Instagram Giveaway!

Hello again guys; this is a short little extra blog post! I recently won a giveaway by the lovely Lauren (link) on Instagram and it honestly made my week! I had been tempted to do a giveaway myself for quite a while, so I suppose it is about time, seeing as I’ve not done one before. Today I started a declutter of all of my make up (and room in general, god it was a MESS!) so I decided to do a giveaway for another person. Pictured above are all of the items that the winner will receive, free of any charge and none of the items have been used, as I’m a massive hoarder and it was time to bite the bullet and give an excess things to a new home. The rules are to follow my Instagram (link) account, like the above photo and tag the handles of two friends for an extra entry. UK ONLY, the winner will be picked at random and announced over on my account Saturday April 7 at 6pm. If this is something that you’re interested in, follow my Instagram link to enter, good luck! 🍀

Beauty Review: Rimmel London Rita Ora Nail Polish

Hello again guys; it’s now day 18 of Blogmas and I missed day 16 because I’m an unorganised mess went out and was too drunk to post when I got home (honesty is always best, haha) so we’ll just leave that there and focus on today’s post. Since I left a job in the food industry, I’ve been really enjoying working a job that allows nice nails. Recently I considered paying to have false nails, but honestly I decided it was too much money to spend often, so instead I’ve been buying nail varnish and painting them myself. I don’t bite my nails, so they’re not too bad but I do have some pretty bad eczema on my hands, so painting the nails is a good way of giving the illusion that my hands are nice to look at, haha. I tend to buy my nail polishes from Poundland, and I was lucky enough to find the Rimmel London 60 Seconds Super Shine by Rita Ora one day on a random trip. From the drugstore it’s priced at £2.99, so still affordable but £1 is always a good bargain. The shade that I picked up, Bestival Blue is a perfect cornflower blue shade and really stands out beautifully on any skin tone.

The nail polish has a really lovely, glossy effect when dried and after wearing it for a week already, it’s hardly chipped and colour is as vibrant as it was when it was first painted. Which, for me is an absolute win as usually I’m chipped to buggery after only a couple of days. I’m not usually one for favouring the colour blue but I’m actually in love with this shade, I’m so happy with how it looks and I’ve actually had a lot of compliments on it. The packaging of the nail polish is also really nice, with the black lid and blue bottle with little daisies and Rita Ora’s signature on it. For £1 I’m really pleased with it and I’ll definitely be considering buying some of the other shades in the range as I’ve been so satisfied with this one. I’ve never tried Rimmel nail polishes before, but I definitely want to try more of them sometime in the future! See you again tomorrow, for the next blogmas post! :)

Happy Things #30

1. So this weekend I spent some with my best friend and I feel so much better about so many of the things that have been stressing me out recently. It's always good to get out of work and the house, switch up a routine and just allow yourself to relax. Seeing her has really cheered me up and has made me ready to face the week.

2. I've got a long week this week, I'm working six days but I'm feeling quite strong after having quite a bad week last week. I can do this and I'm ready for it; somehow I've rediscovered my positive frame of mind and I'm loving it.

3. Later on this week I'm going out with some work friends for the first time and I'm really looking forward to it; I'm actually proud of how well I've managed to start a new job and keep positive to the point that I've actually forged some good friendships. I'm so excited to get to know them better and actually spend some time with them outside of work.

4. I'm so happy with how my blog is going right now, I feel like I've started to understand what I want to get from blogging and the kind of posts that I love to read from others and create myself. I've started to join a lot more conversations within the blogging community and I'm really loving getting to know other bloggers and getting inspiration from them.

5. Today I reached 1,000 followers and I'm super excited by that; I've also got over 1k on instagram so I feel like I'm starting to see some results for my blogging efforts. I've never blogged for a career or money, I blog for myself so I'm ecstatic to have reached a goal that I made for myself at the very start of my blog around a year ago, much sooner than I expected!

Happy Things #29 // Honesty

Hello again, it's already Monday.

I share so much of my life, my opinions with you... Whoever you are, wherever you are in the world. Every Monday I post five happy things that will happen sometime during the week as a way of keeping my mental health on the positive side of life. However, the truth about having high functioning anxiety is that on the surface you look like you're coping when it reality you're breaking down inside.

Over the course of the last weekend I had one of the worst weekends in terms of my mental health for a long time. 

I couldn't sleep, purged on food... Cried constantly and spent hours looking at old friends online, missing them... Struggling to accept change. It's so incredibly difficult sometimes to be positive, regardless of how many lists of positivity you make. It's important to be honest, to be real about how you feel.

After a seriously bad weekend, I've woken up on Monday and survived Monday. I'm feeling much better, I'm ok. The reason behind this post that it's ok to slip up, to have a bad day, or week. But it's important to talk to someone, let anyone know how you feel. Try to move on. Life is hard, the path to happiness is never easy and it's something you have to constantly work at. This week I'm not writing a list, I want to live my life without sticking to a routine. Just for a week.

Happy Things #28

1. My boyfriend has this amazing habit of gifting me with flowers on a regular basis; this flowers pictured above were given to me on our one year anniversary. Two weeks later an they're still going strong, I love it whenever I see flowers around the house as they make me think of him so that always makes me happy at the end of a stressful day.

2. Over the past few months I've learnt that not every day will be the best day of your life and that it's ok to not always feel your best. Blogging has definitely become a huge part of my life, not only because I enjoy it, but also because I feel like the blogging community is super supportive and I love being involved in twitter chats and other social media as it's a great way to get to know other bloggers with similar interests.

