Summer Makeup Routine

Here is another generic beauty blogger's post. However, I quite enjoy writing them and I hope you enjoy reading them! Enjoy my summer make-up routine!

In summer, I don't like to have heavy make-up, so usually, I won't use any foundation and I rarely use a BB cream. I will moisturise (usually using a moisturiser with an SPF or use suncream as well, as it is quite hot and I am going away to hot places, so I will do this anyway).

I will then go straight in with concealer. I use a mixture of Soap and Glory Kick-Ass concealer and Collection Lasting Perfection, as this gives me the coverage I need for both under my eyes and any blemishes or scarring.

                           

I will then do my eyebrows. I use three products for my brows, as I like them to be nice and not too blocky, but a prominent part of the make-up look. I use my Clinique quad, which I believe is in the shade Pink Chocolate, and is the dark brown on the palette. I will then use my Rimmel Professional Eye Brow Pencil in Black Brown, which I then use to line the inner end of the brows, closest to my nose. I then set them in place with the Rimmel Brow The Way Gel in Mid-Brown.

I then do my eyeshadow. I use my Make-Up Revolution Palette called 'What You Waiting For?'. I usually go for the pinky shades or gold shades. My most used shades are 'Take a Chance' 'Now It's Only Me', which are both shimmery pink shades.

I then go onto my cheeks. I like a very bronzed look, so I use the Collection Bronze Glow Matte in Terracotta on my cheeks and my temples. I then use my Babylips Balm and Blush in Flirty Pink. I really love this product, even though I was cautious, to begin with, but it really works when it has been blended in! Then, on the tops of my cheekbones, I will use my Revolution Vivid Baked Highlighter, which is such a good buy. It is so cheap and so pigmented and lasts so long!

I then use my Maybelline Lash Sensational Waterproof mascara, which, as I have mentioned before, is my absolute favourite mascara. I trust it so much and unless something amazing happens, it won't be leaving my makeup bag anytime soon.

Then, I will wear a nude lipstick, which is either my Rimmel Naughty Nude or It's A Keeper, which are two amazing nude shades, one slightly more shimmery than the other. I rely on these so much, because they can dress us any look immediately.

I hope you enjoyed this! Here is the final look:

Enjoy this little time lapse of me doing my makeup feat. my IPod falling off the desk!

What are your favourite makeup items?

Stay happy,
Katie

P.s. I am part of a new blog, Through Our Eyes, which has started running now! Take a look HERE!

How To Get Through Missing Your Friends During The Summer Break

That is a bit of a long title, isn't it? But it tells you exactly what I am going to explain in today's post. During summer, you may go away, your friends might go away, you may just be busy and forget to meet up. But at some point, you realise you miss them. Because I finished school so early this year, I have found that ads a lot of my friends have gone on holiday for long amounts of time while everyone else is still at school, leaving me behind to wait for my sister to finish school.

As I sit here, I have one or two friends who are away in America and I have come to miss them a lot. After spending so much time with them during school and after school ended in the week up to prom, when they suddenly disappear, you lose all sense of bearings and wonder what to do next.

I have a few ways of getting through these problems. They are simple and work in many situations. I have also used these for people at school that I miss, for example those few teachers that you miss even though you vowed that once you left school, you would never look back. You learn, in many cases, it isn't that easy. Here are my tips...

• Hang up your pictures! It is such an easy way to 1) make your room look nice and decorated and 2) let you see the memories you want to in snippets on your wall, so you can see them whenever and wherever you are in your room! Get a cute frame, as big or as small as you want and put your favourite photos in! Simple and easy, yet cute and memorable!

• Get a picture board. They don't cost a lot to buy, or you could make one yourself using some material, string and cardboard. There are plenty of tutorials on Pinterest that you can easily follow. Once you have one, pin it on your wall and slip as many photos as you want to into it! It is cute and means you can arrange the photos in whichever way you decide! You can also put letters in there, notes and other bits and pieces that you want to remember!

