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Posted on 11th May 2016

Summer Ball 2016

Hey everyone! I am soooo sorry for the lack of posts in the last week; revision has had me completely snowed under. The beautiful weather has definitely compensated for that as I’ve been sunning it up in the garden with my sharpies and A3 notepad. I do love revising, the only downside to it is that it makes you feel like you shouldn’t be doing anything else. I will do a post soon about revision technique and the ways I find to be most effective, motivating and most importantly: FUN.

Today’s post is a bit of a lifestyle post as I will be showing you photos and talking about my Summer Ball at University – prom and ball season is fast approaching and hopefully my photos will show you what to expect and maybe provide a little outfit/make up/hair inspiration!

The ball I attended was thrown for all students at University of Lincoln who study PR, Journalism or English, and it was in honour of a deceased lecturer, Jonathan Taylor, who passed away in November 2015 following a short illness. His being a senior lecturer in the school of journalism, I unfortunately didn’t have the pleasure of meeting him, but from the tributes I heard at the ball in beautiful speeches, I have no doubt that we have lost a very valued member of staff.

During these speeches the wife and daughter of JT were called up to the stage and awarded just over £400, which was raised by the ball and the raffle which took place. This money went to a charity of the family’s choice and his wife gave a very touching speech in memory of her passed husband. This short section of the evening was incredibly beautiful and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house!

My flatmates kindly took photos before we hopped in the taxi, (the shoes I was wearing were literally KILLER) and I absolutely love what came out! Katie and I went for totally different looks to the ball, but as you can see they both work wonderfully!

My money has been a bit tight recently, so I chose to re-wear this gorgeous number which I bought on sale from New Look last summer! I am so obsessed with coral as a colour, especially in spring and summer as it’s really complimentary for a summer tan. Katie on the other hand found this gorgeous red wine colour dress from Boohoo which looked great with her dark hair – we were like light vs. dark, I love how we both contrast and compliment each other.

D’awwww, this is such a nice, natural photo! As you can probably see, our boys coordinated themselves with our dresses, which was a nice little touch! They don’t half scrub up well! I was in total awe of Dan all night, he’s absolutely wonderful.

What a lucky girl I am. Dan knew that at my secondary school prom, I hated the way I looked and moments before I went I had a teary breakdown and begged my mum to stay at home. I was very self conscious at that age and didn’t particularly want to parade myself around in front of everyone at school in a dress and heels. Dan went above and beyond to make it up to me and to make me feel special.

Dan bought me a beautiful corsage (which I will show you later – I was absolutely gushing over it all night), he bought endless amounts of prosecco for our table, danced with me right up until the lights came on, bought me a HUGE amount of food in McDonalds at the end of the night and kept me giggling all the way home. Swoooooon. I really am incredibly smitten.

I chose to go fairly light with my make up, yet still remain bold and eye catching. I used the Makeup Revolution Flawless eye shadow palette for a pinky toned smokey eye using colours: Soft Glow as a base, Barely Pink to cover the lid, and Red Night in the creases (I’ve written a review about this product here).

I also used my Kylie Cosmetics Lip Kit in Koko K (a review for this is also available here) which I thought really complimented my look, as it wasn’t too bold to take over my entire look, yet went well with all the pinky tones of the rest of my makeup.

I also made use of a set of Eyelure lengthening false lashes. I use this brand and style of false lashes every time, I feel as though they are really subtle, yet dramatic enough to make a difference.

©Gabrielle Laycock Photography

When we arrived at the ball, we noticed a professional photography service which we made great use of! The woman taking photos was very kind and patient. Throughout the night SO MANY drunk people were falling over and breaking the background, which must have been infuriating for her, but she kept her cool and remained composed.

©Gabrielle Laycock Photography

What was really great about the photographer was that she showed us previews of each photo and allowed us to take another. I’m a bit funny with photos taken of me by others, especially when I’ve had a drink because I don’t trust my vision, so I always like to have another photo taken JUST INCASE.

©Gabrielle Laycock Photography

I love all of these photos and how professional and smart we all look! Trust me, we were all a bit more than jolly at this point thanks to the lovely prosecco. But due to the amazing photographer, we look great!

Now onto a very exciting topic: MY CORSAGE. Omg I literally love it so so so much! I didn’t get a corsage for my prom so this was ever so special and I was showing it off all night!

