Blue sea and skies

Oops I meant to post these a few days ago, from when it was actually sunny in Swansea for once. I had a mini uni reunion with two friends from uni. One I see a bit since I've known her from school, but the other's been busy so it'd actually been months since we'd all seen each other. We decided to go to Mumbles for some food in The George and then went to Verdi's for some Sundaes, and had a little walk in between the two places. It was gorgeous out and really does remind me how nice the sea is when it's sunny. 

I still need to catch up on blog reading, does anyone else get scared by the amount of posts people write in a week? I feel like I follow too many people but I love reading everyone's blogs. I'm just intimidated by the amount that I have (well want) to read so I need to set some time aside for that, like all day or something! I will be doing the giveaway on July the 1st hopefully, in the mean time I'm going to Bristol Zoo!! And after that paintballing! It'll be a fun week, and I need to do more! My sleeping patterns been messed up since I'm doing closes in work, so I'm hoping to catch up on everything soon! So in the mean time here are some photos from Mumbles. 

Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages by lisamello featuring brown boots

I saw Rock of Ages the other day, and I loved it! I know it has mixed reviews, but I went in watching it knowing it was a musical and full of cheese. I think a lot of people in the screen didn't know it was a musical and a few laughed when the main female character starts singing straight away. I love the music, the hair and the clothes! Sometimes I do wish I was born in the 80's, rather than the 90's but oh well. Another thing I loved in this film? Well, Diego Boneta! At first I didn't really like him based on the trailers and on the posters, but after watching him sing? Wow! I definitely want to watch it again, and see the original stage show in London (which I hear is different and less happy, boo!). The collage above was inspired by the first outfit Sherrie wears which I couldn't find on Polyvore, so here's the picture below.

I think it's perfect for the type of  "Summer" we have now. A nice flowery sun dress in case it's sunny, with boots and a jacket for the cold and possible rain, which we shouldn't be expecting as it's almost July but should still prepare for it since British weather sucks! Anyway if you haven't seen Rock of Ages yet, and you like the 80's and cheesy films where characters convey their emotions through songs, then watch it!

P.s! I have had so many lovely comments on my last post, thank you! I've had a mini blogging break which I seem to do every so often but not on purpose, sorry! So will catch up on all the comments and reading blogs and actually posting some more!

I should be so lucky

Lucky, lucky, lucky! Sorry for getting that Kylie song stuck in your head, but my point is I was lucky! Not in love like the song says but with winning Lucy from Shiny Thoughts third bloggiversay giveaway! (I'm also lucky in love but that's a different matter!) I've been blogging on and off for years on different blogs and find it inspiring that people have been blogging consistently and at the same blog for years! She very kindly gave away two goodie bags, one sweets themed and the other a mixture between beauty products and jewellery which I luckily won, yay! Have you seen the Dune bag above? I'm actually in love with it and kept showing it to my mum and my boyfriend, who both thought I was mad but agreed it was nice. It now houses my make up and random little things that I usually cart between my house and my boyfriends (I swear I'll stop talking about him! lol) but I'll probably use it when I go out too. 

A little sneak peak at what's inside, I was so excited to open it, even though I already knew what I'd won, but still, yay excitement! I wish I'd taken a picture of the parcel it arrived in as it had pretty tape and stickers all over it! Ah hindsight eh?

I won some leopard print style nail wraps, which I am going to attempt to try using again since my nails are getting longer (and I know where I went wrong last time I used nail wraps). There were two lip glosses, both smelling lovely, one by Jemma Kidd and the other was Just Pink by Next. Both smelt lovely and looked nice, but my favourite was the Next one which also came with a sweet floral scent which is perfect for popping in my bag and you just dab it on. I also had a perfume by Next London which smells so nice! It's mainly floral but it says it has hints of citrus and musk too which I can pick up on after awhile. I'm really happy with that as my perfumes are all nearly running out and I only get them for Christmas which is months away! I also got a cute red nail varnish from Aubin & Wills which I haven't used yet, but need some more red shades as I can't find any of my current ones.

Now onto the jewellery, squee! All of the jewellery you could mix or match since they're all shades of gold. There were three bangles, my favourite being the Egyptian one! It's so unusual and I love Egyptian things. There was also a swallow necklace, and I'm crazy about swallow related clothes/jewellery as is most of the planet right now I think! ^_^ And there were four rings, I think you're meant to stack the three smaller ones, my favourite being the one on the right and it kinda reminds me of sailory type jewellery, like a wheel of a ship? Anyone? And the flower one is pretty, but I've only just started to wear rings so feel like I need to work my way up to wearing such a statement ring!

