Festival 101, #2: Beauty.

Most females have a daily beauty routine, and doing something like camping can shake this up a bit, especially when you're camping at a festival!! I think that festivals are something which is quite easygoing, so I don't think its right to take our entire make up stash and doll ourselves up every day, buuuut I still wouldn't want to go around wearing no make up. Some girls feel confident doing that, I don't. I feel a bit naked. Also festivals are somewhere you can experiment and be daring, not just with fashion but with our hair, nails and make-up too, so what do we do?! Below I've listed what I think are the best things to do when it comes to the essential, and not so essential, in terms of festival beauty, as well as the items i'm planning on taking, and the items i'm definitely leaving at home!!

Make-Up...
When it comes to make up there are a few things we consider essentials, that we would put on even if we are just popping to the shops. This is what you NEED to take to a festival. Mine are:

• Foundation - My skin isn't horrendous, but it's not flawless either. Foundation gives me an even, glowing complexion. I use YSL Teint Radiance foundation. Even though this is quite pricy I'm still going to take it to my festivals because it makes me skin look great!
• Concealer - Just in case a massive spot pops up on the end of my nose. Not. Cool. At the moment i'm using Benefit Erase Past Concealer, which like it says on the tin, is like a paste, so will cover all major flaws quickly and easily.
• Mascara - If I wear no eye make-up I just don't feel awake. I use Lancome Hypnose Drama in black.
• Eyeliner - A simple black pencil eyeliner will do wonders for anyone.

Anything you don't consider an essential, don't take. An essential isn't something you necessarily normally wear on a daily basis. I wear bronzer every day and blusher and liquid eyeliner most days, but they aren't my bare essentials so I'm not taking them. Think about what you really want and need.

Nails...

Festivals are the perfect excuse to get funky with the nail art. Even if you are wearing next to no make-up, your nails will brighten you up. Go for something glittery or bright, or if you're a dab hand with the nail art pen, add some cool designs.

And everything else...

• Buy a cheap, yet still nice smelling, bottle of perfume. I would never of thought of this but my friend recommended it last year and it's a great idea. When you aren't washing for that amount of time other than with baby wipes, a spray of perfume will spruce you right up! Don't take your most expensive bottle of Chanel, just take a smaller, cheap bottle of a perfume you like! 
• Glitter! Take some loose glitter and put it on your face and body, or some dazzle dust and put it on your eye lids! Go excessive with it to, if you can't now, when can you! Barry M also do some great loose glitter which i recommend!
• UV Paint. A festival essential! You can get this online, or in a lot of alternative stores. I like Stargazer's body paint.
• Moisturiser. You don't want a dry face and it'll provide a good base for foundation. It's also great if you're not taking foundation, especially if you get a tinted moisturiser.
• Lip balm. Because dry lips are no fun. I like Lush's Honey Trap lip balm. 
• A fun coloured lipstick. If you are a bit of a makeup junky and can't stand the thought of leaving too much makeup behind, take a bright outrageous lipstick with you to stand out from the crowd. I love Urban Decay's Super Saturated High Gloss lip pencil in Punch Drunk.

Festival 101, #1: Festival Fashion

I love festivals, and one of the things I love about them is the sense of style. People dress how they like, and there's a level of acceptance. Plus you can get away with wearing all sorts of things you just can't get away with in the 'real world'. You can bare as much skin as you pretty much dare to, and wear the things you can never bring yourself to wear on a day to day basis.

