Barry M natural shadow & glow blush palette 2

I wanted to buy a new eyeshadow palette that wasn't too big but still had a moderate variety of neutral shades. I wanted a smaller palette because i spend a lot of time travelling to and from my boyfriends house, so its much easier if i travel lightly! I like the MUA and Sleek eyeshadow palettes because they are good quality, cheap and small. But i wanted to try something new and i had my eyes on the new Barry M palette...

I think theres 5 different palettes in this collection. I chose this one because as soon as i looked at it i liked the colours a lot. Not only is this a small palette but it also has a blush in it swell so it means one less makeup product to carry around. 

There are two matte eye shades in the palette which (from the left) are the second and third shades. The other four shades are shimmery and include a; plum, grey, medium brown and a dark brown. The quality of these eyeshadows are fairly good and although i have only used it a couple of times so far, I'm really liking it. The blush has a slight shimmer through it, its a gorgeous rosy pink colour.

Theres a big mirror in the palette on the flap which magnetically shuts which is also very useful for touching up your makeup on the go. I would highly recommend this palette. 

I got this palette from Superdrug for £6.49

Red sparkly Christmas nails

Two very festive things are the colour red, and lots of sparkles. Combining these together I have created a nail look that looks so Christmassy. Its so easy to do and is nothing out of the ordinary but still looks amazing. Only two nail polishes are needed to create this look - a red and a sparkle or glitter nail polish.

1.  Simply paint your nails red, 
2. Wait for them to dry,
3.  And use the sparkle polish as a top coat.

The pictures do not pick up how lovely the nails look when the light hits the top coat. I used two shade from Barry M. The red shade is called 'blood orange' and is from their 'Gelly' range. And the glittery top coat is called 'Jingle Bells' and is limited edition. (Jingle Bells is available in Superdrug right now and you can get it for free when you spend £6 or more on Barry M products)

I will be wearing these nails up until Christmas and probably until the New Year as well!

x

Lily Pebble's Chocolate Brookies!

I have recently watched Lily Pebble's vlog which included 'chocolate brookies', i then read the blog post about them which went into further depth about them and included the recipe. Brookies are half way between brownies and cookies, I'm surprised I've never heard of them before! 

Usually when i try and bake things at home it goes horribly wrong because i don't have a key ingredient and I've substituted it for something else, or I'm making up the recipe as i go along! When i looked at the ingredients for the chocolate brookies i was pleasantly surprised as they are all simple ingredients that most people have in their cupboards, and there was just a short list of ingredients that were needed. So for once, i think my chocolate brookies turned out just fine!

For the full recipe and much better pictures go to Lily Pebble's blog :)

The brookies before baking.

First batch out of the oven. (without flash)

Second batch out of the oven! (with flash)

X

Zara City Office Bag

Ive wanted this bag for a while now. I originally wanted the older style of the city office bag as i liked it more, but i decided to just go for it and get it as they're all fairly similar. I first got inspired to get this video when it became popular with YouTuber's. 
I was lucky enough to meet Tanya Burr in the Summer of 2013 and when meeting her she was carrying this bag. 
I didn't go shopping to purposely buy it, but when i saw it in Zara i felt i had to..! Its such a classic accessory for a girls wardrobe. The black makes it classy and simple looking, and the entire style is so convenient and handy. 
I use this bag when i go to college. The pockets at either side mean that my laptop and folder can be easy to find and protected from any damage. The pockets are cushioned which means that if my laptop didn't have a hard case on it (which it does) it would still be protected inside the bag. 
The huge compartment in the middle is open and makes it easy to grab things during the day. It has both short straps and a long strap. The bag can fit so much in and is perfect for work, college, school or university. It feels good quality and i know it will last me for a long while. 