This was a fresh corsage with real flowers, so it had to be kept in the fridge to preserve it before the night arrived!

This photo of me is a bit gross, but this is the extent to which I was showing it off haha!! I just couldn’t stop touching it, and even got a bit weirdly teary eyed about it after the prosecco had been a-flowing!

Hahhah I can’t get over Dan’s little chavvy hand motion here… WHAT IS THAT? I do love him very much, he never fails to make me smile.

Holly got a lovely group selfie in the toilets – unfortunately, thanks to my white hair and the unflattering toilet lights, I ended up looking like bloody casper – but everyone else looks absolutely gorgeous!

We had a gorgeous two course meal, I had chicken in a red wine sauce with roasted veggies which was absolutely DIVINE. I also had a chocolate praline dessert which I wolfed down in essentially two bites – I just LOVE chocolate.

And here come the very very drunk photos from the rest of the evening:

To sum it all up, I had an amazing time at the ball and I really hope that another one is thrown for next years students! For all ball and prom goers this year and in years to come, take my advice: don’t let any haters get to you or let anyone make you feel less than you are. You are amazing and prom is only a bit of fun after all! Let your hair down and have a giggle and a dance with your best friends and don’t take any of it too seriously, I wish I didn’t!

Do you want to know anything else about the summer ball? Have any beauty questions which you need answers to? Would you like to share your ball or prom looks, both the good and the bad? Please leave a comment below to let me know what you think – I’d love to hear from you.

Thank you so much for reading. Don’t forget to follow me on my other social media accounts.

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Posted on 4th May 2016

Everyday Makeup Essentials

Hello lovelies! In this post I will be showing you all my favourite everyday makeup essentials. As suggested by the name this is the make up I wear on a daily basis, meaning that it is good value for money, long lasting, and meant for a natural look.

I will be posting these items in the order in which I use them, and writing a short overview on how I use them and why I keep returning for more when I run out.

Makeup Revolution Ultra Face Base Primer

I have only recently started using this primer and I am so happy with it, especially considering that it is only £5! It does exactly what it says on the label: it lasts all day and ensures that the rest of my makeup stays in place. I choose to use primer everyday because it ensures that my skin looks smooth and it therefore allows my foundation to do it’s job and to make my skin look flawless! I was previously using Benefit’s POREfessional primer balm, which admittedly I much prefer as I feel like this is slightly more effective – but at a whopping £24.50 I couldn’t justify buying this again when I ran out last month, I am just too poor 🙁

2. Benefit Boi-ing Concealer

As you can see, this concealer is running very low and I am definitely due to buy some more, which scares me a little as it’s £17.50 EEK but it DOES go a long way, if that’s any reassurance. I got the shade 01 Light because I’m looking a bit pale nowadays (definitely in need of a holiday). I use this product for my under eyes to hide my scary dark circles, and it works better than any other product I’ve ever bought for this purpose.

3. Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse Foundation

I use this item when I am breaking out (a daily essential for me at the moment because my skin has been a total nightmare… Bloody University). This might seem a bit strange but I only use this product as a light concealer. It’s not too heavy duty and therefore doesn’t just add another layer to my already inflamed spots, which is very important.

4. Rimmel Lasting Finish 25hour Foundation with Comfort Serum

I have always used Rimmel London for foundation – something which I am tempted to come away from in an attempt to be more animal cruelty conscious. So if you have any recommendations for animal friendly foundations which don’t cost the world and still provide great coverage, I’m all ears! Having said that, this foundation is absolutely great! It lasts all day long, even when I’m sitting at the library and touching my face constantly, oops.

5. Benefit Porefessional: Agent Zero Shine Mattifier

This powder is awesome! I realise that this is a tester, don’t worry! This was one of the many goodies which Katie won for us in an Instagram competition, as well as a years supply of Krispy Kreme doughnuts … MmmmMMmmmMmm. This powder has a handy mini-brush inside, which is great for dabbing on problem shine areas. I have combination skin so I only ever use this on my T-Zone, and it stops me from getting ridiculously shiny by the end of the day. Unfortunately I’m running low on this one too so I’ll have to invest in some more very soon!

