How I style my hair... curly and straight!

Hello all, welcome back!

This week I wanted to share with you the two ways in which I style my hair; curly and straight. I had previously done a blog about my hair in October, however I wanted to replace that one with this, to add more detail and information on my styling routine. 

My hair is long, thick, frizzy, naturally curly and also stubborn! It dries out easily and therefore I always use products to protect it when I'm using heat, as well as using a curly cream/spray and a straightening spray to help keep the frizz and natural madness at bay!

80p each, ASDA

To start off I wash my hair every 3/4 days (curly hair tends to get greasier slower, usually mine can last a day longer). My hair doesn't get greasy very quickly at all, when I do wash it I vary on my shampoo/conditioner brands. At the moment I am using the Alberto Balsam mandarin shampoo and conditioner. These are great all round and leave your hair clean, moisturised and smelling great!

L-R: Boots, £6.99 // unknown

Curly hair first!

After washing my hair I brush it to remove any knots and apply argan oil to the ends. After doing this I do 5-8 sprays of the John Frieda Frizz Ease Go Curlier 48 hour curls throughout my hair and run my fingers through to spread the product. If I am going to let my hair air dry then I leave it here, if I'm using my hair dryer I'll apply a heat defence spray too. I diffuse my hair on a low setting so I don't use a lot of heat defence but I apply it to the ends to protect them from splitting and drying out. 

Hair dryer: Argos, £17.99

The brush I use is just a regular hair brush from my local chemist. The hair dryer is the Babyliss Curl and Dry 2100W. This is a great hair dryer and has speed and heat settings so you can control all aspects of your hair styling.

L-R: TRESemme, Tesco, £3.50// 3 day straight, Boots, £6.99// unknown

To straighten my hair I wash it in the same way and then apply argan oil throughout. Next I use the John Frieda Frizz Ease 3 day straight and spray liberally throughout my hair making sure it's distributed evenly.

Finally I use the TRESemme Heat Defence styling spray to protect my hair, concentrating on the ends.

Top-bottom: GHD's, £125, GHD.com// Haird dryer, Argos, £17.99// comb, poundland//
round brush, Boots, £9.99 

To straighten my hair and get it as smooth as possible I first use a widetooth comb to make sure there are no knots left in. After this, I rough dry my hair with no nozzle attached to get it to being damp. I now attach the nozzle and - starting at the front - use my Remington Keratin therapy round brush to blow dry it smooth. I am no expert at this and practice definitely makes perfect! After getting it thoroughly dried out and as smooth as I can I switch my hair dryer to its cold setting and blow my hair in a downward motion, this helps it keep its straightness. After this I use my GHD V gold max stylers to straighten it out, again in sections and starting at the front as this is where I have stubborn flicks and frizzy sections!

This is my final hair routine! It can take a long time to do, especially the straightening, however I love both finished looks. If I want to give my hair a break or just can't be bothered with using lots of product and heat, then I usually use a hair mask to deep condition it and then let my hair air dry or sleep with it in plaits/ a bun so that in the morning I wake up with curly hair without the fuss!

I hope this has given you some ideas! Hope your week is going great, stay golden

Gracie xo

P.S. all products are bought by me and the prices were right according to the store/store website at time of me writing this blog.

Edinburgh Beauty Haul!

Hello all, welcome back! I recently went into Edinburgh to pick up some new make up and I'm so excited to write this blog and share it with you! As well as the new stuff I got a couple of old faithful items which my make up bag is incomplete without!

The first thing I picked up is something I've been in need of for quite a while now, and that's dry shampoo! I've seen quite a few beauty gurus on Youtube gush about how great the Colab dry shampoo is, created by Ruth Crilly of A Model Recommends, and decided that I should try it out. I got the London scent and the sheer invisible formula, as I have dark hair, this 200ml can was £3.49 from Superdrug. Great price!

The other thing I got from Superdrug was the Maybelline New York, The Rocket volume express mascara in black (£7.99). I haven't had a Maybelline mascara in ages, despite them being the only ones I wore for a good 3 years of my teens. I've read great reviews about the rocket mascara and decided to bite the bullet and give it a go, I can be fussy about mascara but I will definitely let you know what I think!

The rest of my make up I got from Boots, starting with L'Oreal Paris. I've been wearing the Rimmel London 25 hour liquid foundation for ages now and I like it but I do find it slightly too heavy on the skin, so I stepped out of my comfort zone (away from the Rimmel stand!) and towards L'Oreal Paris. Now. This isn't a brand I would typically try but their True Match foundation does look great and sounds like just what I'm looking for, I got the shade Ivory (N1). While I was there I decided to make the most of their current offer, 2 for £12 across the brand. Considering the foundation is £9.99 on its own I couldn't resist trying something else and decided upon the glam bronzer in shade 00 Blond Sun. This looks like a great matte bronzer for someone pale like me and for £2 I couldn't resist!

The final two products I bought were both ones I've had before and always fall back on when I'm in need. These are the Boots Natural Collection corrector stick (£1.99) and the Collection Lasting Perfection concealer (shade 1 fair, £4.19). The corrector stick is the one make up item I find hardest to get hold of, as Natural Collection is Boots' own brand it's not available elsewhere and I tend to find it's sold out. When I can get hold of this however, I love it! The green cancels out any redness (of which I have loads) and creates a flawless finish, other correctors I find tend to 'match your skin tone', something which leaves me more oompa loompa than flawless! The concealer is much raved about and for good reason, it blends really well and covers blemishes and dark circles.