RRP £59.99

x

My 5 favourite autumn/winter lipsticks

So as its autumn the more berry toned lipsticks appear again. Ive chosen some of my favourite lipsticks to wear in the Autumn/Winter months. Ill be making references to the pictures below at i talk through them. (from left to right)

The first lipstick is by L'oreal Paris and is in the shade 203 rock 'n' mauve. This lipstick is the brightest purple that i have. However, when first applying it, it does come out on the lips fairly shear. I love this lipstick because it can be built up into a full-on bright purple lip. I'm looking forward to try it out more as its my newest lipstick featuring in these 5. This lipstick is moisturising on the lips and doesn't last too long unless its blotted down so it stains the lips and the moisture is taken out.

Second along is also by L'oreal Paris but it is from the collection 'exclusive pure reds' and as you can probably tell from the name of the collection it just features different shades of red lipsticks. The one i have shown in this picture is Eva's (Eva Longoria) red lipstick. This lipstick looks fairly orange in the picture as its next to darker colours but its a deep red with slight orange tones in it. Its soft and smooth on the lips and has really good staying power so it will last throughout the day. I would say its fairly matte.

The middle lipstick is my Mac and is in the shade Amourous. I think this shade sold out at the start of Autumn but i knew deep purple lipsticks from Mac such as Rebel would sell out so i luckily bought this before Autumn. It is a satin finish which means its almost matte but has a little bit more moisture although its definatly not a moisturising lipstick. Its also very soft on the lips and feels as if you're not wearing lipstick as you've been wearing it for a little while. The colour lasts so long and is a must have for Autumn/Winter

The fourth lipstick along is by Rimmel London and is from the Kate Moss collection. This lipstick is in the shade 30. I think this lipstick is my favourite from the 5 I've chosen. Its very matte and i love matte lipsticks. Its very pigmented which means a light layer is needed and the colour pay off is amazing. The only thing I'm not so keen on is the smell of the lipstick and i know a lot of people either love it or hate it!

The final lipstick is also my Mac and is in the shade Captive. This lipstick is very similar to Amourous and is also a satin finish. Even the colour is very similar in the tube, but once applied Captive is slightly darker. Out of the two i have worn Captive the most and i don't really know why as i love them both! 

The pictures are taken on my phone which is why the quality isn't good!

Top 10 tips for managing school, college or uni work!

I'm a college BTEC student, so i know its hard to manage the work load that you're given. Here's a few things that i do to help me stay organised and get the work done...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1) Write down each piece of work that you've been set //

Writing down the work means you can visually see what you have to do, and its easy to see when you've completed a bit of work by crossing it through.

2) Make sure you fully understand the work //

Whats the point in trying to attempt work that you don't understand? If you don't understand it ask your teacher or tutor to go over it again with you.

3) Know your deadlines //

I know from doing a BTEC course that its hard to upload your assignments by the deadlines as its easy to forget. Set reminders on your phone to make sure you remember. 

4) Share your workload out //

If you have a lot of work set, then make sure you are regularly doing it to get it done. For example, give yourself 2 hours every evening to do some work. (It may need to be more or less time).

5) Give yourself breaks //

I know from experience that i lose the will to live if i try to work for over half an hour in one go. Having regular breaks makes you feel refreshed and you'll get back to work in a better frame of mind

6) Have everything ready in front of you // 

Theres nothing more frustrating than getting comfortable and realising you've forgotten your calculator or notes or pen! Get everything ready before you begin.

7) Snacks //

Either eat in your breaks, or have food and drink next to you. This will give you energy to carry on working. Avoid drinks and food high in sugar because you will get a sudden rush and feel great and moments later you will feel tired and want to give up!

8) Sleeping pattern //

Having 8+ hours sleep a night is recommended - i try to have 9. Everyone deals with lack of sleep differently and i definitely need a lot of sleep to function. If I'm tired i don't want to do any work and i have no concentration. 

9) Gentle exercise //

Since high school my commitment to exercise has gone rapidly down hill. Doing gentle exercise in your breaks such as walking and stretching really helps you feel comfortable for when you sit down again.