I'm going to Global Gathering this weekend so I'm getting in the festival mood this week, so I thought I would do a few blog posts about festivals, starting with fashion. I've been buying lots of clothes and digging out clothes from last year which I'm going to be taking, and i'm going to fill you in on the things to take clothes wise, and how to do your festival in total style!! Here is a list of things which scream festival fashion:

• Crop Tops - at festivals you can dare to bare a little more, so show off your tummy with a crop top or a cute bralet, or a top with the sides cut out over a bandeau top!
• Shorts - Shorts are always going to be a festival essential. Whatever the weather. But shorts are particularly big this year. While previously it's just been about classic blue shorts, this years seen an influx of customised shorts which are dip-dyed, tie-tied, have studs, or a panel with a funky pattern or different material. Plus, shorts are getting shorter! But you're at a festival so thats ok! Purchase some really funky denim shorts for an instant festival feeling.
• Wellies - Well obviously wellies are pretty essential for most festivals, but theres no need to go boring with your wellie choice. While your wellie's should be good, not ones that will let all the mud and water in, theres no need for them to not be a cool colour or pattern.
• a pac-a-mac - Unless you're lucky enough to be going to a festival in a sunnier climate, chances are it will rain. I bought the funkiest pac-a-mac off of Asos (pictured below) which I think is just perfect for festival season. Efficient and fashionable are the two combos you need at any festival!
• A hat - a cool straw fedora has never gone a miss at any festival now, has it?
• ...And other funky hair/head accessories - Now it's no longer just about the hats. Buy stylish feather braids and flower crowns for a hippy vibe. 
• Accessorise - While I would advice against taking your expensive jewellery, wearing a few cheap and cheerful bracelets will give your outfit an instant, effortless update.

A few of my favourite festival things:

Crop Top, £16 - Topshop

Aztec Dip Dyed Shorts, £35 - Topshop

Studded Panel Shorts, £29 - missguided

Tall Hunter Wellies in 'Lapis Blue', £85 - Asos.

skull bracelet, £5 - Topshop

Hawaiian Print Parka, on sale for £18 - Asos

Aztec Printed Crop Top, £12.99 - Missguided.

Hope this has been helpful to solving all your festival fashion dilemmas! look out for the next festival post about fun festival beauty tips. 

Outfit Of The Day: Skulls and Hi-Top Wedges.

 So I haven't done an outfit post in ages, so thought today I would!! I went shopping for some awesome goodies today, (including plenty of festival stuff so look out for my festival posts about style, beauty and festivals in general in the next few days!!)

            

          

 Top - Camden Market, £20

Shorts (old) -Topshop, about £30

Hat - Urban Outfitters, £20

Ear Cuff - Topshop, £8.50

Shoes - Primark, £15

I love this top which I got from Camden Market, the colour, the motif, the crochet back, the baggy style, all of it!! I also adore my new ear cuff! At first I wasn't sure about ear cuffs, but I think the cute pink skull makes it on this one. It's a great accessory to make any outfit look interesting.

 The main thing I wanted to brag about however are my new shoes! Yes they are hi-tops, with a wedge in! Don't get me wrong, I can be perfectly happy in flats, but as I'm only 5ft, I do enjoy it when I find fashionable, non-painful ways to give me a bit of hieght, and these bad boys do the trick perfectly! With the olympics coming up, theres been an influx of 'sporty style'. These shoes look sporty, yet glam at the same time. For me they just tick all the boxes. River Island are doing lots of great hi-tops with a hidden heel at the moment, in a variety of colours and prints, however I got these bad boys from Primark! They also have them in navy if you're not so keen on the white and gold combo.

Sexually Active and Female = Slag. The many misconceptions of the 21st century.

