The Liebster award

Hello everyone! Another post this week hopefully lets me off the hook for abandoning my blog last week. Today I give you a little insight on myself by doing the Liebster Award thanks to Kaitlin from KaitlinLouise!



Just a quick background on the award:
"The Liebster Award 2016 is an award that exists only on the internet, and is given to bloggers by other bloggers. The earliest case of the award goes as far back as 2011. Liebster in German means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome." - I think it's a great way to unite blogs and get smaller blogs a bit of recognition! Thank you so much Kaitlin for this nomination!

The rules of the Liebster award are:
1: Mention the blogger who tagged you and thank them.
2: Answer the 11 questions you've been asked by the blogger 
3: Nominate 11 bloggers who have 500 followers or less. 
4: Give them 11 questions to answer.
5: Notify your nominees on Twitter.

I'm going to tag 11 blogs that I'd like to nominate to take part in this and the 11 questions I'd like them to answer at the bottom of this post. Happy blogging!

My answers:
Q: One place you've visited before and would go again given the choice?
A: Florida, I went when I was very little and barely remember Disney World, the five year old in me is not quite satisfied!!
Q: Galaxy or Cadbury?
A: Reducing this down to both brands in their most basic milk chocolate forms I'd have to go with Cadbury!
Q: What's your favourite blog post you've written to date?
A: Probably Birthday Travels as it is one of my favourite memories! 
Q: What is your guilty pleasure?
A: Party Rings! I go through those way too quickly and I know they aren't good for me but I can't help it.
Q: Who's your favourite actor and actress? 
A: Actor is the beautiful Chris Evans, I love that man to bits. And actress I really don't know, I thought about this for a long time but no one really came to mind, I'll update if I make a decision!
Q: What would you tell your younger self?
A: Make sure to take every single opportunity you can regardless of how intimidating they seem, memories are worth so much!
Q: Favourite Disney film?
A: Lilo and Stitch hands down.
Q: If you could be best friends with any celebrity, who would it be?
A: Can I pick a group? I'm going to pick a group (I'm sorry if I'm breaking rules here) but the cast of The Avengers- plus Chris Pratt. I just love them all so much.
Q: Night in or a night out?
A: Night in, especially with my best friends, we know how to have a good time at home!
Q: What's your favourite car?
A: Not too sure really, love a Range Rover though and a sleek white Mercedes maybe?
Q: What's the most scary thing you've ever done?
A: Hmm, I'm not really one for taking major risks- probably the climbing up in treetops I did in Denmark! 

Your 11 questions:
1: Favourite tv show
2: Go to comfort food?
3: A quote or song lyric that you love
4: Do you prefer to wear brighter or darker colours?
5: How long have you been friends with your oldest friend? 
6: Favourite pair of shoes at the moment
7: Who do you call when you're in a crisis?
8: Who do you call when something good has happened?
9: Three words you'd use to describe your life at this current period of time
10: What's something you like but most people hate?
11: Do you have a pet? If so what pet, if not what pet would you like?

I nominate:
-Hollie from EnamouredBeauty
-Gaby from ThatChicGaby
-Claire from MyLittleMemoir
-Demitria from DemitriaDoes
-Georgia from GeorgiaSillitoe
-Ashleigh from AshleighKybert
-Sally from Saltanxo
-Madi from GlamorousMayhem
-Noemi from JoynLifestyle
-Sally from SalElizabeth
-Renaé from RenaeDavinya

Five friends, three days

Hello everyone! I am so sorry for the delay, the latter end of last week was just so stressful I just wasn't able to write a post of good enough standard. I'm also back to school now and it's exam season so I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to manage my time effectively but I guess I'll just have to work with it!

So as some of you may know if you follow me on Twitter, just over a week ago I took a three day trip to Denmark. The back story as to 'why Denmark?' Is a long one which I've been through many a time so I'm not going to do that again. Anyway so the long awaited Tuesday 5th of April arrived and I excitedly got up at the crack of dawn to meet three of my best friends whom I'd be travelling to meet up with best(est) friend number four. The journey to the airport was quick enough, we checked in (it was quite strange doing all this for the first time without an adult!) then had breakfast, shopped a bit before it was time to board. I'll skip the plane journey, it was standard, an hour and a half or so was all it took to get us onto Danish soil. Fast forward we met up with my best friend and her mum and started off to her house. The rest of that evening was nice and chilled, we took a walk to the local shop to buy a few things and then spent the night playing cards against humanity.

The next day was by far my favourite, we got the chance to spend a couple of hours doing various (challenging and strenuous) tree climbing activities which is something I'd never experienced before and did enjoy! There were varied heights you could climb at and we worked through them all (although I found I'd developed a minor fear of heights at the 20m mark and dropped out of the very last course). We got to spend the night in a cabin, just us five cooking and cleaning for ourselves- the epitome of freedom right? Highlight of that evening was having a prank pulled on us which resulted in a very loud scream and my life flashing before my eyes. The rest of the night passed without any more terror (thank God) and due to irresponsibly sleeping at 6am we woke up at 11am. Fuelled on five hours sleep we gave the cabin a clean and had pancakes for breakfast. Back 'home' we showered and packed up all our things- I couldn't believe it was almost over already!- and headed off to the mall to ramble and pick up a few things before dinner at Restaurant Flammen which was amazing!! 

