Motivation

Today's post is going to have a slightly more serious and hopefully thought-provoking slant.

 Most of you are probably blissfully unaware that this year has been the year of UCAS applications and serious decision making about my future and essentially the direction of my life. A lot to ask of a seventeen year old. With the sudden realisation that next year I will be at university with nobody else to rely on but myself, I have caught myself thinking about why it is that I have put myself through the hours and stress of writing personal statements, choosing universities and courses and general worry about the ever decreasing time left I have in my little school life bubble. Essentially, what it is that motivates me.

Now however cheesy and soppy it sounds, I will fess up to my main striving force stemming from a general love of learning and desire to explore new ideas and expand my knowledge and experiences. As a future history and language student, I Iove nothing more than a stirring documentary and a hearty translation about anything from European politics to the development of renewable energies. To most of you that could be your idea of hell, but to me, it's exciting, thrilling, intense and fulfilling. Now the italics aren't there for nothing. I truly honestly believe that you have to do what  makes you happy in life. Because then, and only then will you have no need for self-motivation because the genuine joy felt when doing something you love is enough to warm right down to the cockles of you heart, but also stir something inside of you, giving you a thirst to continue and better yourself.

With this rambly post I will summarise for those of you who have not a clue what I am jabbering on about. What I am trying to say is, love what you do, and do what you love. 

PS. I felt like the old blog font was slightly too hard to read so let me know in the comments if you find this one much better!

Z xx

A Little Update & Writers block

Hello lovelies,
So we are creeping further and further into the month of March (I cannot believe it's March already - seriously where has the time gone?!) and things are getting busier than ever. I thought I would write a little life update as I feel I haven't really focused as much time on blogging recently as I did at the start. Typical me. I always start a project with so much gusto and enthusiasm and never quite make it through to the finish line. I am determined however that this will not happen with my blog.
I'm going to put it down to simply needing time to find my feet. One month in and I still suck at HTML, still haven't worked out how to put a banner on my blog without it looking overwhelming girly and ridiculous, still am no better at taking photographs and I feel like I have hit some form of stumbling block. When I wrote my introduction to my blog I stated that I did not want to simply fit into one category - I wanted to write about life, beauty, fashion and generally anything else that has taken my fancy. However recently I have been struggling to decide on what to write about. I love reading beauty reviews and hauls etc but is that really me? I will always give my most honest of opinions when writing them, but yes, the pictures will still always be a horrendous quality and I'll never be able to afford enough products to do that type of post on a regular basis. Therefore where do I move now? I love writing about fashion and it's perhaps something I'd like to do a bit more of. Lifestyle posts are all well and good when I have exciting things to write about. Nobody wants to read about the mundane life at an all girls catholic boarding school? Or do they?
I think what this spiel is trying to say, is that I am so thrilled that I have even the few followers that I do, I love writing my blog, all be it severely lacking in quality posts right now - that I am well aware - but it is something that I am going to carry on doing. There might be a few changes going on here over the next few days as I try to sort the page out and make some improvements, but please do stick with and bear with me.
Love Z xx

What I'm Loving Pt 2

Hello lovelies,
So a few weeks ago I did a blog post called What I'm Loving and today's post is going to be a follow up to that with some new products and other things that have taken my fancy recently.
I haven't posted in a week or so because I have been so super busy with my school ball (I wish I had taken some photos so that I could have done a post about it but the night passed too quickly!) and exams and whatnot so I haven't really had the time to sit at my laptop and have a proper splurge until now.

Television - Those of you who have sky will probably have seen the adverts for the series "Flemming" which follows the life of James Bond creator Ian Flemming. I have only seen a couple of episodes of this but I am hooked! It's over dramatised view on life in this period of time fascinates me and with Dominic Cooper playing the role of Flemming himself what could be better. He is gorgeous.

Another television program which I will admit I have been quoting for weeks is Ja'mie Private School Girl. I can't decide if I love this so much because it is a completely over exaggerated version of what me and my friends do (going to an all girls private school I feel like I have a lot in common) or whether or not it's actually funny but all the same, I will find myself on a daily basis calling things quiche and will automatically put on the Australian drawl when speaking with my friends.