All in all, I am chuffed with what I won! Thanks Lucy! You should go check out her blog if you haven't before, it's full of pretty photographs and outfits! I never win anything so it was really nice to finally win something, plus something so nice! And this really makes me want to do my own giveaway. I've collected a few things for my own blogs first bloggiversary which is on the 1st of July. It won't be a big giveaway as I don't have much money atm, but I was wondering if anyone would like to see a sneak peak of what I've got?   It'll be just over a week until I post anyway but I sort of want to do it now, but should wait till my bloggiversary!

Back to normal Glossy Box for June?

Nothing special this month so we're back to the normal standard Glossy Box. I have received more limited edition boxes since I signed up, but now I'm about even so I was a bit surprised but also glad, since I want more pale pink boxes for re-purposing! I was excited as ever when I opened my box and the weather was nice and sunny for the photos! I've tried out all of the products today (when it's rainy) and thought I'd do the review early on, instead of at the end of the month since that's usually how long it takes me to try everything out!

As you can see it's the normal standard packaging, but I think the info card changes a lot anyway.

At first glance I was thinking "Where is everything?!" I did actually think they'd forgotten, since I've had a missing item before, but after a bit of using my hands and my eyes I found all five products. I have to say that this box didn't really 'wow' me, sure there were nice things but compared to other boxes that I've loved in the past I wasn't too enthusiastic about it. 

  Above are all of the products. There was a Clean Start by Dermalogica kit and a Vichy Dermablend Start kit which I'll review afterwards since I have close up shots of just those. Included in this box were three small items that were hidden at first. These were  - 

A Glossy Box Serie Exclusiv Pro Beauty Brush - Wow what a mouthful to say! And for something so simple, a make up brush! I'd have rather this had been an extra like the mirror in the last box, but I don't usually use make up brushes except for blusher and eyeshadow which usually come with their own brushes. I did use it with the bronzer but it was too big and I got bronzer everywhere ooops. Anyway I can't really review it since I have no knowledge of other brushes, so it'll do? If I use it, and use it properly (I am a make up noob!)

BM Beauty Summer Warmth Bronzer - Okay so at first I was really excited thinking this was another eye shadow powder by the same company, as I really enjoyed the last colour and use it quite a lot. However I saw it was bronzer and I don't really use bronzer, and I guess I don't really know how? I tried some on today with the brush and I put too much on and looked a bit like a clown, especially against my pale skin. Loads of it went on with one sweep, after shaking the excess off so it should be good if I learn how to use it properly. 

Yves Rocher France Mini Mascara ultra-volume Sexy Pulp - At first glance, I thought this was a perfume sample since it was about the same size, aka, tiny! I didn't have high expectations of it since it's so small, but I actually liked the end result. The brush is really thick and curvy and easy to use. Most mascara's can clump my eyelashes together but this seperated them easily and it wasn't too thick but made them look longer. So I like, but wish it was bigger. We've had full sizes before from Glossy Box, but also the smaller samples are usually bigger. So the size was a let down, but then I have enough mascara to last me awhile thanks to Glossy Box anyway.

Vichy Dermablend Ultra-Corrective Foundation Cream Stick - The look of this confused me but intrigued me as I have terrible skin (and making a doctors appointment is so hard with its stupid system!). When I read it it seemed easier and I gave it a go. I didn't blend any colours but used the porcelain shade which did help cover my skin but I'd rather have a stick to use than the little patches of the stuff. I'll see how long it lasts today but it looks promising.  

Clean Start By Dermalogica Day/Night 3-step kit - I really like the simple packaging and that they're all meant to compliment each other. I usually use simple products, but used this kit today. The face wash smelt nice but I couldn't place the smell and didn't irritate my skin but left it feeling fresh and clean and I really enjoyed the all over clear mist spray thing. It was fun to use and is meant to help stop shine and keep breakouts way, we'll see misty spray, we'll see. I didn't particularly like the smell of that one but it wasn't that noticeable. The third step of this kit is the moisturiser which was creamy and easy to use, just like my usual moisturiser. You're meant to use the first two day and night, and the third just in the day so seeing as this is the first day, I'll have to see how it goes but it also looks promising. 

So that was my review of June's Glossy Box, and I wasn't the greatest fan, it was okay, but I've been very tempted to try other boxes, so I might do that for say two months and decide which one I like best as I can't really afford to have two different beauty subscription boxes. However I have loved Glossy Box in the past, so I do actually feel guilty thinking about other boxes and it was my first beauty box, oh the dilema!

