Image Credit 

If you're wondering what on earth a picture of Beyonce has to do with this post then it's because I think she's an inspiration, despite the fact she could easily have lived off her husband or family's money or have stopped working after Destiny's Child broke up she carried on and has made it on her own. She makes her own money and chooses what she does with just about everything from her hair to her career. 

That's exactly what I want to be and even though I'm far away from true independence I'm certainly much closer than I was this time last year. 

This time last year I didn't look up from the ground wherever I walked, wouldn't ask for help in shops and I don't think I said more than hello and goodbye to my driving instructor other than whispering answers to her questions during lessons. I was so angry at myself that I still relied on other people to do such simple things like ring the Doctor and book an appointment for me simply because I was scared. I decided to force myself to change and despite the fact I'm still living at home I feel like I've taken huge steps forward. 

I'll admit that one of the main reasons I chose to stay at home during University was because I was beyond terrified of moving to a new city amongst people I've never met before all whilst starting University. Now however, I still take part in nights out, come and go when I please and have made some lovely friends. The only reason I'm considering staying at home for the next few years is the fact it's close to both University and work and has meant I've got hardly any money worries.  

It started off small for me, I'd have to have my boyfriend or a family member with me when I went into a shop and stand there as I spoke to people just so I felt a little safer. It was getting to the point where whatever doctors appointment I had my boyfriend would have to come with me and sit in the chair just because I needed him. He even took time out of his school work to come with me. 

The first push that really made me want to change was when I had the number for my driving instructor right in front of me but I still wanted my mum to ring them for me. She flat out said no, I'm being cruel to be kind you need to do this yourself and I went upstairs and made myself ring her. I was so proud of myself when I hung up the phone but knew I still had a hell of a long way to go. Another thing I think really helped me was starting work. This was only a few months a go but the fact I have no choice but to talk to customers and be friendly and helpful. The more I had to do it the more naturally it came to me. I actually found out that not everyone in the world is a big scary person that was going to judge or mock me. People are usually kind and friendly. That's what I'd say to anyone who is worried about things the same way I was. People are usually going to be kind and talk to you if you need to, if they are rude to you or make you feel scared then that's their problem, not yours.

Like I said I still have a long way to go. For me I think the ultimate independence would be being able to drive home from work in my own car, to my own home and be secure with a job and confident in what I do. I'm not going to focus too much on what I want to do though because it's important to focus on what you've achieved and feel proud of myself for how far I've come. I know it sounds insane to someone who doesn't have confidence issues but I still feel proud of myself whenever I suggest a get together or ring someone to book an appointment. 

If you're suffering from real shyness then one of the main suggestions I would make to you is take it slow, but at the same time you need to push yourself or have someone push you or else you'll be stuck that way forever. I  hated the way I was and I'd say I feel much happier in myself as a person now, and so will you be. Also make sure you're proud of yourself for what you do achieve it'll give you a little buzz that you need to move forward to the next step. 

xxx

Updating Your Makeup For Autumn:

Autumn is most certainly coming, and I'm so pleased about it! I love it when the weather gets colder, I love layering up my clothes, I love chunky knits and most of all I love the makeup!

When it comes to adding a bit of autumn to your makeup look, for me it's all about the warm purple tones through out! As well as a little red and brown. As you can see that's what I've gone for on the eyes and cheeks in particular. In terms of the lip I'm all about the matte when it comes to Autumn and this Revlon one in Wine Not is just perfect since it's a wine colour too which is another tone to lean towards come Autumn.

As for the makeup look over all everything gets a little heavier and a little higher coverage. The warm tones of Summer are still there but in less of an inner glow, tanned way and more of a cozy fallen leaves, been sat in front of a fire way. This achievable by going for purples etc. with a brown, orange or red undertone as opposed to blue's or greys. 