Beauty - In my recent Superdrug Haul I mentioned that I had purchased a pair of Eyelure eyelashes in preparation for my ball and I am pleased to say that they lasted all night and were still super easy to peel off before I went to bed. Perfect! As this was the first time I had worn them to a party/event I was so conscious of them to start with but after not too long I had completely forgotten I had them on! I would definitely buy some of these again and would highly recommend.

Finally I have one disappointing product and that's the Leightdon Denny Nail Varnish in Embellish Me. It's a gorgeous deep shade of purple which I think is surprisingly vversatile for such a dark colour. However, NEVER wear this without a base coat. I made that mistake and still have a purpley blue tinge to my nails to prove it. Not attractive in the slightest. It does however, have great longevity and didn't really chip for four days until I took it off.

A nice short post for today to get back into the blogging swing after a weeks break. Hope you are all having a lovely week so far - it's nearly Friday (Yay!) and please do let me know in the comments any products that you have been loving recently! Enjoy today's quote - it's a good un!

Z xx

Mini Primark Haul

Carrying on from yesterday's post Mini Superdrug Haul I thought I would do a little blog post about some of the goodies that I got in Primark recently!

The first thing I got was this gorgeous necklace, made out of what looks like feathers with diamond detailing. This necklace is quite heavy however I think it's lovely and it will easily jazz up a plain t-shirt of dress.

Next I picked up a gorgeous skater style dress and cream top.
I think the dress is perfect for my ball after party. It's very fitted and has the perfect "sticky out skirt" (technical term there...) without looking too much. Its a gorgeous pattern and colour. Was super cheap as well at a bargain of only £13! A close up picture of the pattern can be seen on the left and I think it's perfect for a party as it's not too dressy/casual. The material is also quite thick and seems to be surprisingly good quality!
The cream shirt I purchased is also gorgeous fabric. I am super impressed with the quality of my Primark purchases! Normally I consider my Primark bargains and one or two time thing, but I can really see myself wearing both these items again and again. This top came with a necklace attatched which you can see below on the right. I am undecided as to whether or not I think it looks tacky or beautiful. I will let you know.

There we go, as promised, short and hopefully sweet! I really like all my Primark bargains - have you got anything recently that you are loving? Let me know in the comments!
Z xx

Mini Superdrug Haul

Whilst shopping for ball necessities (the fact it's in less than a week is almost too much to handle) I managed to pick up a few new makeup essentials in Superdrug! (I also got a few new fashion items which I'll put in a separate post! )

The first item I picked up is nothing new to me and it's Maybelines Dream Satin Liquid Foundation in Ivory 100. This is my favourite foundation to date, as it has the most gorgeous dewy but matte (is that possible?) finish! Once blended well, and admittedly I do find that it takes a little longer than some other foundations to blend, it's air whipped texture comes into play and your skin is left quite literally feeling like satin - glowing and radiant. It's not too expensive either and I would say that is definitely has medium coverage which is perfect for me! I would t recommend this if you have oily skin, I have normal to combination skin with some blemishes left over from acne and I find that I always have to set this foundation with a good powder.

Next is the Bourjois Chocolate Bronzer in the light shade. This was a new adventure for me and so far I'm neither here not there. I find the colour slightly too orangey for my skin at the moment and haven't seen anything crazy whilst using it but I will need to give it some more time. I don't normally use a Bronzer so any foraging into this area would be almost unknown to me.

Continuing the base make up theme, I also repurchased the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in shade 003 Medium. I love this concealer. As does ever other blogger apparently. The coverage is great and the texture is lovely and blend able. My only slight annoyance is that this shade is ever so slightly too dark for me I think. Shade number two is much pinker and as my skin tone is slightly more yellow I feel like I can't really go a shade lighter! However, if I blend this in really well it works absolutely fabulously. 

Finally I picked up some Eyelure False Eyelashes in 101! I don't have a picture of these because I was too keen and eager to try them out I opened the box and used them before I decided to blog about it. Oops. However, I have found these lashes super easy to apply and I think they are very natural looking. I had never worn falsies and didn't want to go straight into the deep end so I would say these are perfect for beginners like me, or for those of you who like to wear falsies but for a more casual and every day look!

Let me know in the comments if you have picked up anything exciting shopping recently! Part two of my mini haul with be up in the next few days and I hope you all have a lovely week! 

Z xx