It's not nice hearing that people have been talking about you behind your back, or saying horrible things which are probably not even true, especially when you're an adult. When you think of bitching, you think of a group of gaggling girls, probably teenagers, in school. But unfortunately, people bitch all the time, sometimes the men are just as bad as the women. This is always going to happen, and you can't please everyone. It's inevitable someone doesn't like you, and might have a little bitch. This isn't what I have a problem with however. What I have a problem with, is the WAY people are bitching. The things they are saying, and their word choices. Picking one word in particular, a word I hate more than anything: SLAG.
Or whore, or slut, or tart. None of these are nice terms and none of us want to be called them. It's not even a matter of whether it's 'true' or not. Because as it seems to be, people are calling other people 'slags', 'sluts' and 'whores' just for being female, sexually active, and maybe not in a long standing relationships. Emphasis on the word FEMALE. Only women get this kind of abuse. (Abuse might be a strong word but for the way I feel about this topic I think it's a perfectly acceptable word to use). Sure, if a man sleeps with a lot of women there might be comments about it, but nothing as bad. He might even be commended by his friends, seen as a 'stud', or a 'player'. (I never understood what was so good about the term player anyway, surely playing women is nothing to brag about?). Yet women get called all sorts of names. By men and other women.
Girls: you should not be calling fellow girls these horrible names, but boys, you shouldn't either. Women have fought long and hard for even just a slither of equality, only to get a number of horrible terms pinned against us, like pinning the tail to the donkey. These terms shouldn't even exist!! 
I mean I think people are just missing the main picture, that it is err, the 21st century. The 21st century is meant to be modern, forward thinking, democratic. Women should be free to do as they please, sexually or otherwise, providing they are safe. Women should do what makes them happy, not be forced to please others because they are so afraid of what might be being said behind their back? People don't really know other people anyway. You can not judge others when you don't really know them. You might of heard things about them, but how do you even know if those things are true? And even if they are, so? WHY DO WE CARE SO MUCH?? Why do we care ever so about other peoples private lives? This is a view I've always held. People bitching or judging are so shut off from the rest of the world. People who are living their own lives to the full rarely bitch and never ever judge. Of course I admit to the odd bit of bitching, I'm only human, but I like to think that despite this, I never JUDGE people. I never label people with horrible words. Doing so wouldn't sit right with me. Not simply because it's not my business what they do or the views they hold or the way they live their life, but because quite frankly, I couldn't care less. It has nothing to do with me.


I think it's important that all of us take a step back from the petty name-calling. Unless you are a 13 year old girl, I don't see any excuse for it. Isn't it about time we embraced the good of other people, instead of deciding to judge them, and dislike them, before we even really know them? I also think it's about time that we realised that women are free and equal to do as they please, and words like 'slag' shouldn't even exist, because it shouldn't, and it doesn't, even matter.

us girls can do what we like, dress what we like,

 and be who we like. No silly insults required.

10 things that will make you instantly feel happy.

Yesterday I wrote a post about how we need to take a risk, and do the stuff we love. I wrote about how easy it can be to just sit down and get stuck in a bit of a rut. Sometimes it's the little things in life that pick us up. Here are 10 things you can do right now to instantly pick yourself up.


1. Clean out your closet...
Take your old clothes, clothes that don't suit you, clothes that don't fit, clothes that still have the label on that you know, deep down, you won't ever wear. This task can be daunting. We're always bound to thing 'I will wear it one day', but sometimes you just wont. If its still new or newish sell it on eBay or organise a swap party with your friends (a great way to get rid of the old, get new stuff AND socialise). If its had it's day for most, but is still wearable, donate it to charity. It might be hard letting go of some things, but it will make you feel so good. 


2. ...Now do the rest with your bookshelf...
or cd rack, or whatever else may need a good revising. Take anything still of worth and sell it. Blackwells is great for selling second hand books. Anything you don't think will sell, donate to charity. If you're anything like me, you will of collected a number of books over the years, but now I've discovered some books I want to read I don't want to necessarily own. Thats the beauty of a library card. Of course I've kept my favourites, like my Harry Potters and my modern classics I read at school (I just know I want to keep The Great Gatsby even if I didn't enjoy it at A-level). When you've cleared out your shelves you'll have room for an assortment of other things.


3... Now go and get beautiful things to fill the empty spaces. 
GO! Go buy clothes, books, photos, to fill those cupboards and shelves. But not just any old things that you will end up chucking during a clear-out in another couple of years. Things that you love. Clothes that look good on you and reflect the person you are. Photo frames you can fill with pictures of happy memories. Books that you love or you are sure you will love or will help or guide you in some way. Getting rid of the clutter and replacing it with neat, pretty things instantly makes us happier. And you don't have to spend loads either. Be savvy with your shopping. There are plenty of shops, online and in real life, that do amazing things for very little.


