Birch Box

Hi guys, ok so today I received my first ever Birchbox.

I was so excited about receiving this, formerly known as Jolie Box, a monthly beauty box brand has recently been taken over by the american company Birchbox, and this was their debut UK box.

This box totally lived up to my expectation, the products I received were great and some of them were completely worth the £10 cost of the box.

I was totally happy that the outside packaging was pink- forever my favourite colour, and when you opened it up there was actually a smaller cute box inside, which is nice because then you know that your products have been well protected in the post.

It came with a Birchbox magazine inside (cute little added extras are my favourite thing in life hah).

Once you opened the smaller box there was once again more to protect your products in this adorable little pink drawstring bag, which i have actually found really handy for keeping bits in on my desk (aka the messiest part of my room, seriously it’s insanely bad) in an attempt to be more organised.

Inside the box I got 5 products, a Fresh Sugar Rose Lip Treatment (my favourite thing out of the whole box, it is fantastic), KMS California Volumizing Spray, Taaj Creme Mains Delhicates Hand Cream, WEI White Lotus Moisture Rich eye cream and a Teapigs super fruit tea bag.

The Sugar Rose lipbalm is so lovely. It is slightly tinted with pink, which is nice because during the day my benefit liptint that I put on in the morning wears off, and I never carry it with me because i’m lazy, but this adds a little boost of colour if I need it. It also smells and tastes so yummy.

This is actually a full sized product which usually individually sells for £15.50, so I am extra happy that this came in the box as that makes it a complete bargain!

Ok, so I haven’t actually used this volumizing spray yet, to be honest I’m not really a person that uses these kind of hair products because for a start anything like this makes my hair greasy and ew so sorry, I dont really have an opinion on this one! Do any of you use this?

The full size of this product usually sells for £14.85

At first I wasn’t completely sure about this hand cream. Sure, it made my hands feel lovely, but the smell is rather….. overpowering I guess you could say? And at first I didn’t really like it. But, it must be one of those smells that you grow to love with time because I’ve been using this before I go to sleep and now I actually think it smells yummy! However, I dont think it is one of those hand creams that I would keep in my bag and use in public- the smell is just too strong.

The full size of this usually sells for £10

I really like eye creams, so I was excited when this came. This product is really refreshing, I tried using it in the morning and it made me feel more awake after I applied it, which is always helpful as I am literally a zombie in the morning haha! The size that they give you to test though is actually stupidly small, the tube is about 2 or 3 centimeters, so use it sparingly if you want it to last a while!

The full size of this product usually sells for £60 (which probably explains their small tester size), and i’m not sure I would pay that much, but if you want a really high quality eye cream, then this is for you.

Ok I love tea so I got quite excited about this (except what is the point of having caffeine free tea, I will never understand), but I actually haven’t got around to trying this yet. As soon as I do I will let you guys know my opinion!!

A pack of 15 of these teabags usually sells for £3.99 🙂

 

So, did you all have a good start to the week? I got my art essay finished, and I’m almost done with one of my final pieces so YES i have been productive this week so far (which makes a change hahah!!)

À bientôt!!

Cookies

Ok, so anyone that knows me knows that I am completely useless at cooking ‘proper’ food. I’m not kidding, the other day it took me about half an hour to work out how to open a tin of tuna. And i’ve almost burnt my kitchen down multiple times. Oops.

I am however, acceptable at cooking sweet things like cakes and cookies (when I live on my own I think I might have to just survive on cake).

Today once I got home from work, (literally had the customers from hell today good god), I decided to make some cookies to try and de-stress.

This recipe is egg free (not because I have any allergies, simply because I never seem to actually have any eggs in my house), and it’s really quick and easy. If you like super sweet things, give this a go 🙂

Ingredients:

• 200g (7oz) of plain flour
• 85g (3oz) of butter
• 2 tablespoons of golden syrup
• 55g (2oz) of caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• 1 dessert spoon of water
• Toppings of your choice!! I went for little white chocolate stars.