The drive to the airport was nice and long, it kind of felt like a mini road trip with that "nothing ahead but the open road" feeling. Obviously the airport getting closer and closer and I realised the trip we'd been planning for months was coming to an end. At the airport, fooseball and trying to get to the front of the boarding queue was what the next hour or so consisted of. Then it was the plane journey back where us girls gossiped from take off to landing, taking a few cheeky pictures of the boys which I won't include as I value my life quite a bit. Getting home was nice for one reason only- my bed. Other than that I could honestly have had a few more days over there in Denmark, it was the nicest thing to just come away from school work and spend some time with best friends and making amazing memories.


Photo credit for this lovely picture goes to my friend @jbishop169 (on Instagram)



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Baby faced

Hello everyone! Here I am with my first review (un-sponsored). My lovely friend took a trip to Korea a while ago and coming back she bought me a few things to try. Sweets, sachets and souvenirs were among the treats I got to play around with but the one thing I was very excited to try was a Shea butter face mask by Aritaum. One lazy Saturday morning I decided it was time I gave it a go, so I scoured the Internet for the instructions (sadly they were in Korean on the packaging) had a quick shower, cleansed my face with a face wash and opened the face mask to reveal, an actual mask. I mean I know it was called a face mask but I expected a cream that you'd smother on your face and it'd dry and you'd peel it off afterwards. Nonetheless I placed it on my face and proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes looking like a character fresh out of a horror movie. In order to keep the mask on my face I was required to talk as little as possible and refrain from laughing- obviously as soon as your brain realises it shouldn't be laughing it decides to find everything in plain sight hilarious. So just imagine my giggling self snap chatting my friends trying to past time *no photo here as I was quite a sight*. The time passed slowly but surely and I took off the mask and rubbed the remaining "residue" (?) into my now soft and supple face. I found that my face was dewy, and had the perfect amount of moisture, something I really needed for my skin! Definitely one of the most weirdest things I've tried but I thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely love to make it a regular thing. My skin did feel amazing and that was only after one mask! I can't imagine the wonders it would do if you did it regularly. I completely recommend that if you can get your hands on one to try it, the funny side alone makes it totally worth it!

Just a side note- the facial wash I'm using is the Simple Triple Action face wash which I use with it's corresponding moisturiser. It's quite good although I find my skin is left very dry afterwards so I tend to pair the moisturiser with another one.




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The ultimate breakfast

"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day".. I cannot count how many times I've heard this but as teenagers we're also told "sleep is so important" however if I want to get enough sleep it means I have to sacrifice my breakfast and vice versa. Most mornings I have to survive on a couple of breakfast biscuits and will my stomach to keep from letting my classmates know just how hungry I am. Weekends on the other hand are bliss, I get a lovely lie in and can have a great breakfast- basically the definition of having your cake and eating it! A lot of the time I stick to the staple cereal or a toasted bagel but at times I feel like venturing and having more 'aesthetically pleasing' breakfasts. This week I made a simple bowl of oats, decorated with sliced strawberries, candied nuts and cinnamon sugar. A breakfast that took no longer than 10/15 minutes to make and tasted delicious (not to mention it was also highly photogenic). The recipe is highly customisable as well which means you'll never get tired of these good ol' oats!

Ingredients 

-Regular oats, literally whatever kind
-A couple of strawberries (I only used two but I have the appetite of a small child) or any other fruit- bananas or blueberries work quite nicely
-Two teaspoons of sugar, again whatever kind you have
-Half a teaspoon of cinnamon

For the nuts
-Handful of nuts of any kind or skip out on them if you're not a fan
-Teaspoon of maple syrup
-Teaspoon of honey
(If you don't eat honey or maple syrup, two teaspoons of any kind of syrup is usable whether agave or golden syrup)

Method

1) cook the oats as instructed on the packet- unfortunately I don't follow a rigid recipe and go for the 'just do whatever and hope it works out' but I'd say roughly 300ml or any milk/water with about half a cup of oats?? Honestly just see what looks right
2) (you can actually do this in advance and I think it does work better that way) start by crushing the nuts with a rolling pin, place them into a small saucepan with the honey and syrup on a low heat. Make sure to stir continuously until it starts to thicken and bubble a bit. Take these off the heat and spread them onto greaseproof paper or something that's greased down so they don't stick as they cool. The best thing to do is to let them cool completely then bash them up with a rolling pin again to get the candied pieces ( I made the mistake of eating them right after I took them off the heat and they were a bit too chewy)
3) in a small bowl mix the sugar with the cinnamon until the sugar is coated and sprinkle this on the oats (make it as pretty as you like!)
4) slice the strawbs and begin arranging them on the oats as well going to town with whatever design you choose
5) EAT!

I hope this tastes as good to you as it did for me, these oats have me craving breakfast at all times of the day!