• Get a book and get your friends and teachers to write in it. Little notes mean the most because they are heartfelt. I have a book that you can put the name of the person, a space for them to write their message and put any contact details they want to write in, which is helpful if they/you don't have social media. I read these every now and again and it gets me slightly emotional but also lets me remember all of the good memories that I had with that person. So simple and yet so lovely!

• This may seem like an obvious one to some, but message them! I'm sure they would love to hear from you! Organise things for the future so, if you go to different schools/colleges/universities, you have things to look forward to wear you know you are going to see them. This prevents losing touch and also means you can look forward to things that are going to happen! The best thing to do is to go and have some time shopping or having a coffee or going to a park and having a picnic. Movies are great but you don't talk during them, so you don't get to say as much as you may want to if you were together. Me and my friends use Skype or FaceTime to speak to each other if we are away because then it is like being together, even if you are either sides of the Earth!

• Scrapbook. Scrapbook. Scrapbook. I cannot recommend scrapbooking more. I enjoy it because it is relaxing, but then when you are having a moment where you are missing them, you can look through your scrapbook and look at your memories. It is a cute way to remember people but also it is creative and you can put your heart and soul into designing it in whatever way you wish to! I am going to do a scrapbook post soon, so stay tuned!

I hope these are helpful! They work for me and hopefully they will work or you as well!

Stay happy,

Katie xx

Read my June Sum-Up!

Thoughts on Education | May 2016

I know I haven't been around much, but revision has well and truly taken over. And it has got me thinking about a lot of things.

There are so many of us who do our best, revise as much as we can, but then we compare ourselves to others and automatically feel inadequate. "Oh no", we think, "I haven't done enough", "I am going to fail" and "What happens then?" I know that I have definitely felt this way over the last couple of months. People saying "You will be fine!", but you automatically think "No, I won't."

GCSEs are confusing, they are less about your knowledge and a lot more on your memory, which gives an advantage to those who can easily memorise and a disadvantage to those who cannot. For example, French GCSE. The idea is that you have 2 papers, a listening and a reading, 2 speaking tests and 2 writing tests. However, those speaking tests and writing tests are completely based on memory. I don't need to understand what I am saying or writing, as long as it makes sense and I remember it all.

It frustrates me because a lot of what we learn is not necessary for everyday life. Even things like learning phrases in French is not useful because half of them don't make sense when you are saying them to a French person. What is the point in that?

Also, the fact that we are now being encouraged to take subjects like sciences, maths, English and humanities. Ridiculous. What if I don't want to do that. My whole school life has been based on my music and no government is going to tell me to stop doing that and do something I don't want to study so that I get on in the world.

The whole education system, in Britain at least, has taken a turn for the worst. Why am I studying this? Why am I memorising this? If you think about it, I am making a lot of sense. But many people don't think so.

Also, what are you getting out of memorising the equation for the volume of a cylinder or the quotes from 'Of Mice and Men'? Nothing at all. It is completely pointless and unnecessary.

What do you think?

Stay happy,
Katie xx

April Sum-Up

April has gone weirdly quickly, but I guess every month is doing the same at the moment. It is really scary and I wish it would slow down, but at the same time, I wish it would speed up to summer!

Here are my favourites for this month!

Favourite Songs?
Cheap Thrills by Sia has been my jam this month. It is such a feel-good song and everyone should listen to it because it cheers me up every time I listen to it! Also, Cake by the Ocean by DNCE. This song is another feel-good song and every time I listen to it, it makes me want to dance. As we get into summer, all of the summery songs come out and that excites me a lot!

Favourite People?
So many people, but I am pretty sure you know who you are! Jemima and Anna, who you can click on to see their blogs, have been favourites as always. Also, Mcfly, who recently announced their Anthology Tour, which Jemima and I are hopefully going to attend! Also, the Kardashians. I don't really know why, but they have been! Carrie Hope Fletcher, who has been doing regular videos that always make me happy and Gabbie Lindley, who has been a favourite for a long long time!

