buying a wardrobe and a desk (woo!) and finding that time has passed far too quickly for my liking.

On Friday, I went over to my friend Sophie's house to drop something off. She moved to uni on Saturday and the whole thing really got me thinking...

It's sad that everybody is going their separate ways. When we left school we all believed that we were, but now it's actually true. I read the quote in the picture a few days ago on Tumblr (yes, I track the Winnie the Pooh tag, what of it...?) and it definitely appeared at the right time. Yes, it's sad, but it's also exciting. What sort of friend would I be if I put my own sadness and anxiety over the fact that my friends (and myself) are all moving away to achieve something that their hearts were set on months, if not years, ago? I think my answer is 'not a very good one'. 

But truthfully, I am lucky. I'm lucky to have both friends who are moving away and friends who are staying exactly where they've always been. I'm lucky that I don't have to move away from it all myself (and I'm not even thinking about my year abroad so we're forgetting about that for now...)

Tomorrow is my 'first' day at uni. I put that in quote marks because the term officially starts next Monday, but I have three induction meetings this week. Quite frankly, I'm terrified. My anxiety levels are ridiculously high just thinking about the commute there and back and I'm worrying that I won't recognise the people I've arranged to meet before the meeting. I'm even wearing my 'hola' necklace so that people can spot me, but I suppose that has practical advantages so I can let that one go. 


L to R: Jess, Poppy, me, Sophie and Billie. Love them all.
I'm also lucky that I got to see most of my friends before they move (I say that, but Jess and Poppy [the two on the left] aren't moving away, which pleases me immensely). It's my birthday on Tuesday (the 18th) but we got together on the 8th before people moved away for Mexican food (and a surprise birthday cocktail courtesy of Chiquito). As basic as this sounds, people are good, and when you meet the right ones then you'll know that you want them to stick around and you'll try your hardest to make sure they want you to too. 

So, this week? I'm at a Spanish meeting tomorrow where I'll be meeting one of my fellow Eurovision nerds from Twitter (if you read this, hola Jack!), shopping with mi madre on my birthday, meeting some linguistic nerds at the linguistics meeting and seeing Jess for a catch up on Wednesday, going to another Spanish meeting on Thursday and then seeing Fern (and I think Eliza?) on Friday. And then presumably sleeping all day Saturday because I'll be exhausted.

Today's SOTD is Lemar - Invincible. I watched some show on ITV and he was featured, and it reminded me that I'd been meaning to download the song.

Hope you all have a good week, particularly if you're also all nervy about starting uni!

Thanks for reading,

Rx