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Lipsticks I love

I don't own a lot makeup at all and honestly I rarely put on a full face (where is the time?), basically I've just got a little bag or two with just enough bits and bobs to get by. Don't get me wrong though I'm very fond of my makeup and I do love to experiment but definitely not enough to be a beauty guru like Zoella or my current favourite beauty YouTuber Irishcel507. Saying that I did want to show you all the lipsticks I'm currently loving, all from different brands so there's a lot of variation which I do love!


1) Sin by M.A.C
This is a little gem I picked up at Christmas, a deep berry shade which is matte. I love this lipstick so much as although it is matte it's so creamy and also I think it smells like chocolate?.. One thing I'd recommend before putting this on especially if you have chapped lips is some lip balm before hand just to make sure it stays perfectly in place and doesn't "crack" (I think that's the right word?).

2) Matte 1993 by Urban Decay
Words can't describe my love for this lipstick! It's a nude colour for me which I love as I can use it for a natural makeup look. Like the M.A.C one it is matte also (it's in the name I know) and it does go on really well but I'd still say a bit of lip balm would do you good! As with most nude colours it's recommended you do put a bit of lip liner on to define your lips, I just use a brown and it does the trick!

3) Military Red by Burberry
Now this lipstick is just a sample, a miniature I got for free when Burberry did a little online Twitter promotion. This lipstick is honestly the creamiest consistency I've ever felt, it's like butter I swear. I would recommend the full sized version- although it was a bit pricey- as it is a nice red lip!

4) Harlow Red by Bobbi Brown
This was the lip crayon I used for prom, and what I do love about it is that you can vary the shade (at least I can) depending on how much you apply. From a simple "red" to a bright "crimson" it's great to know it's quite versatile- and it's great to colour your lips on with a giant pencil like a child playing dress up!

I've also got a quick swatch just to show you what the colours look like on!




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Cyprus, an escape to the sun

As a lot of you probably don't know (due to my lack of updating) I spent Valentine's weekend in the south of Cyprus with my family this year as a little break from school and the awful English weather. For three days we stayed in a beautiful apartment and drove around the amazing city, randomly picking pre-programmed tourist attractions in our sat-nav and letting it take us anywhere! It was the perfect adventure, having your own car to drive around in meant you could pack as many different location visits into one day, don't like where you've ended up? Totally fine just drive somewhere else! Being able to do this meant that in the short few days we'd been there we saw more than we could have dreamed of, from beaches to zoos and quaint little rock pools- which I may or may not have fallen into.. Each day held a new surprise and although it wasn't hot enough to use the outdoor pool (and sadly we only discovered the indoor one on the last day) we still managed to be busy from dawn to dusk!

We went to a mini cliff type thing, rock pools and the Tombs of Kings on the first day which were all so lovely! Just taking in the view of the sea and hopping from rock to rock was enough to satisfy me for ages and the tombs which could date back to 4th century BC were so quiet and serene, I really love archaeological sites!











The second day was the zoo which although I was hesitant to go to as I've been to the zoo multiple times at home I was far from disappointed! I think we all revert back to our five year old selves when surrounded by animals, my inner Snow White came out as I tried to communicate with them all. The zoo had a little show they did mainly with the most talented Parrots I've ever seen in my life but also some beautiful owls (one of which was in Harry Potter!). Weirdly enough our favourite part of the zoo was actually feeding the Goats, who were very aggressive when it came to eating the leaves! We also came across the cutest baby Goat and I was tempted to pick it right up and take it home with me. We also visited the mall, where I couldn't resist going into Zara and having a mini top haul as Cyprus really know the meaning of 'sale'.








That evening we went on a bit of a drive around to the harbour and stumbled upon a castle which we hung around until the sun completely set, listening to the sea (I swear I would've stayed there forever).



On the last day we came across the indoor pool, so naturally we spent a good hour in there soaking up as much chlorine as possible. Clearly we couldn't get enough of the water as we went on to visit the beach. I don't know how many beaches it'll take for me to not be in awe as I gaze off into the horizon where see meets sky *and a few other cheesy quotes*. After that it was back to the mall where I picked up two blouses for school again from Zara and we returned back to the hotel content with how we'd spent the day. The evening was packing- and sneaking back into the swimming pool again- before watching the sunset and having an early night ready for our early flight.





Three days was definitely not long enough for this trip! It was gutting to land back home, facing the mountain of work I'd so casually left 'for later', not realising 'later' would come a lot faster than expected!

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A little catch up


Hello everyone! After many months of being stagnant I'm back and with a new fully functioning theme (at last I know). So over the last 7/8 months a lot has happened! From results day to a new school, birthdays and the stress of A Levels, it's been quite eventful and I really do regret not documenting it all. Time got the best of me but now I'm hoping to take this blog seriously and keep you all updated until you're sick of me (which may have happened already but we won't dwell on that).

With a new theme I have also come up with a few new ideas that I hope you'll all enjoy. I'm so excited to begin blogging again!!

As always if there's anything you would like to suggest or just general feedback, feel free to let me know in the comments.
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