Step One

Heat the butter, sugar and syrup in a pan, making sure it doesn’

Step Two

Sieve the flour into a large bowl, and then pour in your melted ingredients.

Step Three

Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in the water and add to the other ingredients.

Step Four

Combine all of the ingredients together to form a dough.

Step Five

Take golf-ish size balls of dough and place them on an oiled baking tray.

You will need to bake them for about 10 minutes at 190Celsius (gas mark 5, 376Fahrenheit), however, the timing really depends on whether you want your cookies to be soft or crunchy- keep an eye on them and take them out of the oven when they are to your liking 🙂

Step Six

Decorate and enjoy!!

Ok, I may have left these in the oven slightly too long, but you get the idea.

Did you all have a fantastic weekend?

À bientôt!!

Sketches

Hi everyone.

First of all, I am so so sorry that I disappeared for a few days, I have been crazy busy with college work- I swear all of my deadlines are next week aah. Plus, I have an interview soon where they require 32 pieces of work along with your portfolio, so gah life has been hectic.

I thought I share with you some of the stuff that has been making my life so busy this week. Recently I have been focusing on studies of hands, and how they change with age. I’m the kind of person that is completely useless at painting, I love drawing and pen and ink is literally my favourite medium when it comes to art 🙂

Babies hands are really fun to draw, I adore their cute little chubby fingers and the little dimples on their knuckles.

Babies hands are really fun to draw, I adore their cute little chubby fingers and the little dimples on their knuckles.

I like drawing hands so that the lines of the palm can be seen too, because to be honest I suck at shading areas that dont have much detail, I work better when there are lines and folds to expand from.

This is actually a transcription of Henry Moore’s “The Artist’s Hand III”. You should definitely take a look at the original because it is unbelievable and I honestly dont do it any justice here.

Haha ok, once again, so sorry that I disappeared, I hope it wont happen again too soon.

I’ll upload this weeks style inspiration tomorrow 😀

À bientôt!! ❤

Winter Wonderland

So, seeming as college was cancelled yesterday I thought that it was the perfect opportunity to go for a walk and take some pictures of the snow!

In an attempt to keep warm I wore a wooly jumper along with this adorable duck print skirt I bought last week, tights and long woollen socks (and I obviously topped this all off with a coat because I get cold so so easily.) And of course my beloved Hunter Wellies, I love them so much, I literally wear them at any chance I can get haha!

I walked over to the woods, (I spend a lot of my time just walking through the woods, seriously, its like a strange hobby that I have), and I was greeted with the prettiest sights, trees just look so nice in the snow.

This lake was frozen, and the ducks were walking across it, it was literally the funniest thing I have ever seen, I just stood there laughing to myself (I must have looked insane).

 

Today pretty much all the snow has melted, and everything is back to normal, booo.

I love the snow, everything looks prettier covered with it 😀

Do you guys like winter?

À bientôt!!

Paris

I thought i’d write a post about my ~kind of~ recent (if you can call October recent) visit to Paris.

So, I was lucky enough to get the chance to spend my eighteenth birthday in Paris. It was a part of France that I had never visited before, and I have always been beyond fascinated with capital cities (although dont get me wrong, I absolutely love the loire valley, where I have spent most of my time in France, but paris is completely different.)

I arrived in Paris late on the day before my birthday after a unnecessarily long journey (can I just say ferries are such a waste of time, planes are the best invention ever). We stayed in a hotel in the business district of Paris- La Defence- and the hotel was fabulous. My room overlooked the River Seine, I could see the Eiffel Tower lit up in the distance and I had wifi in my room- an obvious necessity 😉

Lets just say i could of quite happily lived in that room forever.

On the morning of my birthday I woke up to this fantastic view. I couldn’t of been any happier- I’m pretty sure I just spent half an hour just drinking tea and staring out of the window.

After a perfect breakfast of croissants and pain au chocolat (aka the best inventions ever), we left to have the cheesiest touristy day ever- sightseeing. I usually hate anything touristy and prefer to discover places on my own, but my parents had booked a guided tour of Paris and this was actually totally fun- we went to the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and ended with a cruise down the River Seine.