3. Last week I got my nose pierced with a friend after wanting it for literally years; I've always loved piercings and I've definitely caught the bug again. It was more painful than I expected and in all honestly it's pretty sore... But even so, I love it and I wouldn't be surprised if I end up goin back for more piercings in the next few months.

4. I'm super excited for you guys to see the blog posts that I have planned for this month; I'm just feeling so inspired and creative at the moment and I really want to improve my content. I'm definitely my own worst critic, but that's ok. I've got so many posts in the pipeline, so stay tuned as I'll be posting regularly this month to make up for the shambles that was the end of June as I was so ill. 

5. I feel really positive about this week and that feels absolutely amazing. Fingers crossed it'll end up being a great week!

Happy Things #25 // Life Update

 

Every Monday, I try to start the week off by listing five things (however small) that are positive and will make my mental health keep upwards, rather than downwards. For literally 24 weeks, I've done a post like this every single week and on the whole, it has really kept my mind in perspective. The issue with having mental health issues is that you're constantly in recovery, there's no magic wand that means that everything is forgotten and you'll never have to worry again; I've definitely learnt that the hard way.

For the past couple of weeks I've definitely been struggling more than I have for a while. I'm telling myself that this is ok, that I can work my way back up. I want to discover my life more, I want to keep on my happy plane and focus on myself, what I want to achieve, but ultimately it's hard to be positive all of the time. I need to motivate myself to keep getting better. I need to remember that finding five happy things every Monday keeps me sane and ready to fight the world.

- - - - -

1. This week I have a lovely weekend planned, as well as the Saturday and the Sunday off from work. I'm going to spend time with Piotr and enjoy the long summer days, maybe sit in a pub garden, eat good food and enjoy simply watching time pass with my favourite person.

2. Blogging has become a part of my life in so many ways now, I have so many post ideas and things that I want to achieve. So far, June has been my most successful month in terms of blogging; views, engaging with other bloggers and my content.

3. Piotr bought me these roses the other day and I love watching them bloom. He buys me flowers often, but each time I always feel so happy whenever I see them in their vase around the house. There's something beautiful about receiving flowers as a gift and I'm lucky to have a boyfriend who knows how much I love them and spoils me with various bouquets.

4. This time last year was probably my lowest in terms of mental health and I can't quite believe how far I've come; I'm so excited to see how well I'll be this time next year. By taking on the world a week at a time, I've found a way of keeping in control of my health and finding myself again. I need to remind myself of how strong I can be.

5. June is actually one of my favourite months of the year now, thanks to Piotr changing my outlook on life; I hadn't realised how quickly this month and actually this year is disappearing right under my nose. I'm learning to embrace change, to embrace time passing and most of all, embrace life.

 

 

Happy Things #24

 

1. I had a fantastic weekend with my best friend on the Saturday evening and I spent the day with my boyfriend on Sunday, which was a nice surprise. After a good weekend, I'm all ready for the long day that is Monday (Monday shifts aren't my favourite haha). Although I'm not a huge fan of hot weather, I'm loving the longer evenings; it's nice to go on a walk at 10pm without needing street lamps.

2. So I decided to take a massive risk and dye my hair pink. I've always wanted to have a cool hair colour over the past couple of years but I was never really brave enough. But over the past year, I've really grown in confidence so I decided to do it! I actually like it, so I'll be doing it again I think. Eek.

3. If I'm being 100% honest with myself, I'm not feeling amazingly positive at the moment. I try my absolute best to be, but sometimes it can be hard. Blogging is a huge part of my life now, it definitely helps to keep my mind positive, especially through sitting and working out what is positive at the start of each week. I would recommend to anyone, just sit and take some time out to remind yourself of what is good about your life. 

4. So far, I've been quite good at changing my diet for the better. I've been making small steps by eating more salads, yoghurt and crisp breads. I'm trying to not force myself to eat less, or feel like I crave food. I'm slowly learning that everything needs to be done in moderation, including diet. Fingers crossed, I'll keep it up throughout this week.

5. This week, I'm planning to read a lot and hopefully spent a lot of time on my blog. I want to take some blog photographs and start really planning out my content a little more, by scheduling posts and having a set schedule throughout the week, rather than simply posting whenever I feel like it.

 

Happy Things #20

 

1. So, as of today I'm starting with a #MondayMotivation feel; I've started a diet... Which is a massive step for me, as I've avoided dieting for a long time. It's nothing drastic, but I'm trying to eat more healthily and not fill my body with crap food all the time. I'm planning to eat more fruit and vegetables as a positive change to my dietary habits.

2. I'm planning to finish my current read this week, so that I can post another book review and attempt to make my way through my absolutely massive book list (I swear it grows longer every week).

3. My gym membership seems to be taking its life to go through, so whilst I wait I have decided take Scarlett for more walks as that's a super simple and easy way to fit in some excerise and keep my dog happy too. Although she hates the rain, so hopefully the weather will improve soonish!

4. I've got some time off to look forward to in the summer which is lovely; I cannot explain how nice it is to have a job that pays you when you want or need a holiday! Even if it's just chilling out at home, I'm so excited to have some time off in the coming months.

5. I have so many more blog posts planned out and ready to write this week, fingers crossed they'll be ready for publishing later on in the week. I'm really enjoying blogging at the moment, it's definitely the best hobby that I could've started. I'm loving getting to know other bloggers too!