July Favourites 2015

You may not know, but I am not just into reading, sheep and Disney. I love make-up and beauty. I love learning about what helps our skin and what makes people look nicest. So here are some favourites from this month, beauty, books, clothes and other things that don't have a category!

Beauty

Rimmel Extra 3D Lash mascara
This mascara really lengthens my eye lashes. I wasn't expecting very much, as it is their cheapest mascara, at £4.99. However, it really works. If you are looking for a budget mascara that really does the job, either as your first mascara or as a replacement or upgrade, this is definitely the one to go for. Watch our The Falsies, this mascara is going to blow your mind (apart from the Wonderlash mascara from Rimmel)




Rimmel Lasting Finish Colour Rush lip crayon in 610 Sun Kissed/Collection Work the Colour lip butter in 3 Vintage Rose
I find lip butters/crayons easier to put on than lipsticks and they last longer. They glide on so easily, with vibrant colour and stay on for a long time. I cannot find the Rimmel lip crayon on the Boots website but I shall look in the store and see if I can find it. Anyway, they are both the same sort of colour but the Rimmel one is slightly lighter than the Collection one. The Rimmel one is slightly more expensive at £5.99 and the Collection one is cheaper at £2.99. Both are very good products.

Skin

Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water
I have the travel version which was £1 but the full version in £3.99 or something similar. It takes off all of make up so quickly and it doesn't hurt my eyes. It keeps my skin hydrated as well, as I can get quite dry skin. Also, the bottle is so cute!








Soft and Gentle 48hr Protection Deodorants
Soft and Gentle recently brought out a new range of nice smelling deodorants. I like them because they smell nice and make me smell nice. I am currently using orange blossom and grapefruit in the morning and the smaller version of watermelon and lotus flower in my bag when I go out, either to school or otherwise. I am counting this as skin because I couldn't think of another category for it.



Electronics
 HP Pavilion laptop in blue
I recently got this laptop and it is the single best purchase my Dad has ever made for me. I love it. I can now spend time writing blog posts in my room with a cup of tea and toffee waffles. It plays music out of its beats audio speakers that are built in! I recently upgraded it to Windows 10 and it made it even better! I really recommend this laptop as a purchase that will last you.



Clothes


Primark Minion pyjama top and bottoms
These pyjamas are the comfiest, sweetest things ever. They look so nice and they can be mixed and matched with other minion pyjamas depending what you want to wear. I only have one pair so I just wear them together but they are so cute and comfy and really cheap, as they are from Primark.


Primark Winnie the Pooh pyjamas
More pyjamas! These ones have shorts so they are great for hot summer nights (or hot pyjama days!)
They are really cute and I love Winnie the Pooh so they are my other favourite pair of pyjamas! Sorry, I don't have a photo because they are in the wash!


Books
Harry Potter
I can't really say anymore. They are my favourites and I love reading them again and again. My favourite has to be Harry Potter and The Order of the Pheonix! So there we go. Harry Potter everyone.







So there we go! Thank you July for this amazing month. I couldn't have asked for a better month of summer.

Stay Happy,
Katie



Book Review - July 2015 - The Night Circus

Firstly, the cover. It is beautiful! Black and white the signify details in the book, with a red scarf around the lady's neck to symbolise another part of the book. All together, it is very meaningful and represents the book exactly.

Secondly, the story. A fantasy novel, mixed with romance and adventure! What more could you want. Reading this is the dark of the night is where it is best read, as the atmosphere is perfect. The blurb is:

The circus arrives without warning

No announcements precede it

It is simply there, when yesterday
it was not

This automatically drew me in. I was encapsulated by the mystery that surrounded both the front cover and the blurb. I just had to read it. 

A summary of the story would be that there is a circus that arrives at night and opens at midnight. The acts are not like any other circus. You walk around the different tents, rather than sitting in the same tent for a long amount of time. Two magicians fall in love, Celia Bowen and Marco Alisdair. What they don't know is that they are rivals. One of them must die for the battle to stop between them. 

However, you must be able to read a good portion at a time. You cannot only read a page a night. It is a very fast story line and it needs reading constantly, because if you put it down for a long time, you will not understand

Altogether, read this book. I highly recommend it.