4. Do the spring cleaning.
The basics. The hoovering, the polishing, oh all the mundane tasks we detest. We put it off because we aren't housewives living in the 50's for gods sake! Plus, it's effort. But cleaning is therapeutic. I'm not Monica Gellar but I really do feel so much better when I've had a good clean. I feel like I finally have the headspace to think. This isn't just a female thing. Men and women both find cleaning therapeutic and helpful. 


5. Do a bit of exercise.
NO I hear you cry!! If you hate exercise, why the hell would doing it make you happy? But just hear me out. You may love exercise. You may live for your spinning classes or your morning swim, or you may be like me: constantly putting it off, hating doing it, hating the after-effects of aching, and every time you think about it it conjures up awful memories of playing rounders during school and always, always, being on field. And never catching the ball. 
It's all about finding something we like doing, that works for us. For example I love doing pilates. During my workout, it can hurt. The next day, oh it really hurts. But just after I've done the workout, I feel exhilarated. I feel no longer like a fat slob. I feel energised. Whether you enjoy a long jog or prefer the relaxation of yoga, find something you enjoy and you'll reap the rewards. Not just with your body, but with your mind.


6. Call a friend.
Everyone has that one friend that never fails to put a smile on their face. I can think of two or three. One who I can talk to about anything and I can laugh until I cry with. Call them. Thats right. Not a text or a Facebook message or a cheeky tweet. An actual phone call. Whether the last time you saw them was a year ago or yesterday, and whether the phone call lasts an hour or a few minutes, it will brighten up both of your days.

7. Do something for someone less fortunate than yourself.

Many people don't do this, because they're oh so busy with they're oh so hectic lives. Or so they think. You could do some good volunteering work for a few hours and make other people so happy, as well as yourself, for a cause you believe in. But it doesn't matter if you can't find the time because doing stuff for people less fortunate is about the little things. Whether you go and help out at a charity or whether you simply donate to a charity, give a homeless man some food, or (bringing out the old cliché here) help an old lady across the road, it will make you glow inside with good karma. Plus, they will really truly appreciate it. It also makes us appreciate what we have, whether its our mobility or a roof over our heads. It is healthy from time to time to remember there are less fortunate people. it makes us appreciate what we have and not take anything for granted. (By the way, the photo below is of a man giving his shoes to a homeless girl in Rio, don't you think it's amazing? I stole it from 21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity. I recommend checking out the link).

8. Paint your nails a pretty colour. 
I hate it when I don't have any nail varnish on, which is most of the time as I can't wear the stuff at work, so when I put it on, it just makes me feel fab. Paint your nails, put glitter on them, maybe be arty and decorate them with nail pens and nail stickers which are all the rage at the moment. You don't need to spend a fortune for a little manicure of your own. (I say all this, but I'm crap at painting my own nails!!)


9. Strut around in your favourite heels.
Next time your home alone and bored, or doing some boring task, put on your favourite, highest heels, and just wear them. Wear them while you write up an essay, do the cooking, or clean up. It'll make you feel fabulous and all woman, darling. 


10. Put on your favourite lipstick.
Trust me on this. Just trust me. Even if you aren't much of a make-up fan, or a lipstick fan. Putting on a little bit of lipstick instantly makes me feel more glamourous, powerful, and on top of my game. I really don't know what it is. It's not the same feeling i get with the rest of my make-up routine. I work in a place where I need to wear minimal make-up, so before work, I will put on a smidgen of a very natural, coral coloured lipstick, and blend it in. The effect LOOKS natural, like i'm just wearing a bit of balm, but it makes me FEEL good. I feel like I've gone from a groggy worker stuck under my uniform to someone who can do my job and do it well.

why have I not written in so long?