10)  Days off //

No-one can work constantly. Everyone needs a break from school, college or uni work. Having days away from doing work can mean you return with better thoughts and ideas. It can also help you to feel refuelled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hope they help! Sophie x

Muji acrylic storage

A few days ago my Muji order of two sets of acrylic drawers arrived. I had been contemplating ordering these for a while, and when i finally caved in they were out of stock. I went on the website every now and again when i knew i wanted to order them and around a month later they were finally in stock so i ordered them. The confirmation email i received stated that they needed to be shipped in so i was expecting them to take a while to come in the post, but they actually took around a week to arrive so i was fairly impressed. I ordered a set of 5 drawers and a separate set of 2 drawers that had deeper drawer space than the set of 5 drawers. 

Im using my Muji storage as make-up storage and somehow the drawers i bought are nearly full and i wasn't planning on buying anymore anytime soon! Here are some pictures of how I've filled my Muji storage so far.. (the lipstick holders are from eBay)

Pumpkin carving with Ben!

As its nearly Halloween its only right to carve a pumpkin! Today me and my boyfriend Ben carved our own pumpkin just in time for Halloween. We tried to think of something creative to carve into our pumpkin and we even googled 'pumpkin carving ideas' but they all looked far too hard so we ended up going for a classic halloween style pumpkin! It was fun to do and reminded me of when i was younger, however i didn't miss the smell of the inside 'guts' (as i call them) of the pumpkin!!

Here are some pictures of our pumpkin carving process! 

Virgin Atlantic Base in Crawley

A couple of days a go i was lucky enough to go to the Virgin Atlantic Base in Crawley. This is where Virgin Atlantic trains new their cabin crew members. As I'm currently studying travel and tourism at college this was a good opportunity that college offered to my class.

During my day there we did a little bit of theory and then mainly took part in practical activities. These practical activities were part of cabin crew training and we got to experience what they were like. This was such a rare experience as not many people are lucky enough to go to the Virgin Atlantic Base.

We first met our trainers for the day which were Louise and Pippa, we did a bit of theory and then moved on to the training activities.
The first activity we did was fire fighting. We had to walk through a smoke filled room with all the correct equipment on, we then put out a controlled fire with fire extinguishers that were filled with water just for the training exercise.
A while later we then got the chance to go down the emergency slide that would be used if the passengers needed to evacuate the plane. This slide was just inflated and on a frame for the purpose of training, but it was set at the height of a real 787 dream liner aircraft so that the cabin crew training would know what to expect if they ever had to use the emergency plane whilst on a flight in the future.
After that we went on the same inflated slide that was on its side and being used as a raft. The raft and slide double up to have two uses so can be used on a land or water emergency landing. Whilst on the raft we experienced how hard it was to fit all 23 of us on, then we found out that it actually held up to 75 people! We placed the cover over the top of the raft and managed to do it in 1 minute and 14 seconds which was fairly quick.
We then got to act out some of the things cabin crew did in emergencies on the make shift plane that was made to be just like the inside of a Virgin Atlantic plane. We were shouting comments at our classmates such as;
"heads down, feet back"
"undo your seatbelt, get out, leave everything behind" etc.
This was fairly realistic and seemed quite scary for the classmates acting as passengers, but it meant that we listened to the commands that the cabin crew were shouting and in a real lift emergency situation all the passengers would need to do exactly what the cabin crew were shouting.
Finally to end our day we got the chance to look around the different interior areas of the Virgin Atlantic planes including; economy, premium and first class.

It was a really good experience and opened my eyes so much more to the roles cabin crew have to undertake as many people underestimate this.

Learning to drive with the AA Driving School

I have recently passed my driving test!!

A week ago today i was lucky enough to pass my driving test first time! I learnt to drive with the AA Driving School and i chose to learn with the AA because i knew of their good reputation. AA is a well know company for other services that it has as well - such as breakdown assistance. 