The river cruise was great, because it meant we got to see a lot of the beautiful architecture that makes Paris so special. And it gave me a chance to take a lot of photos.

After the tour was over, it was time to explore some of Paris’s famous shops and cafe’s. Basically my favourite hobby haha!

First of all we visited a famous department store called Galeries Lafayette. It was huuuuge, there were 7 floors and to look at everything would probably take you all day, at least. But inside it was beautiful. In the cosmetics department, there was a dome ceiling which was decorated and surrounded by colourful balconies looking out from the other levels of the store.

It was pretty I think all shops should look like that to be honest. If you went to the roof of this store, there was a balconied area that gave an amazing view of the Paris skyline. People were sitting up there on armchairs, drinking champagne and socialising, the perfect life haha!

A nice part about Paris is that you can see the eiffel tower from almost anywhere in the city. It just made me really happy hah 🙂

The rest of the day was just wandering around Paris. We went for coffee in a cute little cafe, which was lovely, even though it rained pretty much all day.In the evening we visited the Latin quarter to go to a (very small) restaurant. Hands down this was the most atmospheric, lively restaurant i have ever been to.
There was a set menu (very french, onion soup for starters, followed by beef bourguignon, a cheese board and then apple tart for dessert) with unlimited wine included in the cost. Oh and champagne. Ha. Not only was the meal lovely, but there was an accordion and a guitar player walking up and down the restaurant all evening, interacting with the guests. They were hilarious.

The restaurant owners somehow found out it was my birthday, and got the accordion and guitar players to sing happy birthday to me (which the whole restaurant joined in with) AND they brought me cake and (more) champagne. It just made the evening even more unforgettable.

Paris by night is so beautiful, being know as the city of light, you are in for a real treat when the sun goes down. I really recommend just wandering around with a camera after night fall, you wont regret it.

(Sorry this photo isn’t exactly sharp, blame the wine haha)

So, the next day I just spent the day wandering around and taking photographs. The best way to explore Paris quickly is to buy a carnet for the metro- meaning you get 10 metro tickets for €12. A few highlights from the day include Nutella Crepes (oh my god the best things ever invented, I would literally marry one if I could), and a trip to the famous Louvre art gallery. Plus a huuuge bonus was that it was much sunnier than the previous day, meaning that we took a lovely walk through the park near the Louvre (most adorable place I have visited in my life).

Oh, in the evening we went to Montmartre to see the artists. It was so inspiring, I literally was so shocked (and completley jealous) at their ability to draw such realistic drawings of people in less than 10 minutes, just wow. We also went inside the famous cathedral and I (sneakily) took a couple of photos, because it really was unbelievably stunning. We got the chance to see and hear the nuns that live in the cathedral singing too.

I really had the time of my life, and I am completely and utterly in love with Paris now. If you get the chance, visit- I promise it will be one of the most memorable experiences of your life.

Sorry it took me forever to write this post, and sorry it is so long!

It has snowed about 1cm outside, so obviously there is complete chaos across the country, and college is cancelled tomorrow because england literally just cant cope with the snow. Not that i’m sad about college being cancelled of course! 🙂

I hope you had a good weekend~

À bientôt!!

Weekly style inspiration- Alexa Chung

This week’s style inspiration post has to go to the lovely Alexa Chung. Alexa is an English model/tv presenter, and her style is, in my opinion, perfect.

She tends to be rather androgynous, sticking to dark colours and showing a passion for wearing tailored suits, making her style a very distinctive one. Many people find this charming however, with multiple influential people including Karl Lagerfeld  and Vogue’s Anna Wintour describing her as “a phenomenon” and “the Kate Moss of the new generation”.

And of course we cant forget the famous handbag brand Mulberry, that designed, and named the much sought after “Alexa” bag in her honour.

She’s gorgeous and I’m obviously completely jealous.

What do you guys think of Alexa’s style?