Hello all. Firstly, I would like to apologise for my absence as of late. Secondly, I'd like to say that today is a different type of post. 
As you may or may not know, a few weeks ago I came home from my first year at university. Pretty much as soon as I got back I started working in Starbucks again. In between seeing friends and working, I barely had time to think. I then got ill almost 2 weeks ago with what turned out to be tonsillitis. I am only now feeling better and am still on antibiotics. Just before I got ill however, inspiration hit me. I suddenly felt a burst of determination to do more and to be more. Then I got ill and was bed-bound and losing money from not working for a week. But now I am back, and it has made me think how it would be so easy to just sit back and let life slide past, but that is too easy. I wanted to write something about determination, and about doing more, and being passionate, because this in itself is something I feel passionate about. 

I'll let you in on a secret: I am the BEST at procrastinating. Getting me to start an essay, do my reading, do revision, tidy my room or even do my food shopping is an almost impossible task. But after I do it, I feel so so good. I know so many people who feel like this. After getting home from university however, it hit me how many people just let good opportunities, and the chance to be productive slide past. It also hit me that sometimes in life, we have to make our own opportunities. I believe that to an extent everything happens for a reason, but we need to make stuff happen too. I have seen so many people who are still in the same job they were when we were at school, apart from it is their full time job. They aren't on a gap year earning money for uni or travelling. They aren't doing anything on the side, and they aren't working their way up in the company. They simply are. I see them and talk to them and nothing has changed. Its like i'm back in school and not a good way. We need to grow. We need to develop. And we need to strive. I believe everyone is capable of anything we can set our mind to, within reason of course, and that we can make our own dreams come true. 


I love writing. Writing is all I want to do, yet lately, I don't write that much. Why? I say to myself when I graduate good things will happen surely. Then it dawns on me, I have to make stuff happen. In this economy and this day and age I can't just walk in to a top magazine and be handed a job on a plate. Just because I love writing it doesn't mean it's easy. I still procrastinate. But all it takes is a little drive, a little energy, and we can do exactly what we want to do. Anyone who has lost someone close to them will know that life is short, but life is good. It is fleeting and beautiful, and there is nothing to be afraid of. People are scared to go and do exactly what they want, whether it's starting up a business or travelling the world, in case it goes wrong, in case they fail. Well the truth is we will fail from time to time. The business may not start up straight away. You may run out of money half way through travelling Asia. You may change career and struggle at first. You may start a blog and not have much of a readership. But that is OK! Mistakes are lessons, and failure is just a reason to strive further on. Nothing in life worth having comes easy. That's a lesson I learnt when doing my A levels. I worked my absolute bum off to get the grades and get to uni. I did it. But that's only because I knew I had to work for it. Unless you are very privileged, your every want and need will not be handed to you on a plate. But working hard for what you want in many ways makes it worth it. It makes it feel even more special and deserved.

People are inspired by different things. For me, I am inspired by people who have achieved their own dreams. I am inspired by people who are different and won't apologise. I am inspired by my mother. I am inspired by getting up and being productive, even if it's something like clearing out my wardrobe. Stuff like this inspires me to do more and be more.


The other day I watched the film The Best Marigold Hotel. If you haven't watched it I really recommend it. It's about 6 pensioners who go to India. It's inspiring and life affirming. One line from the film which really stuck in my head was this, or something like this: 'If you risk nothing, do nothing, you'll have nothing'. Life is nothing without a little risk and a little hard work. We could all sit down, relax, do the job we're all secure in even though we hate it, live in the town we've always lived in because it's familiar, or we could break the routine and do something exciting. 


From now on I want to be able to write every single day, via my blog or not. I hope that this post will inspire you to do exactly what it is you want to do, whether it's something huge, or simply a small task you've been putting off due to incurable procrastination. And just remember, always smile. 

all these images have been collected from tumblr.com