HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLOG!

Hello!! 

So a year ago today I started my blog and boy has the time flown by. I still remember writing my first blog post when I got in from sixth form, unsure on what to write and nervously punching that publish button. Will people like it? I thought. Wait no, what if no one reads it? Was something else that popped into my head. I posted the link to it on my twitter so all my friends could read it too and got a few views which made me very happy. By this point I may have had about 1 or 2 followers as at the time two of my friends were writing blogs about music, but as time went on they have slowly given up doing it. 

Anyway! What I'm basically trying to say is a massive THANK YOU to each and every one of you who took the time to follow my blog whether it be by Gfc or Google+ or Bloglovin and also a big big thank you for just reading it and those who comment on it too! It means the absolute world to me! 

I didn't start this blog with the intentions of it to get where it is today, I know I don't have as many followers as some other people, but to me I have a lot more than I ever anticipated. 

Blogging has made me grow as a person, I feel a lot more confident and really love writing about things I care about. And it's so wonderful when I get comments and feedback from other people about it too. 

I have formed friendships because of this and love being a part of this blogging community. 

So basically, thank you everyone, you have helped shape me into the person I am today and in all honesty sometimes I genuinely don't know what I'd do with my time if it weren't for my blog!


Thanks again!! Here's to another year, love, A x

Liebster Award

Hello!!

So the lovely Kerry at Kerry's Habitat has nominated me for the Liebster Award. 

The Liebster Award is for up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers. Liebster translates from German to sweetest/kindest and I think its really nice that these types of things are set up within the blogging world as a way to bring people closer together, to form friendships and build blogging communities!

Anyway! The instructions of the Liebster Award are:

• Each person must write 11 things about themselves. 
• Answer the questions that the tagger wrote for you as well as creating another 11 questions for the others to answer. 
• Tag 11 other bloggers for the Liebster Award and don't forget to tell them on their blogs!!

11 facts about me-

• I was born on my Mum's birthday
• I love to bake although I don't do it that much.
• I've been thinking for a while now to do some more lifestyle/personal blog posts but I don't know how well they'd go down...
• I've got two sets of piercings in my ears and would really like to get more. 
• I watch quite a lot of scary films even though they scare me. I always think I'll be fine then remember how much I don't like them..
• I have never broken a bone and, touch wood, it'll stay that way. 
• I have never done drugs or had a cigarette and intend on keeping it that way. In my own personal opinion I would never ever do that but I am open minded to others doing it and wouldn't bombard them with my opinions. 
• I have a little scar on my left knee when I cut my leg when I was 7 or 8.
• I love the Harry Potter books and films. I'd love to go to the Harry Potter studios.
• I really like shopping in charity shops from finding cheap clothes, books or dvds.

Questions from Kerry-

Why did you start blogging?
I don't really have a straight forward answer for this one. It happened over last summer I set up the blog but didn't really know how to get started, then a year ago tomorrow I wrote my first blog post!! I took a lot of inspiration for people like Sprinkle of Glitter and also as I was studying media studies at the time I was shown how successful blogging can be for some people. Looking back now I am really glad I did start this blog, even though it's not the best blog on the internet I am proud of its growth and my own personal growth too :)

What scares you the most?
I don't like bugs like daddy-longlegs, moths or wasps. They're so annoying in how they can slither through a tiny gap in my window yet when its wide open they just fly near it???? 

Do you have a favourite brand?
High street fashion brands I like H&M and New Look. High end fashion I like a lot of the pieces by Chanel and Balenciaga. When it comes to make up I like a lot are BarryM, Benefit, Chanel and Illamasqua or Urban Decay.

Did you go to university? or are you there? If not why not?
I have made the decision not to go to university. It was quite a hard decision mainly as 99% of my friends are going and a lot of them didn't quite understand my decision. I found it quite hard especially as I supported their decisions but they didn't seem at all interested in what I was doing.. A few reasons I didn't want to go to uni was I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do so didn't fancy racking up an almighty debt just to fit in with everyone else. 

High heels or flats?

I love the look of high heels, some are so pretty (insert Louboutins or Charlotte Olympia's here) but I'm quite tall so feel better and a lot more comfy in a pair of flats.

What era should you have lived in?

Ha I was thinking about this the other day I would either have loved to be born in the late 1800's and been like Nancy from Oliver! Working as a wench in an old tavern lol. Or equally I think being a teenager in the 50's in America would have been cool too, I love the fashion, the cars and the era.

How cool does this look?!

Three of your favourite films?

I love Goodfellas, Bridesmaids and I really liked We Are The Millers.

How do you feel about Charity Shops?

I love shopping in charity shops! It's amazing what you can find! I worked in Oxfam over the summer when I was 16. 

Tea or coffee?

Tea!! I love just normal tea, fruity teas, peppermint tea. We sell loads of different kinds of one where I work like a chocolate tea and white tea and I really want to try them!

Dream Job? 

I'd really like to work with teens as a youth worker or something. 

My 11 questions:

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Where would your dream holiday be?

What's your favourite pizza toppings?

Marmite, love or hate it?

If you could ask your future yourself one question what would it be?

What's your most expensive item of clothing/accessory?

What's your favourite smell/scent?

Would you rather forget to wear deodorant for one day or wear socks and sandals for one day?

What's your favourite online shopping sites?

What was the last thing that made you smile?

What is your favourite biscuit to dunk?

The bloggers I have picked:

Adalia at Adalia's Closet

Lizzie at Head-full-of-flowers

Lucy at Make up your mind

Issy at missisgoode

Ruby at Total Modisch

Cint at Makeup and Messes

Emma-Kate at Handpickedbeauty

Daniella at Daniellabeautyjunkie

Vickie at StonesGotStyle

Frankie at Frankiebooxx

Linda at Iamlinderalla

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! love,a x 

Nails of the day!!

