June Favourites!

Hello all welcome back! Sorry for the missed post last week, I was so busy that blogging slipped my mind, however this week I'm back on track with my June Favourites, I've tried to include a little bit of everything and I hope you enjoy it!

First up, fashion! June has been a month of all seasons in North East England (where I live), with some days being hot sunshine and other days just being wet and windy. However, there have been a couple opportunities for me to get out my summer clothes and dust off my sandals!

L: TKMaxx, £19.99 // R: Tu Sainsbury's on sale £8

I seriously love both these pairs of shoes and they were both such a great find that I've been wearing them as much as possible this month. The sandals on the left are the Tropical Print footbed sandals from White Mountain available from TKMaxx. I got these while on a hunt for a pair of Birkenstock sandals, they've been in fashion for a while now and I've had my eye on some big time. However after trying a pair on, decided that these were more comfortable and for £30 less I couldn't say no! I love the tropical print, it gives a bit of colour to my more boring outfits.

The loafers on the right were a real bargain from Sainsbury's as I got them on 1/2 sale for only £8! I love pairing these with ripped jeans and a simple tee or my black dungarees. 

Casio unisex watch, TKMaxx, £6.99 // bulldog clips, New Look, £3.99

I've never been one for wearing a watch but saw this one and couldn't resist, I love how simple it is and the plain black doesn't clash with anything I'm wearing. I got this from TKMaxx for the bargain price of £6.99 but it's also available here.

As the weather has been a little bit warmer I've been really enjoying letting my hair air dry. If I'm in a hurry I use a diffuser, however I find my hair curls nicest when I let it do it's own thing. To keep it out of my face I've been loving using these bulldog clips from New Look. The top clip in the image is one I've been using for years, but any little clips are great for keeping the front sections of my hair neat and tidy!

Next, beauty! I've been all about glowing skin in June which sometimes even meant ditching foundation and reaching for a great face scrub!

Sun cream, Boots, £7.50 (full size) // Cleansing lotion, Boots, £2.79

These two products have been top of my list throughout the month, first up is this handy travel size sun cream from Garnier. I try to wear SPF all year round however I amp it up in the summer to protect my skin even more. I am super pale which means carrying round sun cream on a sunny day out is a must. This one is from the Garnier range 'Sensitive advanced' and is specially formulated for people with 'fair, sensitive and sun-intolerant skin'. This is SPF 50+ and protects against UVA and UVB rays. I love this because it's light on your skin and doesn't leave you feeling greasy at all.

Next up is this cleansing lotion from Boots. It's colour and fragrance free and enhanced with aloe vera. Despite its cheap price I find it removes my full face of make-up (inc mascara/eye liner) really well and leaves my skin feeling clean and soft.

Finally non-beauty! Some random non-beauty favourites for me this month range from plants to music and I thought I'd share a couple.

My boyfriend and I recently took up bouldering. For those of you who don't know, it's basically the same as indoor rock climbing but you're not attached to any ropes or harnesses. We had a lesson at our local centre and have been loving it! It really works your whole body out but doesn't leave you feel gross and sweaty. Plus, climbing up 12/17 foot walls really gives you a sense of achievement!

I also have been buying things to add to my university room once I go back in September. Last year I had a few personal touches but I really want to add to that in year two. One thing I really wanted was plants to give a bit of colour and life, but didn't want anything which I was going to have to care for properly which is why I've opted for succulents! They're perfect to keep in containers and are really hardy (especially the varieties I've chosen).

I've been all about girls when it comes to music recently and have been catching up on albums I've missed out on such as Taylor Swift, 1989 and Little Mix, Salute. But I've also been listening to Beyonce's self titles album (still) and really enjoying more pop in my iTunes playlists!

Let me know what you think of my favourites in the comments below and I'll be back next week with a new post! 

Stay golden, Gracie xo

Summer Make-up Essentials!

Hello and welcome back! For me there are 3 things which I always finding myself turning for from my make-up bag as the weather heats up. That’s why this week I thought I would share with you this year’s picks for a light, dewy foundation; a warm, matte bronzer and a dark brown eye-liner!