DIY Dip Dye Shorts

6 litres of warm water in a bowl, rubber gloves, a measuring jug with 500ml of warm water, damp shorts, dye and 250g of salt

I've been making some dip dye shorts whenever the weather is nice enough, since I want to make them outside, it kind of needs to not rain! It's simple enough to do and really fun! I want to experiment with more dye and more shorts! Above is a photo of what you need, and I'll list the steps below. Also just to be careful wear old clothes you don't mind getting stained, but I've done this twice now and haven't stained any of my old clothes, but knowing how clumsy I am I won't take the risk of wearing my usual clothes!

I followed the instructions on the back of the dye packet except for weighing my material, I've just dipped two pairs of shorts into the dye and it's worked. I also dipped the shorts into water and squeezed the excess water out so that they were damp before I started, but I will be using a spray bottle in the future.. For step one you need to add the dye to 500ml of warm water. I used an old measuring jug so it doesn't matter if it stains and mixed the dye in using my hand and a rubber glove but you could probably use a spoon or something else instead. 

Step two needs you to add the 250g of salt to the 6 litres of warm water and mix in till it gets nice and cloudy. 

For step three you then add in the dye.

I mixed in the dye using my rubber gloved hand for step four and it was a nice bright pink.

For step five you then add in the shorts however far you want the dye to go. I put in two pairs of shorts, one pair I'd already dip dyed purple, and a plain white one I'll dip dye another colour. Some people use hangers, I have before for a longer bucket, but this time I just draped it over the edges. 

Then you just wait for one hour for step six. You're meant to stir regularly but I haven't. I will stir next time though just to see the difference if there is any. 

After the allotted time, for step seven rinse the shorts in cold water and wring dry. You're also meant to wash in warm water but I'll do that after I've dyed my other shorts and do them all at once.

After you've washed them (which I didn't do - yet) hang them somewhere or put them somewhere safe to dry. It says to keep them away from direct heat and sunglight, so I put them on the washing line when the sun was going in and they did start to dry before it rained! So then I popped them on an old towel and put them in the bath to dry overnight! 

I hope that was helpful for you, and the last photo is how one pair of shorts has turned out. I like it, but it is a bit creased and crumpled in that picture so it does look nicer in person, as it was wet at the time. I can't wait till I've done my other shorts (I bought three dyes so that's three colour combos) and then stud them!

Garden Day

I drew this ages ago, back when we had about a week or two weeks of sunshine. Do you remember that? It was sunny every day! I got into the habit of taking a blanket out into a corner of my garden (it's hard to find a private area since I have neighbours on both sides and the front is open to anyone who walks past :( ) and would read or draw and try to get a tan! I did try to use my laptop but its so hard to see the screen when it's sunny so I just gave up. 

Anyway, I painted this the other day and thought I might post it even though its not that good, but its been a few weeks now since I wore it so I might as well. The dress is from Primark and its gorgeous and so girly and I want it in a million other colours plz! Since I was in my garden I went barefoot and wore some sunglasses so I could see, but as you can tell, I can't draw or paint sunglasses! I should have just left them out, especially since they're not all black but have white polka dots on but I knew I'd just mess it up if I tried. Also, I need to find better ink pens, I always loose the ones I really like in work, so note to self, stop taking good pens to work! Yeeesh!

London times again

Travelling map on the train. Free TV on the train, HIMYM yay! Typical tourist picture. And again.
Fire Music! Turns out he was pretending to play, I was disappointed. The sky looked so pretty. Chilling in the night - it was actually about 9:30pm! With the Lions!
Me and my friend going underground. London at night. Thorpe Park! My OOTD - trying to show how wet it was.
I fell off a ride. Paddington Station. Jelly Beans! My reading material on the train home. 

I was meant to post this yesterday but things have been busy, as usual. The other day in work I whacked my head really hard against something and I think I had/have concussion! If not I'm pretty dizzy anyway and my sleeping pattern is messed up. I got home from work that night about 4am and woke up the next day at 4:15pm!! I had work by 5 and it takes me half an hour to drive to work, so I was in a rush yesterday and yeah, now my sleeping pattern is messed up as I've just woken up from a nap! Oh well, onto the post now!

I went up to London again recently, this time to visit my friend. When we got there we went for a walk and did some sightseeing as another friend I came up with had only been to London once years ago. It was really nice and warm and light for the time of night and then we had some drinks in the pub before getting a pizza and going home to watch a film, and meeting some of my friends housemates.