What do you do to change up your makeup come the change in seasons? Let me know because I love hearing about everyone else's makeup (I'm nosy like that)!

xxx

Thoughts on & Tips for A-Levels:

I'll start with tips, and my first and most important one would be don't underestimate just how big a work load it's going to be! All my teachers and all the older students tried to warn me about just how huge the leap between GCSE's to A-Levels and I just didn't believe them I was sure that they'd phase us in slowly and we'd be used to the change but oh how wrong I was! There is no time for phasing in! Trust me when I say (depending on the style of subjects you take of course) that if you want to do well then you'll have to work hard and continue working hard from day one.

A tip to help with that would be stay organised! You can feel easily overwhelmed with the amount of work laid on you but try not to just look at that pile of reading and coursework etc. to do and think you'll leave it to tomorrow because by tomorrow you'll have even more to do. A tip that may seem to contradict this one however, is try to stay calm and relax as much as you can. Yes, do your homework and make sure your notes are in order and you're not missing anything important, but when you've done that take some time out. Catch up on Youtube, read some blogs whatever you fancy just do it. My friends and I cared a lot about our grades and I think put too much pressure on ourselves to the point were we were taking sick days because the thought of going back in made us want to cry.

I don't want to scare you if you're already worried but I feel I have to be honest and this is what my experience was like. I would also say make sure you take the first year as seriously as you can. Don't just tell yourself you'll catch up your grades next year because the better you do in the first year the better you'll do in the second year which is what will get you into University or not. Speaking of University, make sure you book plenty of open days, do your research into what you want to do and sort your UCAS out as soon as you possibly can, believe me I remember everyone telling me to do it and I just couldn't be bothered, but once you get started you can do it fairly quickly and it's a huge weight off your shoulders as well as the fact now you've applied to Universities you know what grades you've got to work towards. 

One thing I will say though is that don't let it get you down too much. Constantly remind yourself that it's  not life or death. If you don't understand something then it's your teachers job to help you. When it comes to results day if you don't get what you thought you would then I wouldn't let that upset you too much. That's what insurance offers are for! Or even clearing if you need it. There's no shame in it and I know of people who went through clearing and now couldn't imagine themselves anywhere else. 

In terms of my personal experience with A-Levels, I'd say in all honesty that it did nothing but bring me down and make me doubt my ability and intelligence. At the end of the day my grades were my own (I got a B in Psychology and 2 C's in Theology and English) and it was my responsibility to work towards what I wanted, but if I was to blame something in particular for my grades not being where I wanted them to be (2 A's and a B) then I have to say the teaching staff at my school was pretty shocking. In my first year I went through 3 English teachers, because 2 of them left to have children (of course not their fault), I then went through 3 Theology teachers because one of them had a serious illness and the other refused to teach us the new curriculum! Literally refused, he was determined on teaching us a course from the 90's. As for the third teacher he was new to the subject so he really shouldn't have been teaching A-Level, he didn't seem to know what was going on himself. As for the second year they bought back the teacher that was teaching the wrong curriculum and our other teacher was far more interested in telling us about his holidays and getting distracted (that was if he ever bothered showing up at all to teach us!). We had two new English teachers, the first was another fresh out of University who would there with her mouth hanging open, when she did talk to us it was (I kid you not) her going on about her ex-boyfriend. Whenever we tried to ask her a question we'd be met with a long gormless pause and then an "Ummm...I'll Google it". There was many a time we'd all walk in sit down and she wouldn't even have planned a lesson. She'd ask us what we thought she should do and sit there texting. Our other English teacher I have to say was a complete and utter ANGEL! She saved us all and taught us not only her side of the course but everything else we were missing out on in the other lessons. She was the kindest of women and became all of our shoulder's to cry on whether about our home lives or A-Levels. 

Personally, I think A-Levels are just a letter at the end of the day. They don't represent intelligence just ability to remember folders of information. They're also dependant on how you're feeling on that one day of your exam, what questions come up, how harshly they are being marked and so much more. I may have passed mine but even if I didn't I don't think that they would affect who I am as a person. I also think it's far too much pressure to be putting on a person who isn't even legally an adult yet to chose their future when all they should be worried about is having fun and being young. By putting kids through this they either have to sacrifice their youth or be called stupid and have to sacrifice their grades. I believe that our grades should be about how much effort we put in throughout the year, how well we have developed, how well we know the entire course not just the random questions put into the paper. 