Linked below // £8.99

The first thing I swap once the weather turns sunnier is my foundation. Through the winter I like using more high coverage foundations and use more powder, this year I've been using the Rimmel London Lasting Finish 25 hour foundation which provides great coverage but isn't too heavy. However in the summer I like a more natural look, and therefore chose the Rimmel London Wake Me Up foundation. I love Rimmel foundations as their shade 'light porcelain' matches my skin perfectly and they're not very expensive. Their Wake Me Up foundation isn't a new release, however this is the first time I've used it and so far I'm loving it. I find I don't need to use powder to make it last and it's sheer enough that you can still see my freckles, but you can't see my dark circles or blemishes! It's also got an SPF 15 which is an added bonus.

Similar product linked below

The next product I use mostly in summer is a bronzer. I'm super fussy with bronzers as I'm pale and think it's easy with a fair skin tone to over bronze, which is why I prefer a matte bronzer which I find to look more natural than one with a shimmer. I don't use a bronzer in winter - I prefer a more grey shade - but I like one in summer to add a little warmth and create a little definition as well. The one I'm using now I've featured in past blog posts and bought around Christmas time, and that is the L'Oreal Paris Glam Bronze, in the shade 00 Blond Sun. This is a really great bronzer and is very pigmented but still blendable which means you can either go for a natural or bold look super easily. Since buying this from boots I've not been able to find it online in the same style i.e. one colour in a compact packaging with a mirror underneath, however Boots online do sell the L'Oreal Paris Glam Bronze Duo Powder which I assume is similar.

Linked below // £5.99

The final product I turn to in summer is a brown eye-liner. I do still love and use a black liquid eye-liner but on sunny days I think that using a brown eye-liner, either pencil or liquid, can just add to that summery-bronzed glow and look beautifully natural. The one I've recently purchased to try out is the Maybelline New York Master Precise liquid eye-liner in the shade forest brown, this is a super dark brown but just looks more simple and undone than a solid black and has a super fine tip to make a cat eye really easy. 

I hope you've enjoyed this post, please feel free to let me know what make-up you enjoying using in the summer months! New blog posts go up on Sundays! 

Stay Golden, Gracie xo

Eye Makeup Trilogy: Brows!

Hello and welcome back! This week is the third and final post in the eye make-up trilogy I've been doing and that means its brows time! I don’t do a great deal to my brows in the summer as I prefer and overall more natural look, however depending upon what I'm doing I switch between products. My brows are naturally in shape and require little maintenance, however they’re sparse through the arch which is where I focus on if I'm doing a fuller brow look. For more info, keep on reading!

£3.99 // £2.99 // £4.95

For a natural look - I go for the Rimmel Brow This Way tinted brow gel, this is really great to give some more colour and definition quickly and easily!

For a fuller look - I use a brow pencil, this one by Rimmel is a really great colour for me and lets me fill in my brows in the areas they're sparse without looking too drawn on

For a dramatic brow - I use the w7 brow twister, this is in the same style packaging and texture as the Anastasia Beverly Hills brow wiz but for a fraction of the price, this creates a full and more dramatic look and I use it on days when I'm feeling more brave with my brows!

I also use a clear brow gel/clear mascara to set my brows when I've used a pencil/brow twister, however mine has run out at the moment

I hope you liked my little trilogy! I use highstreet/drugstore products as they suit my student budget, let me know if you have any favourite eye make-up products you'd recommend! 

Stay Golden, Gracie xo

Eye Makeup Trilogy: Mascara

Hello, welcome back! This week I've decided to do something a little bit different, focusing on my favourite part of my make-up routine: eyes!

For me make-up is all about the eyes and I love how the dramaticness of your eye make-up can affect your whole look. I've made this into a trilogy of posts each focussing on one element of my eye make-up collection, first up is mascara, followed by eye-liner and then brows! I'm going to do a full eye shadow collection post later on in the month too.

I hope you enjoy and let’s get started!

£19.50 // £7.99 // £7.49 // £4.99

The prices for these are all for the full size versions from Boots.com and are correct when this gets posted

For length: I opt for the Benefit Roller Lash, I got this sample from Elle magazine and I really love it, however the full size is expensive for what I usually pay.

For volume: Maybelline Rocket Volum' express is my favourite, I find that you can't build this without it getting clumpy, however it's great for thickening your lashes.