The next day we woke up super early (for me!) and went to Thorpe Park with two of my friends housemates. We had to catch two tube trains, a train and a shuttle bus to get there but it was worth it! I've never been to Thorpe Park before so was excited, but I stupidly wore a maxi skirt thinking I'd be okay! I wore it thinking it would dry faster than the jeans I'd brought if we went on any water rides (which I did, except for the big splash one) but then when jumping off one ride at the end my skirt got caught and I fell and bashed my knee and hands. It probably was hilarious to look at judging by how much the girl who worked there was laughing, but she directed me to first aid when I showed her I was bleeding. They were only small cuts but stung and wouldn't stop bleeding and I had a nice chat with the first aider who had a friend in Swansea Uni. The rest of the day was fun though, and we went on loads of rides loads of times since it was actually really quiet considering it was the last day of half term and only rained a little bit. We weren't complaining though since the longest we had to queue was half an hour, and on average about ten minutes. 

We'd been there from about 11:30 to closing time at 6 so were exhausted travelling back. One guy actually fell asleep on the tube on the way home but the boys both went straight to the pub while we girls went home to shower thanks to the rain and water rides! We ordered pizza again! And waited for another friend who was coming down from Aberdeen for the Summer Holidays then we went to the pub too. I tried a strawberry beer for the first time which was amazing, and I don't like beer so it was a nice change. Needless to stay when we got in we all fell asleep straight away ready to catch the train back home the next morning. 

I'm usually running late or miss trains when I'm coming home, and we thought we would miss the train (something wrong with the tube again!) but we actually made it with ten minutes to spare, which never happens! Note to self, leave extra time in case of delays! We got back home a couple of hours later where I promptly fell asleep again. It was a really fun trip and I sort of wish I'd had the chance to shop but my bank account is glad I didn't, and we had a fun day in Thrope Parl anyway with 2 for 1 vouchers and hopefully next time I go to London, I might go see all the Harry Potter sets everyone's talking about! 

They call me clumsy...

... for a reason! Okay so just a short little post as I am so behind on everything! I finally caught up on over a weeks worth of blog reading, and I read a LOT of blogs so it took ages and there's loads of new ones today, waaah! I've barely left any comments, which sucks, as I'm trying to comment more. I'm so used to just reading blogs and never commenting unless its congratulations or about a competition and I'd like to comment for other reasons than that, particularly as the last one makes me feel a bit like a user, but I do really love the blogs!

I was going to do a London Instagram post, but my last few posts have all beeN Intsagram collages and I'd like to not do that for every single post, yaknow? And I was going to post a few illustrated outfit pictures I've done, but first I need to find my water colours! I've drawn a few just haven't gotten round to painting them yet, sigh. So here's a quick little post to say I have been busy, and I've been busy injuring myself, yay! I have so many bruises on my thighs from god knows where, I fell off a ride (after it stopped) in Thorpe park getting lots of cuts on my hands and knees, it looked hilarious I bet though, and I somehow managed to  punch the coke machine in work whilst getting something causing my little finger to bleed like crazy (above photo) and someone opened the door into me hurting my other little finger as I was holding my hands weirdly I guess? All in the space of two to three days! Okay so its not much, but enough with the finger injuries already plzkthnxbi!

So yeah that's it for me, and sorry for the lack of updates, commenting and boringness that is my blog, my stats have gone down waaaay much so it really does show, ooops! P.s I'm going to go see Prometheus tonight, finally!

A week of Parties!

Like I said in my last post I've been busy working, or partying! Well going to events at least. I didn't take pictures of everything so didn't have a wide selection to pick from oh well. It was my brothers 21st birthday so I made lemon cupcakes for him, and also my boyfriends 26th birthday. He wanted a Victoria Sponge and that's it in the top picture... only... I dropped it and forgot to bring the cute candles I got :( It still tasted yummy though, it just looked silly! I was working on his birthday event and then went to a BBQ but it was dark, and for his actual birthday we went to the Uni Society events do. The second picture is of the empty sweet jar filled with stars lol, and the third is my outfit. We all wore blue and white to match the drama's colours, and they won a few things, so yay! It was loads of fun. My dress was from New Look and I got £8 off thanks to a tiny little mark that came off easily, woot! The night after that a lot of the societys held a Night of Musicals, which was awesome including drama, choral, glee, dance etc and I made a new friend, he was sititng by himself bless him. I'd be too scared to go to something by myself, I mean I do but I know loads of drama people will be there and try to sit next to them, but he was lovely. 