6. Eylure Brow Pencil

I have never thought to use this brand before, simply because I have never come across it. But one day before going to the gym with Dan my Anastasia Beverly Hills brow whiz pencil broke AHHHHH so we had to make an emergency trip to Tesco (yes I am that bratty). I’m really picky when it comes to brow pencil because I find that most blonde pencils come out looking quite ginger/brown. Knowing this, I asked one of the lovely assistants at the beauty counter which she would recommend, and this was what she came up with! Due to my emergency I was ready to pay any price, but this was amazing at only £5.45. SOLD! & amazingly, this is almost as good quality as ABH. I will definitely be buying this when money is tight.

7. Rimmel London Exaggerate Liquid Eyeliner

This product is an absolute GODSEND. I have done a thorough review and how-to on this product here – this will provide you with the tools on how to wing your eyeliner like me!

8. Benefit BADgal Waterproof Mascara

Another cheeky little item from the Benefit win (thank youuu Katie!). I used to always use Rimmel once again for mascara but this has totally converted me. When this runs out, which will unfortunately be fairly soon, I’m going to give the Benefit Roller Lash mascara a go because I have heard MANY good things!

9. Lush Popcorn Lip Scrub

I love this product ever so much. It makes my lips feel so soft and sumptuous and totally primes me for any lipsticks which I want to wear. It also helps that this lip scrub tastes AMAZING. I used to have the cola flavoured one and tried this one on a whim, but in fact I much prefer this one. Yummyyyy.

These are a few of my faaaaavourite things. I hope you enjoyed reading this and that I’ve given you a few new beauty products to try out!

Do you have any questions about my morning routine? Have anything to say about the products I use? Can you recommend me some of the great products you reach for? Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think – I’d love to hear from you.

Thank you so much for reading. Don’t forget to follow me on my other social media accounts.

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Posted on 29th April 2016

Colour Run Lincoln 2016: Why I’m Glad I Tried Something New

Hey everyone! I hope you’ve all had a great week despite the freak British weather. We’ve had rain, sun, snow and sleet… What is going on?!

This post is a bit different from my usual, but I just HAD to write about my amazing experience at the colour run last weekend! In this post I will be showing you millions of photos and going through what you can expect from a colour run, and why you should take a big step out of your comfort zone and give it a try!

When we booked our tickets for the Colour Run, I didn’t really know what to expect; but one thing which we could all agree on was that we would take part for fun, and probably not run the entire thing. After all, I hadn’t run competitively before and I was concerned about injuring myself. Although 5k probably isn’t very far to most people; I absolutely LOATHE running, purely because I’ve never been very good at it. I always try to stay in shape and healthy because of my PCOS in order to keep on top of my weight, you can find more information on this condition on my previous posts, here and here.

If I’m honest, we totally forgot about the Colour Run up until the week before: I blame this on dissertation stress! So naturally we hadn’t trained AT ALL. The closest thing I did to training was that I managed staying on the bike at the gym for 30 minutes; a new personal best for me. But I didn’t do this with The Colour Run in mind admittedly. But regardless of our lack of preparation, the day finally came and we were all really excited to get messy!

With the purchase of our tickets we received a really nice Colour Run t-shirt and our own running number to wear on the day as modelled on the morning by myself – before being absolutely covered in paint! But thankfully I did manage to get all the paint out and it is like new – so I have a lovely souvenir to remember the day by!

Pssst. I’m wearing my coppery eye shadow look from my Makeup Revolution Flawless Palette!

On the day of the event, we were really worried about the weather as it was forecast to rain randomly throughout the day and the wind was incredibly cold.

But luckily, although the sun was popping in and out throughout the day, it was warm enough to just take a light jacket and to wear shorts! – I really didn’t want to have to wear my nice gym trousers.

We arrived an hour or so before the event so that we could buy paint and soak up the atmosphere before getting messy!

The only issue I had with The Colour Run was quite a doozy – no locker rooms or bag holding areas were made available. Obviously we wanted to bring our phones, jackets, drinks, and money at a bare minimum. Considering that they were encouraging us to purchase more paint, you’d think that there would be facilities made available for us to store our possessions safely and out of harms way – but apparently not. So we were forced to strap our boyfriend’s up with backpacks. They weren’t all too happy with that, I’ll just say that much. But our argument stood – a handbag would be much harder to run with than a backpack (CURSE YOU WOMEN’S FASHION).

We were waiting for quite a while before the paint party kicked off, but that was because we arrived so early! It was quite chilly but they had a live DJ who kicked off the party and kept us in good spirits.