Favourite Makeup?
Recently, I bought the Makeup Revolution Palette in 'What You Waiting For?' It has such a range of beautiful nude shades, which are so pigmented. The palettes as also so inexpensive. I bought this palette for £4 but it is usually £6, which is still such a good price. Also, the Collection Highlighter Stick in Pearl. It is just really good for highlighting the browbone and cheekbones without the effort of a brush because you can just blend it in with your finger. Finally, my Rimmel Only 1 Lipstick in Naughty Nude. I have been wearing this every day I can because it is so easily wearable and stays on for ages. Also, it smells like watermelon!

Favourite Drink?
Lady Grey tea, as always, has been so good. But also, water. Just cold water. I take a bottle everywhere with me and it is just so refreshing!

Favourite Pictures?
Hard choice, as always. Here they are:

Would you like me to do a GRWM day in Oxford when I went last weekend?

Stay happy,
Katie xx

Nice - Day 5 - Modern Art, Shopping and Flying Home

Because we had to pack, we all got up on the first alarm on the last morning. Although we were tired, there was stuff to do. We had eaten breakfast by 7:45, after waking up at 7, which is impressive for me. We were the first people to be packed and ready to go. I had done my makeup, dressed, washed and packed everything in under an hour and then our room had half an hour to sing songs together, which is something we enjoyed so much, as it was relaxing and it gave us a chance to be together doing something we loved.

Once we had dropped our bags downstairs and grouped, we walked to the modern art museum in Nice, which is a big museum in the centre of Nice. There was some interesting art in there and again, there was a roof garden, which was so nice (no pun intended).

Once we had finished at the museum, we walked to the old market, where the teachers stopped and started talking to someone on one of the ice cream stalls. They did a deal with them and we all got 2 balls of ice cream in a cone, for free! It was so nice of them and the ice cream was so good!

We were then able to have some time off. My friends and I decided that we would collect some money from everyone and buy something for the teachers, as they had put up with us all week and organised everything for us. We collected €50 altogether, so we bought 5 paintings from the market and then some individual presents that resembled inside jokes or things they liked. They really liked them and it was very funny, giving the presents to them.

We then went to the beach, which was so nice, as we had half an hour to relax. We sat on the beach and talked, sang, skimmed stones on the waves and laughed. It was so nice to be with the people I like, outside of the school environment. 

After a while, we walked to the main street, where, again, we had some time to go and have a look at shops. I bought a ring from a boutique shop and Jemima bought a Too Faced palette, which is the most beautiful thing ever!

Then it was time to collect our bags and travel to the airport. We were all tired and hungry by this point, so we couldn't wait to get on the plane and eat. Once we got through security, we looked for shops to eat in, but there was one place to eat, a Costa. However, it was so expensive and the food was different to that of Britain's. I had a pastrami bagel, but it wasn't great. I had a cup of tea on the plane, which was scary because there was so much turbulence that I had to hold it, along with my friends stuff, as he had fallen asleep.

We got back to school at about 1 o'clock and we were all so tired, but we had such a good time and these memories will stay with me for a long time, if not forever.

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If you enjoy travel diaries, please say so, because I will do more of them if you want!

Stay happy,

Katie xx

And In The Blink Of An Eye

Do you ever find that there has been something that you have been longing to happen for a long time and every moment in your life is counting down to that moment? Then, when it happens, it is amazing. But then it finishes so quickly and you realise that the thing you have waited for has finished.

This has happened throughout my life and recently it happened again. I have mentioned many a time that I have been rehearsing West Side Story and recently performed it. Now it is over and I feel lost and have absolutely no idea what to do with myself. I made so many friends throughout the rehearsals and shows and I love everyone who was a part of the journey.

But now it is onwards and upwards of my adventure of a lifetime. And it panics me. The reality that now I must get my head down and get on with exams so that I can get the life that I want.

Do you ever feel like this?

Stay happy,
Katie xx

P.s. when you are reading this, I will be in London so there will be a post up about that soon