Stay Happy,
Katie x

My Summer 2015 Bucket List

I make one of these every year, to remind myself of the things I want to do, rather than have to do!

1) Go to the beach with all of my friends - I really want to go to the beach with all of my friends on a really hot day so we can all swim together and drinks smoothies together!

2) Really take advantage of the heat - Wear the clothes I want to wear because it is so warm, because next year, I will have grown out of them and will not have had a chance to show them off.

3) Have a sleepover in the tent in my garden - Having one of those sleepovers that people see in the pictures and movies would be the best! Especially with my best friends!

4) Do some sort of exercise every day - Whether it is walking, skipping, taking a run or swimming in the pool, just to get me fit for the next school year! Horrible thought, isn't it, especially if you are going into a year of exams, like I am!

5) Appreciate how lucky I am to be going on holiday - I know that many people can't go away this summer, so I should be lucky that I am going away with some of my favourite people

6) Take as many pictures as possible - To remember the summer, because I have a feeling that this is going to be the best summer yet!

7) Make a scrapbook of everything that happens - Again, to remember the summer!

8) Read as much as possible - I don't get a lot of time to read, so the summer is the perfect time to relax and read as many books as I possibly can!

9) Spend as much time in the garden with my rabbit, Nugget, as I can - I want to spend as much time with him because he is quite old and I want to make the time we have together the best possible.

10) Make at least 3 new boards on Pinterest! - Why not! It's unlimited!

11) Stay in touch with as many friends as possible - I always forget to do this! I start the holidays and automatically stop being sociable, which always means I miss something big that happens!

I hope this is a good idea of what my summer will be like!

Stay happy,
Katie x

HOLIDAYS!

By the time you are reading this, I will be on holiday! I have scheduled this post because I will be at a party when this is up!

I will probably post more in the holidays, as I have more time! There will be plenty of pictures for you to enjoy of what I am doing!

Stay happy,
Katie x

Planning Your Future

When you start secondary school, although it may seem very easy to begin with, you are actually spiraling into a world where you have to make more decisions than you wish to. So here is some advice that I would give anyone who needed it:

Firstly, try and do well in different types of subject. You may not enjoy them, but then it gives you a range of options for GCSE. Also, try and enjoy English, Maths and Science because you have to do them for 5 years! I don't enjoy science, therefore I am not doing so well in it.

Secondly, don't procrastinate on thinking about your future. Research what qualifications you would need to get into certain courses etc. It will really motivate you to do well in your tests if you know you have to work towards going in a certain direction with your life.

Thirdly, when you choose your options, choose wisely and give yourself a range of subjects so that, if you choose one path when you start but actually, you don't want a career in that anymore, you have other options. Many courses at college do not require you to have taken that subject in order to take the course.

I hope this helps!

Stay happy,
Katie x

My Favourite Songs (July 2015)

Lately, I have been on Spotify everyday. I have found so many new songs and songs that I loved and had forgotten. Due to my unruly OCD towards somethings and not others, I have over 30 playlists... That's a lot! What's funny is that at the moment, I am going back to my old playlists because I made them so long ago!

However, this is not about my large amount of playlists. This is about my top 10 songs at the moment. This changes on a daily basis, therefore, the title is July 2015. I might even make this a monthly things to do! This isn't just for my benefit, but to give others the chance to discover new music.

So let's get started!

10) Shut Up and Dance by Walk The Moon
This is a very common song that I learned from countless hours of listening to it on the radio and on Spotify. I love it because it is so easy to learn. I don't know what it is but I have to learn the lyrics to songs for me to like them. You could ask me to sing any song on the Taylor Swift album, for example, and I could!

9) House of Gold by Twenty One Pilots
I love this song because it is so simple and repeats a lot! I love the use of acoustics rather than a massive orchestra or lots of synthesizers.

8) Love Me Like You Do by Ellie Goulding
This, again, has to be the most common song right now, but it is just so good and as I love to sing, it is perfect!

7) Beautiful by Christina Aguilera
These lyrics are really good for when you are feeling really down in the dumps. I have learned the chords on the piano so that when I have nothing to do or I want some time away from screens, I play the piano, so why not sing as well!

6) Wings by Birdy
I love this song because I love the advert for Lloyds Bank and it has it in there. It is so beautiful and I love humming it or singing it in the garden.