My Favourite: Rimmel Kate Rockin' Curves, I love this mascara! It's a really great all round mascara for everyday but can also be layered up to create a dramatic evening look.

Great for everyday: Rimmel Extra Super Lash is a great mascara to give a casual everyday look, it has a curved brush which gives a natural curled look.

I hope you enjoyed a peek at my current favourite mascaras, let me know what yours are below and come back next week for a look at my favourite eye-liners!

Stay golden! Gracie xo

2015 Reading Challenge: Update!

Hello all and welcome back. Today I'm doing an updated ‘2015 Reading Challenge’, if you want to catch up on the two posts I've done on this so far you can find them HERE and HERE. I've been super bust with uni over the past month but wanted to do one of these posts so I've chosen two books which are two of my all-time favourites and one which I read in late December 2014. I'm just about to start One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey so look out for that one in my next update!

Waterstones // £8.99

The first book I've chosen is The Ladies Paradise written by Emile Zola. This fits the category, a book set in a different country, as it is set in France. I read this after watching the TV show The Paradise (On UK Netflix), the show is very very loosey based on the book and is set in Britain rather than France. The book follows the idea of a town getting its first big department store and follows the story of Mouret, the owner of the store, who falls for Denise a shop girl. Denise is kind of portrayed as an underdog character who gets picked on by some of the other girls in the shop, who see themselves as better than her. I really love this book, it’s a classic and is one I go back to time and again if I'm not wanting to start something new.

Waterstones // £7.99

The second book is the one I read – for the second time - in late 2014 and that is Looking For Alaska by John Green. I read this after reading The Fault In Our Stars, and it was recommended to me by my boyfriend who read it before me. I find after reading John Green that his style of writing is so captivating that sometimes the only book that can fill the gap of finishing one of his books, is another of his books! I really enjoyed reading Looking For Alaska, it was better than I was expecting it to be and I ended up not being able to stop reading it once I had started – my favourite quality in a book. If you've read other book by John Green I would definitely recommend this one.

Bought from TKMaxx for £14.99

The final book is one I read 2-3 times a year, or whenever I have nothing to read or just when I'm not in the mood to read something new, and that is, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Now I'm completely obsessed with this book, not just the story but the language used, the characters and really everything it involves! The version I have is the complete Lewis Carroll collection which includes both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, among other Lewis Carroll stories. The category I'm fitting this into is a book with non-human characters and that is simply because not only are many characters non-human but they’re also completely made up!

I hope you enjoyed this reading post, stay golden!
Gracie xo

15 Facts About Me!

Hello all and welcome back! I've been busy with uni work all week and thought I’d post a quick ‘15 facts about me’ blog. I've tried to make these new and unique but I may repeat some things you already know from past posts, I hope you enjoy!

1.    I really love Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore is both mine and my mam's favourite character, he’s so gloomy I just want to give him a hug!
2.   I love patterns, I have different patterns on my bedding, blankets and cushions in my uni room. It makes the plain white walls not so boring!
3.   I love my iPad, I have the iPad Air and only got it in October but I take it everywhere, it’s so convenient for in lectures and to entertain myself on train rides
4.   I get really cold, really easily and therefore always have thick socks on and a thick hoodie
5.   I really love the band Paramore and can’t name a song of theirs I don’t like. Plus, Hayley Williams is so beautiful!

   6. I love stationary, this notebook from Paperchase is my latest purchase!

   7. I play Pokemon games when I'm bored and my brother taught me everything I know, Pokemon Ruby for GBA is my favoruite

   8. I dislike the flavour of mint and therefore always chew strawberry gum

   9. I love Nintendo and have played a lot of Mario in my time, Yoshi is one of my favourite characters

   10. My favourite biscuits are plain digestives

   11. Batman is my favourite superhero

12. I love wearing shirts and wear them with anything! These are my favourite three

13. I mostly wear black jeans and vests and usually jazz them up with colourful accessories/ jackets

14. I really love Guinea Pigs and really want some when I eventually get my own flat once I’ve finished uni

15. My boyfriend is called Curtis and we’ve been together for just over 2 years

Those are my 15 facts about me, this really made me think and I hope it was interesting for you! If you want to know more just leave a comment below and ask.

Hope your week has been good and stay golden! Gracie xo

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