Second row, yeah... a weird picture but that's me trying these curler things. They do work, but didn't work for the night I needed them as my hair didn't dry fast enough. I'm trying to make my hair prettier but also treat it better so tried these out from New Look. I think my hairs a little bit too long for them though. The middle picture is of my pink lush bath! Finally getting round to using all these bath products :) I including those two pics to fit in with the party theme as they are 'getting ready' pictures. Third picture in that row is of Taybarns. It was my first ever visit and was okay, think I prefer Cosmo but it is much cheaper. It was birthday/new job dinner for my boyfriend since he likes Taybarns. Driving there was a nightmare though, I may or may not have got lost.... anyway! Moving on!

For the third row there's me sporting my Jubilee look, but not really, I worked it! :( I wore this bow when I came home though, can't wear it in work since I wear hats. Then it was the Drama awards night and I got to sit on the committee table even though I'm not even a member! It was very fancy and loads of fun. It's quite sad too though since I won't be seeing a lot of people again since they're leaving Swansea after finishing uni :(  I wore a dress from Debenhams which I got for £5! It used to be £85 but it was in the 70% off pile and it was buy one get one free, and I didn't get a free one, yes I'm stupid! So that was my week in Instagram pictures and just add in a few closes in work, and it sums up my week. Now I'm off to pack since I'm going to London in a few hours and I have done nothing! Ooops! I am tempted to take my laptop on the train to catch up on blog reading and plan a baby shower but then I don't want to lug it around London, hmmm, why can't my laptop be tiny eh?

O hai, remember that challenge I was doing?

Yeah I'm still doing it, just you know, I've really far behind, by a few weeks and missing some days....but never mind eh?! Better late than never right? I've sort of had a blogging/internet break, mainly since I've barely been at home and don't really use the internet on my phone except for Instagram and Draw Something etc. I really need to catch up on all the blogs I read, but there are SO many, it's kinda daunting but I miss reading them. I've been working a few closes and then sleeping in the day, rinse and repeat. Or I've been going to lots of drama things and there were birthdays and lots of stuff, so basically I was very busy! I will try to do a catch up Instagram post but wanted to do this first. 

The challenge was created by Selina and I failed! But sort of knew I would from the start. I'm missing out three days since one of them is 'The item that brings all the boys to the yard', I don't really have anything :(, another is about my style icon and I'd rather do a post on that on its own maybe using Polyvore, and then something I'm obsessed with but I'd be reusing things in this challenge anyways like my shoes or something. Now onto the challenge!

001 - Something that is from my favourite brand -  I have a few but decided on David and Goliath since their prints are always SUPER cute, look at that Pug Shot! Squee!

002 - A Piece of clothing/jewellery that was a gift -  I picked my D&G watch which my ex boyfriends mum gave this to me for Christmas the year before. I have worn it every day since! I should probably replace the strap but meh, I'll wait till its literately falling apart. It's something I wouldn't have picked for myself (colour and price, I break things) but I love it and am terrified of breaking it!

003 - Something from your favourite store - I picked a skirt from H&M since I can't leave that shop without buying something! I picked the star skirt since it's my most recent purchase from there and I should wear it more. It has a zip in the front so I'm wary that I'll have people telling me I was wearing it back to front, but I should just wear it more!

004 - A totally me outfit - It's hard to get a full picture of yourself using Instagram so I picked an old one, a cute dress with an animal print (birds) flat shoes, tights/leggings and a cardigan is a 'totally me outfit'!

005 - What's in your bag? - I actually did a post on that since I forgot it was part of this challenge. 

006 - Something that everyone has now - Creepers! I have wanted these for ages! But had to wait till a good pay day and I finally bought these bad boys from ebay. I love them, and am half glad the weather sucks since I can get more wear out of them. I did wear them when it was sunny and my feet were boiling, oops. A little side note, I'm not wearing them out with those socks, I pulled up my trousers to take the photo! I'm not crazy!

007 - Pretty Hair - Um.... my hair's a bit of a mess atm, I don't really do pretty hair. It's usually down an messy, in a ponytail/bun or plait. I tried curling it for two events recently and it just didn't work! It did work on the day I didn't need it too nor take a picture, oops. So I included a photo of me wearing a daisy chain. The sun was very glarey so my face looks weird. 

008 - Face of the day - The last one that I'm doing. I was worried about this but including one I took before going to a Uni Society Awards do. I wore fake eyelashes for the first time from my Glossy Box, and got complements :) Definitely will wear them again and they stayed on all night, yay!

So that's the end of the challenge, and I'm not sure about when I'll next update as I'm going to London tomorrow and I have a close in work tonight and I still need to pack! Ahhh! When will I ever be prepared in life? Hope everyones had a lovely week and an even lovelier weekend!

P.s! I won Lucy's competition! I'm so excited! I never win anything eeeek! I actually did a little dance when I read her comment, thanks! ^_^