5) Spectrum by Florence and The Machine
The reason why I like this song so much is because I like the chorus. It really satisfies me when I can sing as high as she does! It is like an achievement that I fulfill!

4) Immortals by Fall Out Boy
I sing this song with my friends and its really fun to sing and also it is so catchy!

3) Together by Ella Eyre
It is so catchy and powerful! Her voice is so good that I love the song even more!

2) THE WHOLE OF 1989 by Taylor Swift
I couldn't choose one song because the whole album is amazing! So good that I know every word to every song... Awkward

1) Dog Days Are Over by Florence and The Machine
Me and my sister jam to this in the morning as we are both getting ready to leave for school. She comes into my room and we both do our hair together whilst I sing this song and she hums it!

Places I Want To Live When I'm Older

There are so many places that I want to live, but putting them into action is slightly harder than it seems. But I can dream! With the dream of being a music teacher, I probably need to drop the amount of places I want to live to a minimum, but I will always dream of living there!

1) I want to live in Wales - I am 1/4 Welsh and if I am honest, it is one of my favourite places to be. Especially in the mountains because I love to walk. I know I complain about it but the feeling that you get when you have conquered a mountain like Snowdon is incredible. It is a sense of achievement.

2) I would love to live in Brighton - My Auntie lived in Brighton for about 6 years and it was the best place ever because it is a city by the sea! I loved going for runs there and walks because there is something new everyday!

3) I want to live in Cortona, Italy - I am going there for the second time this year and I cannot wait! The views are incredible and the atmosphere is so friendly. I would happily stay there for many years. The only problem with living there would be that I don't speak Italian so the language would be hard and also I couldn't really teach there without a lot of training.

4) Buckinghamshire? - I like Buckinghamshire because of its countryside and its lifestyle. Also, people at school say I am post, so why not live in Buckinghamshire (I am not saying that Buckinghamshire is post, but it is more upper class!)

I can't think of any more places right now, but if I do, I will update this post!

Stay happy,
Katie x

Let The Small Things Make You Smile

Although I am totally contradicting my self by saying this - considering that, in a past post, I said how I don't see quotes as very motivational- I now like quotes a lot. I am starting to do the things that I used to enjoy, and then got covered up by one thing or another.

Recently, I have read quite a few posts that have really touched me. Examples include my friend Jemima Elliott of 'Another Ranting Reader'. (Hey Jemimi, if you are ready my, frankly rather crappy, post!)
Here post was all about accepting yourself and it definitely hit home that, actually, as much as I act confident (sometimes rather over confident), I am not the most confident person, and I get nervous at the most stupid things.

For example, I ask myself each morning before I go downstairs:
1) Do I look okay?
2) Will everyone be okay with how I look?
3) Will I get told that I don't look good?

IT NEEDS TO STOP!
I can't go on like this. It really annoys me!
But it is proof that I am not sure whether people fully accept me for who I am. I love quotes, and recently I gave in to the screaming gaggle of friends who shouted "GET TUMBLR!". I love finding quotes on it and other peoples life stories. It makes me happy to know that others are happy with who they are. But I have not get given my own self closure on whether I am happy with myself and how people see me.

I will never be confident in a way that makes me cocky. I hate those kind of people.

So here is a quote that sums up everything I just said in the minimum amount of words possible.


So do what you feel is right, because 99.9% of the time, it is the right decision.

Keep happy,
Katie

--------------------------------------------

I have taken a while to post this because I didn't know whether to. It was a tough decision but I now feel relieved that others know what I fell like on a day to day scheme. Obviously, not a lot of people read this, but I still feel like I have let something go.

I hope you understand what I am trying to say :)


Garden Parties

The days are long, the sky is blue and your best friends are by your side. What do you do?

HAVE A PARTY!

It was one of my best friends birthdays, so she invited me and my other two amazingly wonderful friends to a sleepover and garden party. She had it all done perfectly.
The days are long, the sky is bright and you have your best friends right

There was bunting, a bbq, a cute deck and nail painting! It was perfect. In fact, it was goals!


So when you're bored and you should be revising, have a garden party. It's worth the work :)

Keep Happy,
Katie x

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