If you're going through A-Levels then do take them seriously but please remember they aren't the end of the world! 

xxx

Tips on Growing Hair:

I've been making a real conscious effort to grow my hair over the past year, and over that time I've found a fair few tricks that I feel have really helped, people I see often have commented about how fast my hair seems to be growing since I had to get my hair cut really short in October, because of the horrible condition it was in after the worlds worst hairdresser practically hacked it to death!

The best tip I feel I could give you, because it's worked amazingly for me already has its own blog post and it's simply going as long as possible without washing it. I go into lots of detail in the blog post, but in short it allows your hair to nourish itself with its own natural oils which promotes growth. 

Another tip a friend gave me is to keep your hair down as much as you can, I have to say I don't quite understand how this works but my friend's hair grows insanely fast, she had her hair cut far shorter than me around the same time and it's already nearing her waist, so I'm taking her word for it and mixing that with not washing it too often and it seems to make a real difference.

I also recommend using restorative and repairing shampoo and conditioner as opposed to ones that simply claim to add shine or texture. As those who claim to add shine simply put a coat over the hair so the light will bounce off it and those which add body and texture can be damaging and drying as the products they put in those shampoos and conditioners are to give a more matte and messy effect, whereas those who repair and protect will contain more ingredients that want to heal broken hair, meaning each time you get a hair cut you wont need as much taken off.

Along the same cord when you use a hair mask if you can leave it in for much longer than the bottle says. Whenever my hair is feeling particularly dry I'll put a hair mask in and leave it there for hours, my record is 8. I know some people also sleep in masks but I don't particularly like the thought of that, if you can though I would recommend trying it. Again, this will keep your hair in good condition meaning you wont need to cut too much off. 

A lot of people seem to think that when you're growing your hair you shouldn't cut it, but that isn't the case. You should still get regular cuts, just make sure they're trims. Although don't be annoyed if when you ask your hairdresser cuts off more than you expect when you say you only want the split ends off, because the split end is only where the tip of the dead part is, to truly have nothing but good quality living hair you need to cut a couple of centimetres above where the split is.

Whilst on the subject of keeping your hair in good condition is just to try to damage it as little as possible, is simply to look after it! No heat, no dying it and no back combing. You'll be surprised how much difference it makes, when I was in my mid teens I was very self-conscious about the fact I had curly hair and I straightened it obsessively every day and my hair always felt just awful, but now it feels so much better.

Olive oil is often recommended when people want to grow their hair or nails, I know of people who soak their hair in it for hours and hours then wash out the residue, as it all soaks into the hair and nourishes it as well as promoting growth. Also to promote growth, try massaging your scalp as much as possible. This stimulates the blood flow in the scalp promoting growth as well as spreading the natural oils in the hair evenly along the scalp. It's also very relaxing and does some good when you have a headache too. 

I'm still trying to grow my hair so if you have any tips for me then please do let me know in the comments, I hope this post helped some of you too. I'll see you again on Tuesday.

xxx

Why You Shouldn't Wash Your Hair:

Before I get started I have to say that I'm writing this post with my boyfriend's two cats on the computer desk that seem to be determined to distract me as much as possible and follow the mouse icon around the screen while I work. So if there are a few mistakes or repetitive parts in this post then apologies in advance.

On to the main point of this post however, I know that the title makes this sound disgusting but just to clarify I do actually wash my hair just not as often as most people do. I aim to go for as long as possible without washing my hair, usually only lasting around the week mark although a lot of my friends have lasted much longer than that, I don't know how they do it. 

I suppose you might be wondering why on earth my friends an I go so long without washing our hair. The truth of the matter is that it makes your hair so much stronger and healthier if you let it get (and I'm sorry there is no nice way of saying this) a little greasy every now and again. I don't claim to be a scientist although I've been trying to find out a bit more about how this works for you all. Basically allowing your hair to get a little greasy means the natural oils in your hair have longer to develop and nourish your hair. After a few days of showing up and feeling a bit gross then your oils will begin to sink back into the hair follicles making them smoother, stronger and healthier. It will also help your hair grow too so if you're looking for ways to promote hair growth and keep your hair in good condition while it's growing this will be perfect for you. 