The final item I bought isn't beauty related but I couldn't resist it when I saw it and it's this notebook;

I got this for £5.99 from Waterstones and it is adorable! Bright pink on the outside with gold edged pages and flowers on the inside cover, this is right up my street, and you never know when you're going to need a notebook!

 I hope you've enjoyed seeing my recent purchases and I will definitely let you know what I think once I've tried them out, until next week, stay golden!

Gracie xo

Sanctuary spa review!

Hello all, welcome back! 

In the boxing day sales I managed to grab myself a deal with the Sanctuary Spa 'Love the Little Things' mini's tin and thought I would bring you a review. I got this tin because I love sanctuary products, they're one of a few products which are coloured and scented but don't irritate my skin. Sanctuary Spa is also a cruelty free brand which a huge bonus. 

I got this set for £5 (RRP £10) from Boots in store it's also available online, however it's currently sold out on the Boots website.

The set is made up of a body lotion (75ml), body scrub (50ml), body wash (75ml), bath soak (75ml) and body puff. I personally don't have access to a bath and therefore it's the only item from the tin which I haven't tried out.

I love Sanctuary as a brand as all of it's products work really well and the original products (with the orange packaging) have the most amazing scent which really does create a spa-like vibe. These mini sizes are great for travelling but also allow you to indulge in a luxury product without having to spend a lot of money, perfect for a treat on a budget!

Hope you like this review! Be sure to comment if you want me to do more product reviews in the future, and if you have any products in mind.

Stay golden! Gracie xo

What I got for Christmas and my Birthday!

Hello all, welcome back! I'm finally back with a working laptop and here to bring you a blog post about what gifts I was given for my birthday and also for Christmas.

I recently turned 19 and with this and Christmas so close together I have been well and truly spoiled. I'm not at all posting this to brag or show off about what I got, as I've been at university I wasn't around before Christmas so all of my presents were a complete surprise and are things I've had on my wishlist for a while now. 

Where I can I am going to post the shop where the gift is from however as they're gifts I obviously don't know the prices.

I hope your holidays have been really great and that you've had a relaxing time with the special people in your life.

Left: Fleece PJ set - Sainsbury's - Christmas gift from my Grandparents

Top: Heart shaped necklace - unknown - Christmas gift from my boyfriend

Bottom: Red handbag - unknown - Birthday gift from my grandparents

Top Left: Silver quote bangle - Equilibrium - Birthday gift from my mam

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain"

Bottom Left: Nivea minis bauble - Limited edition for christmas, gift from my brother

Top Right: Handbag - Matalan//Scarf - Edinburgh Woolen Mill

Bottom Right: Nivea giftset

L-R:

Poppy jug - Christmas gift from grandparents

Microwavable dog (called Pam) - TKMaxx - gift from my mam

Alice in Wonderland notecards - Waterstones - Gift from my mam

Top: Sainsbury's recipe book - gift from my mam

Bottom: Wreck this Journal - Waterstones - Gift from my boyfriend

I hope you enjoyed this post! I am so happy to be back to blogging after a month or so off! I'm working on scheduling posts as I type so I'll be a lot more reliable from now on, thank you for reading! Have a good week and stay golden! 

Gracie xo

Disclaimer: all the images are my own and taken and edited myself. I use either my Fujifilm Finepix S2980 camera or my iPad therefore the image quality varies.

New Year's Resolutions + 2015 Reading Challenge!

Hello all, and welcome back!

Today I am bringing you my New Year's resolutions, a bit late I know, but I wanted to wait until I was back at university before getting kick started with these. I have tried to keep my resolutions short and realistic, these are things I think I can achieve by 2016 and I've tried to take one from each category - you'll see what I mean!.

My first resolution is a physical one, meaning that I will be able to see a change in myself as the year progresses. I am aiming to maintain going to the gym for 1 hour, 3 times a week. This is what I currently do in terms of fitness and it fits in with my schedule at uni as well as being a realistic amount for me to be at the gym without getting bored or lazy.

Number two is an education based resolution. I aim to work towards getting a C in all of my assessments at university. So far I have been pleased with my results in essays, however there have been times when I've gotten a D and felt envious of my friends getting B's. A pass is 40% and I am aiming to keep above 50%.

Number three is a mental resolution, this may sound a bit weird but I am aiming to think more positively and banish negativity from my mind. I am very self conscious and tend to be a panickier and pessimistic so I am aiming to work on getting more positive. This includes spending little to no time around people who can be negative and judgemental and all round trying to think see the best parts of bad moments.

Number four - the last one - is a fun goal and that is to read as many books as possible! Since the beginning of my final year of school my reading has really decreased, I've always thought the best people are well-read and therefore I want to try and read as much as possible in 2015.

This is where the title fits in, I was on Pinterest around Christmas (I am addicted to Pinterest) and found a post which was attached to this link 

(http://www.popsugar.com/love/Reading-Challenge-2015-36071458?crlt.pid=camp.RTlcdYOWNcmE)

This is the 2015 Reading Challenge as posted by Popsugar. I have made a list of all the challenges and plan to read a book, then note it down next to whichever challenge it fits! 

So far I have read two books, Love Rosie by Ceceila Ahern and The disreputable history of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart. Both of these books have been added to my list and I will do a blog post update when I have three books I've read!

Have you guys got any resolutions and how well are you sticking to them 18 days in? Let me know! 

Good luck with 2015 and stay golden!
Gracie xo