(its 5 minutes to midnight, this still counts as a friday post right?) haha!

See you again tomorrow~

À bientôt!!

Lissy Elle Laricchia

Ok, so here is another photographer that I am a HUGE fan of.

Lissy Elle Laricchia takes beautiful, dream-like photographs that remind me of fairytales and Alice in Wonderland tea parties  They inspire me to drag my best friend into the woods so I can take photos of her in a dress, even though its literally freezing outside (this is going to happen sometime soon because she has actually agreed, mwahaha- look forward to it 😉 )

Her photos are all about making you believe in the impossible, and she manages to create the most magical photos that seem to bend the laws of nature. Take a look for yourself, because they really are outstanding.

Lissy is literally my favourite photographer of all time, and I had such a hard time selecting just a few of her images to include in this post, so you definitely need to check out her website and her flickr account because her work is unbelievable and I love it.

Sorry there was no post yesterday, I was actually surprisingly busy for a change!

I hope you all had a fantastic thursday~

À bientôt!!

Outfit of the day

I thought I would make an outfit of the day post, of a typical outfit that I would wear to college. I am a huuuge fan of skirts, I wear them pretty much every day, and the ‘jumper with skirt’ look is one of my absolute favourites. I have this really cute white jumper, with ribbons of lace breaking up the wool. I think it is really cute, and the sheerness of the lace adds a nice twist to the plainness of a traditional white jumper.

(Please excuse my room aka the messiest place on the planet)

This locket is one that I received for my 18th birthday from my gran. I love it so much, I wear it all the time even though I dont actually have any photos in it yet… She got the back engraved and I just think it is the cutest piece of jewellery that I own. 

My jumper was from Topshop (about a year ago though) as was my coat, tights and my bag.

My skirt was from boohoo.com, and I have no idea where the locket was from haha!

I hope you all had a lovely day-

À bientôt!!

Nick Knight

Ok, so it’s insane how much I love this photographer. What’s even more shocking is the fact that my photography teacher initially introduced me to his work, a man who usually suggests really boring photographers that I just cant get excited about no matter how hard I try.

Nick Knight is a British Fashion photographer, and his work is really outstanding. He has shot both editorial and advertising projects for clients including Alexander McQueen, Calvin Klein, Christian Dior, Lancôme, The Royal Ballet, The Royal Opera House, Swarovski and Yves Saint Laurent. He is also well known for directing Lady Gaga’s music video ‘Born this way’. (And he has the coolest name ever, you cant say that you dont agree ha).

The compositions are fabulous, the dresses are fabulous, I just really love everything about these photos.

You should definitely check out his website  where there are hundreds of examples of his beautiful work- including some non fashion pieces!

Until tomorrow,

À bientôt!!

(I have no idea what happened here I obviously just forgot to press publish last night wow i’m an idiot pfft)

Anyone for tea?

Today has been so boring.

I went to work for 6 hours, as I do every sunday, but today it was just completely dead. I had one customer. And they only spent £40. What a waste of a day.

Anyway, thanks to that I had a looong time to think about what my post for today would be about, and, seeming as I had so much time to kill, it’s ended up as a post about the brand I work for. Haha!

I work in a department store called Williams and Griffin, and, to be honest, it is a really lovely place (actually, a few years back it beat Harrods for the ‘independant department store of the year award’ ooh hah). Funny story actually, I was almost born at this shop because my mum worked there when she was pregnant with me, and I obviously just decided it would be fun to be born two months early, so she was at work when she went in to labour (sorry mum).

I work for Waterford Crystal, Wedgwood and Royal Dolton China. They really make some pretty stuff (and most of it is extremely girly, which, as you probably know by now, I am a huge sucker for). My favourite things are the really dainty tea cups and tea pots, they’re just so cute ok.

    

Ok and now i’ll stop boring you haha!! I hope you all had lovely weekends, apparently its supposed to snow this week which will mean complete chaos because this country literally can’t deal with snow.

Have a nice monday!

À bientôt!!