If you're worried about the smell or the way your hair looks then you really don't have to. Just make sure that your hair gets aired out every now and again so don't keep it all tied up in a bobble too much, especially just after a wash, make the most of it looking and feeling clean by leaving it down and letting it get aired out as much as possible, at least for the first few days. Some of you may be thinking that there's no way you could manage just a few days let alone a week or longer without washing your hair, and neither did I when I was first introduced to the idea of going without washing my hair. I used to wash my hair every other day without fail, then I slowly escalated going from every other day to leaving three days in between washes, now I'm managing to go longer and longer without washes.

I know it's hard to shake the unclean feeling when you think about going without washing your hair. But it really doesn't mean that you're not clean, I still have regular showers and baths I just keep my hair tied up and out of the water, or you could invest in a shower cap, not very glamorous but it saves a lot of worry. 

I have to say that I've really found a huge difference in the strength, length and shininess of my hair since starting this. It can be hard to start with but after a while the long term benefits can really show through and make you want to keep at it. If you don't think you could manage it as an everyday thing then I would recommend giving it a go when you're on holiday or aren't planning on going anywhere too special for a while just as a little treat for your hair to give it a bit of extra nourishment.

Ok that's the end of another blog post,with the cats now curled up having a sleep on my lap it doesn't look like I'm going to be going anywhere for a while. I hope you enjoyed this post and if you did or you think you're going to give this a go then let me know in the comments I'd love to hear if you're doing the same as I am and what experiences you've had. 

xxx

How to: Fix Your Gloopy Nail Varnish:

We've all been there you've got your base coat all nice and dry then you go to open an old favourite Nail Varnish that you've had for ages but haven't used in a while and it's a nasty gloopy mess. It always makes my heart sink a little when I see such a beautiful nail varnish in a bit of a mess it's never the same as before, it doesn't apply the same and doesn't look right when it's dry.

Well ladies I have your answer:

That's right Nail Varnish Remover, now don't worry you haven't clicked this post looking for help only for me to suggest that you take your nail varnish off and start again with a different colour. What I'm actually going to suggest is that you take a very very small amount of the remover (just a drop or two) and put it in your nail varnish bottle. Then, close your nail varnish and shake everything together. As long as your nail varnish hasn't been left so long that it's beyond help when you open the bottle up again it should be as good as new.

I hope this tip helps you out a little and if you use it and it works then please let me know in the comments. 

xxx

Naturally Fuller Looking Lips:

My lips are naturally quite plump anyway but sometimes I like to make them look even bigger but not too fake. To do this I just use two simple steps:

I've started with a matte lipstick so that you can really see the difference through the steps.

To add a naturally plump look you want to make it look like the light is hitting the larger parts of your lips. To achieve this apply a clear (or a similar colour to you lipstick) gloss on the very top of the top lip and blend outwards along the top of the lip line. Also add some to the middle of the bottom lip and lightly blend out along the middle line too. This makes the lips look much fuller from every angle.

As a final touch apply some highlight to the cupids bow and some bronzer underneath the bottom lip. This makes the top lip look raised at the top and the bottom lip look bigger because it looks like the skin under the lip is further away than it actually is.

I hope you enjoyed this post, let me know in the comments if you try this out with a make up look and how it worked for you.

xxx

Alternative to Lipscrub:

Lip scrubs can be a girls best friend at times, when our lips are looking a little worse for wear and we want a nice smooth looking lip to apply lipstick over the top of. There is a totally free alternative though which works at smoothing out the lips nicely.

When you've finished brushing your teeth run you toothbrush under the warm tap and (gently) buff away at your lips in circular motions. When you've finished apply a thin layer of lip balm and your lips will be noticeably smoother and softer. Just make sure you don't brush too hard or do this everyday because you could end up making your lips even more sore.