During driving I had two different instructors. I had my first instructor for nearly 4 months and i had my second instructor for nearly a month. I had to change instructors for a reason which wasn't my choice, but towards the end i started to enjoy my lessons more with my new instructor. I had a few lessons at the start of my driving experience in Lowestoft as i didn't get offered where i wanted to go. But a few weeks later when i got the choice i chose to further learn in Norwich as i previously wanted to learn in Norwich. And i knew once i passed i was 100% more likely to be driving around Norwich than Lowestoft so the experience driving in Norwich was a massive help. I passed within 5 months of learning to drive which some people think is a short amount of time, i think it depends on how committed you are and what the instructor is like.

I've had many different people say to me that certain places are easier or harder to learn but overall i personally think they are all similar.

I was lucky enough to pass my theory test first time as well which meant soon after i booked my practical test. I knew i wasn't quite ready to take my practical test, but as the waiting list was 9 weeks i had plenty of time to improve!

On my test my one manoeuvre i was asked to do was the 'turn in the road'. I also had to complete an emergency stop on my test and they ask around 1 in 3 people to do an emergency stop. 

I learnt to drive in a new Ford Fiesta which i quite enjoyed driving. One thing i didn't enjoy about driving it was that the gears were high. Now I've passed I'm driving a Vauxhall Corsa which is very different and is taking a lot of getting used to.

Overall i would recommend the AA Driving School (BSM - British School of Motoring is also owned by the AA). Booking 10 hours of their lessons in one go means they are slightly discounted as apposed to booking and hour or a two at a time. Hourly rate is currently £24.50 (October 2014).

Click here for a link to their website. 

x

Acrylic nails

I had my nails done around a week ago now at Timberhill Nail's in Norwich. I didn't plan on getting them done until a few hours before so it was a spontaneous decision! This was the second time i go my nails done with acrylic nails and i wasn't sure whether to actually have them done as i previously really didn't like them. I didn't like them the first time as they were far too long and they really damaged my nails after i removed them after just 2 days (which was really difficult and took a long time!) and i got those ones done at USA nails also in Norwich. 

I showed pictures of the type of nails i wanted done both times - and both times they didn't really do as i asked, but i didn't mind so much the second time as i actually really liked them! 

When having my nails done the second time i only realised once i was half way through that i didn't have long before i had to leave to get the last bus home, so i left without having them painted! This meant i painted them myself once i was home but it wasn't as well done as they would have done it! 

I still have the acrylic nails on now and i hope when i eventually take them off that they haven't left my real nails in a bad condition. This worries me as the people doing the nails do like to 'sand' down your nails quite a lot!

I kind of got the same or similar style of acrylic nails done both times because its just preference as to what i like, but in the future i may try a simple square tip finish. 

I would like to add that it did hurt quite a lot when i had my nails done the second time and the man doing them wasn't very gentle at all!

I have changed my nail colour twice since having them done this time and i plan on changing it more as i like to switch it up quite frequently!

Here are 2 pictures of my current nails from the top, and the last picture is of my acrylic nails the first time i had them done. X

A vase of flowers

Different flowers bloom all year round, but my favourite flowers bloom in summer. Theres so many different types of flowers available to buy in summer that are a variety of colours.

Flowers can change a whole room, they can add so much character and a sense of completion to a room. Flowers can be used and displayed in vases in all different rooms in a house from a bedroom to a kitchen.

Flowers seem to fit in well with summer as everything is much more brighter. Having flowers in my room adds an extra something to my room- almost like an aunament.

Having flowers in my room makes it feel so much more homely and welcoming. They're also so pretty and depending on the colour you choose, they can fit in well to the colour theme of your bedroom.

Depending on where you buy the flowers they will last different lengths of time. Typically the more you spend on a bunch of flowers the longer they should last. But cheaper flower stools like the flower stool I sometimes buy flowers from in Norwich can also be a mixture of amazing and not so good quality. But if the price is low you cant really complain.

Sophie x