Good morning!! How are you all this dreary morning?

I've decided to do something a bit different with my nails today. I used a black nail pen I got in a set from The Ideal Home Exhibition a few years back, you could probably pick up similar ones online or use the Model's Own ones. And I used the brush part of the nail pen and did one stroke across my nail tips to give myself a funky little french manicure style..

This was also relatively quite easy to do too!

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it. Love, a x

What's a pirate's favourite social networking site?? Tweetarghh

HELLO! 

I have a cold. Two weeks into september and I am struck down with a sore throat and a runny nose, great. I am currently holed up in bed living off of soup and Harry Potter films. But in other news and making the title of this post a lot more clear, I have made a twitter page for my blog! My username on there is @_abfabx and I would love it if you would like to follow me I'll be sure to follow back.

Thanks for reading, love, a x

Barry M Gelly Hi shine review!

Hello lovelies! As you are all probably aware, I am a big fan of BarryM products and the BarryM Gelly hi shine nail polishes.  They cost £3.99 so one pound more than their other nail polishes and I think they are really very good. 

All of the gelly nail polishes have a fruit theme perfect for the spring or summer. As seen underneath I have: (Going L-R) Pomegranate, Mango, Greenberry and Blue Grape. 

With one to two coats it gives a nice, smooth, bold colour and once dried it gives a lovely shine to the nails. I find this nail polish slightly thicker compared to other barryM nail polishes so it may be quite gloopy when applied and it also takes a bit longer to dry.

As this is a hi shine nail polish there is no need for a top coat to be used, although if you want to use one I would say to wait about 20 minutes before applying it to make sure the coats are fully dried. 

I am very pleased with these nail polishes, if you are looking for a good polish, which is durable and provides even colour I'd totally recommend this one. 

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it. Love,a x

Mini Primark and Boots Haul

Hello lovelies! I went shopping today with my Mum and Sister and picked up a few bargains from Primark and Boots. 

Over the last year or so I reckon the clothes and overall standard of things in Primark has improved dramatically. It used to be quite hard for me to find things in their that were current and I also really liked them but now it's changed completely.

So today I got the following: 

I got this flower print skater dress for a fiver!! How amazing. I also have the black one as seen beneath and a green aztec print one.

 

I love these £5 Primark dresses!!

I picked up this skirt for £10. It's a red tartan print and has a black leather band around the top.

I needed a basic black t shirt and this one was only £2.50

I got two pairs of gold hoop earrings for £1.50

And I also got some more hair ties as I always seem to lose them and they are only a £1 each.


How amazing would it be if Primark did loyalty cards??

I got this shaving gel as it was £2.25 and it's also really good!

And two BarryM lip pencils at £2.99 each. I really want to try to do ombre lips.

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it! love, a, x.

My first time..

So Petit Promise tagged me in this 'First Time tag' and I hadn't actually heard of it before. 

The rules:

• You must share the following firsts and give the story or the context of them as well. 
• You must also tag 10 other bloggers to do the tag also. 
• And finally you can't tag the person who tagged you.

First best friend:

My first best friend was a girl called Hattie. We met when we were about two or three and were in playgroup (preschool) together. We were pretty much inseperable throughout most of primary school until yr6 (we would have been aged 10) when her and her family moved to Texas.

First cd I bought:
The first cd I bought was S club 7's Never Had a Dream Come True single from Asda. boom impressed with my creepily good memory??

First concert:

I remember when I was about 6/7 I went to a blue peter concert (cool I know right) at weymouth beach and all the big pop stars of the time were there like Louise Redknapp. But I guess the first proper concert must have been t4 On the Beach in 2011 or Blink 182 in 2012. 

First celebrity crush:

Oh my god this makes me cringe so much thinking about it.I suppose it must have been Gareth Gates and the night of the Pop Idol final it was too late for me to stay up and watch it, so we recorded it and I watched it in the morning before school, he came second and I cried..

First Word:

I'm not actually too sure, I remember my parent's used to say it was 'Eh' which I also argued isn't a real word..

First pet:

When I was younger we had a lot of goldfish over the years. I can't quite remember any names though. I remember one we called Goldie. 

First Job:

My first job was when I was 16 I volunteered at an Oxfam then about a month later I got a paid job working on the shop floor in Boots.

First Phone:

My first phone was the Nokia 3310. Was a great little phone, I distinctively remember I bought a bright pink Hello Kitty phone case for it. It even had snake!

First tweet:

Was to my friends who already had twitter, saying "Look who's on twitter!?!"

First item of make-up:

I remember I bought a collection 2000 eyeliner pencil and would line my waterline and that would be it. I would leave the house thinking I looked the bees knees. In reality I must have looked so bad. 

I'm tagging:

Helen at Beautifully Superfluous

Sophie at Sophhskii

Rebecca at Lipgloss and Lashes

Hannah at Hannah Heartss

Katie at Katie's World of Beauty

Leah at Rollerblades and Vintage  

Rachel at Rachel Lucy

Georgina at She Might Be Loved

Amy at Salted Roses

Madeleine at Vanity Rail

Thank you all for reading! I hope you liked it, love a. x

I think I have a problem..

I've never really noticed it was that bad until I was deciding what nail varnish to wear this morning. Seeing them all lined up in a row, I realised 1) wow there is quite a lot there and 2) that's a lot of money I have spent/invested in..

I own 27 BarryM nail polishes. That's quite a lot, I daren't count the rest. So if anyone wants to come round for a mani/pedi you know where I am ;) 

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it. Love, A. x