That's all for another post if you like these little tips then let me know in the comments and I'll make some more posts like this. I hope you enjoyed.

xxx

How To Dry Your Nail Varnish Instantly:

And for free too! 

 This one's going to be another one of those quick tip little posts that seem to go down really well. I can't remember where I read this but a few years a go I discovered that if you immerse your hands in cool water after you've painted your nails then they will instantly dry.

That's right all you need is a little bowl of water. Although usually I just fill up the sink, but for the purposes of it looking a little better and not having to use the dodgy lighting in my bathroom I've used a bowl here. Because all you need is water it means that this tip is totally free. 

After you take your hands out of the water be careful drying them because if you drag them around on a towel then it will disrupt the nail varnish and look ridiculous. Also make sure you're using completely still water with no bubbles in it because the bubbles will settle on your nails and when they come off the nail they will leave a strange pattern of dimples along the nail.

I hope you enjoyed another little tip and if you did or if you try this out please let me know in the comments. Also if you've got any beauty tips then please feel free to leave them in the comments it would be nice to get a bit of a discussion going.

xxx

How to: Contour

First things first, what is contouring? Put simply contouring is when you take a slightly darker colour than your usual skintone or foundation in the areas that recede (or you want to look like they recede) from your face to create an illusion of more of a shadow there in order to make your face look thinner and your overall makeup look better. 

Before contouring:

To contour I would hugely recommend RealTechniques contour brush, but any brush that gets gradually thinner is just fine. A dual fibre brush like this one is perfect if you're new to this as it lessens the chance of you using too heavy a hand with the product.

To start off I would recommend using a powder then as you get more confident you can bring in different types of contour such as liquid or gel formulas.

The first place everyone contours is under the cheekbones, this is very easy to find but if you struggle just pat your face around the cheek area and when you feel the bone you know to put the product underneath. Focus the majority of the product towards the back of your cheekbone and gradually blend out towards the centre of your face. But never take the contour past the pupil of you eye, that is where the contour should stop otherwise it will look completely unnatural. When you've finished take whatever's left of the product onto your ear so you don't have a very obvious dark line along the side of your face and a pale ear.

Next comes the temple, again this is easy to find. Just pat (lightly, very lightly) some of the powder into the hollows at the side of your face and this will instantly thin out your face and give it more dimension.

I always take my contour under the jaw line and my chin, because I'm a little self-conscious about my chin and I genuinely really love the way it looks. Again use a light hand with this as you don't want it to look like you've got a great big dirt line under your face! Just use a light hand to create the illusion of a shadow under the jaw.

Lastly for the face, take a little more of the product on the brush and just lightly dust it along the outline of your face to give everything more dimension and blend it all together. This will help make the contour look much more natural and seamless.

 After Contouring:

Additionally, some people like to contour the nose, if that's something they want to make look longer and slimmer. To do this just take a smaller bush and the same product you've been using before and outline your nose. Then just  blend this out until it's not obvious that you've contoured your nose.

After everything:

This has been a really highly requested post guys so I hope you enjoyed this and it helped some of you out. If it did I'd love to know in the comments.

xxx

Step by Step: Winged Eyeliner:

 First of all I have to say please excuse the fact my face looks so dirty  in these pictures, I don't know what happened here but I promise I'm squeaky clean in person!

But anyway, on to the point..

Step 1:

 Line your eye with a thin line of eyeliner, go slow and steady with this if you're just starting out then this could take a while to perfect but stay calm and keep trying. Believe me if anyone knows how stressful it can be going wrong and having to try over and over again then I do!

 

Step 2:

Create a line going diagonally into the line you just made where you want the wing of your eyeliner to be.

Step 3:

Lastly you're going to want to go over and join everything up, basically paint over the lines you  just made in a sweeping motion until you're happy with the thickness of the wing, I went a little thicker than usual to make it easier for you to see in these pictures.



That's all you need to do just three simple steps to a dramatic winged liner look. As I've said before this is going to take practice but it will be worth it when you have the ability to do this in a rush or on more of a regular basis practically stress free. But if it does get you annoyed and worked up just remember that everyone had to learn and practice to get good at it and plenty of people still have off days where it all goes wrong, just stay calm and keep practicing with different types of liner too. There's pencils, gels, liquids, liner brushes, angled brushes, thick lines and thin ones. The list is almost endless just experiment until you know which one works best for you and until then, good luck!

xxx

I hope this post has helped a few of you out and if it has I'd love to know in the comments?

What Colour Eyeshadow Will Bring Out My Eyes?

It's a question I get asked on an almost daily basis, and there's actually a clever little trick in knowing which eye shadow to choose if you want to compliment your eye colour. All you have to do is imagine a colour wheel and go for the direct or closet opposite of your eye colour. The contrast will make your eye colour more noticeable.

Brown Eyes: Blue Eye shadow

Green Eyes: Purple Eye shadow

Blue Eyes: Pink and Brown Eye shadows

Grey Eyes: Purples and Red toned Eye shadows

You can choose to either go for a block colour that will contrast with your eye colour, or you can use this technique to bring out and aspect of a certain colour of your eyes. For example, even though I have brown eyes I like to wear a purple eye shadow to bring out the green flecks in eyes.

*I do not own either of the pictures in this post, no copyright infringement intended*

xxx

Has this little tip helped you? Let me know!

How to: Remove Stubborn Mascara:

Now, we can't all afford to regularly be spending lot's of money on high end makeup removers, and if I'm honest all of the "budget" or "low end" eye makeup removers that I've tried out over the years just don't cut it for me. So here's a little home remedy, if you will, for getting rid of that stubborn mascara that just won't leave you alone!

Now this may seem strange but all you're going to need is a little tin of Vaseline, and lets be honest girls, we've all got one of those rolling around in the back of a drawer or the bottom of a makeup bag somewhere. Now, Vaseline just doesn't work as a lip balm for me at all, but for this it works a treat.

It's super simple, all you have to do is completely cover your top and bottom lashes in a nice thick layer of Vaseline, I like to use the Rosy Lips one because the oils it contains work wonders for my lashes too. After rubbing it in a little, I'll leave it to sink in a little (not long just a few minutes or so) and then rub it off either with my hands or a tissue it doesn't really matter which and all of the mascara stuck right to my lashes even the parts right in the roots come gliding off with the slippy oily texture of the product.

Et Voila! Mascara free lashes! Now I'm no scientist and I don't claim to be, but roughly this works as Vaseline contains a lot of oil, and mascara -particularly those stubborn or waterproof formula's- often contain wax. So, the oils in Vaseline when rubbed into the lashes help to breakdown the mascara making it nice and easy to slide off your lashes. Sometimes if I've really been using a lot of mascara it will take me more than one coat and wipe to get all the mascara off, but nevertheless, it's a trick that's never failed me.

It doesn't necessarily have to Vaseline, a friend of mine just uses olive oil, basically any old oil based or oily product will do. Just please be careful not to get anything in your eyes! Haha.

I hope you didn't mind the sight of my naked face in these pictures, haha thankyou for reading and I'll see you all next time!

xxx

P.S. Have you got any tips for removing stubborn mascara, or even just makeup in general? Let me know in the comments.

Sudocrem The Saviour Product:

I think it's safe to say that we all hate spots. It's also pretty safe to say that we can't all afford the high end products that claim to keep your face spot free. Well here's a super cheap, super effective product that really does keep those spots at bay and your face clean and clear.

That's right Sudocrem, I know it's usually associated with babies, nappy rash and cuts, but there's a multitude of uses for it. It's perfect for popping on any bad patches of skin before bed and seeing how much they've improved the next morning. It helps dry out oily spots without drying out the rest of your face, soothe painful spots as well as bringing down the redness of acne scars. Now how many high end products can boast all of that?

I know a lot of people who create an entire face mask by applying a thick layer of it all over their face, and others who don't use any other products on their face at all!

Sudocrem is available in almost any shops all over England and has helped my skin and my confidence a lot over the years, so I hope I can help you too.

*I was not asked or paid by Sudocrem to publish this post*

xxx