I went away on holiday

Last Sunday but the one before I went away for six days on a family holiday to Cornwall. Which was really lovely to get away, relax and have some time off of work too! I thought I would share some photos of my trip away with you all here too. 

We stayed in this lovely holiday home for the week which was very contemporary and cool. 

It had three floors, the ground floor was bedrooms, the first floor was an open plan kitchen/diner/living room. The second floor was a roof terrace which you got to via this spiral staircase. 

It had two loungers up there to soak up the sun! 

This is the view we had from the top and you could just about see the sea.

The view from the other side of the terrace. 

This was about a thirty second walk from where we were staying. The beach was just down this cliff edge. 

This was the beach. Apparantly Richard and Judy live nearby here!

On Monday we went to a quaint little fishing town with some really pretty buildings. 

The pottery shop.

Fishing boats in the harbour.

'Scuse my finger!

This house was covered in so many shells. 

We then went on to another town after this and had a little look around. 

Sorry for the awful angle on this one.

This place was really quaint and all the cottages along the waters edge were painted in pretty colours.

On the Tuesday we went into the town about a mile away and had a look around and bought some food to take home for lunch. Unfortunately I forgot to take any photos but it was lovely, sunny and hot and I got a bit burnt!

On the Wednesday we went to Padstow and on to another beach nearby.

Padstow is a little town with a fishing port that has become a lot more famous and well known over the years as TV chef Rick Stein has a fish restaurant, a cafe, a shop and a cookery school there too. 

We had some fish and chips from Rick Steins and they were really nice, but a tad greasy I'd have to say. 

This is the beautiful beach we went to after. 

It was really lovely, and quite quiet for a gorgeous beach. 

On the Thursday we stayed in all day and sunbathed on the roof terrace or went to the gym or swimming pool which was in the complex. 

On the Friday we went to another small village nearby which was quite small and pretty 

I also saw this cleaning company and I liked the name so much I took a photo. 

Spruce Springclean haha! 

Saturday was our last day and we had packed up and left by 10 and made our way back home. I had a lovely time away with my family and it came a bit hard when going back to work last Monday!

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

Everything seems to be going a bit pear shaped..including me.

This year was supposed to be my year. The year I became myself a lot more. If you didn't know I finished at sixth form this time last year and I knew I wasn't going to uni, as I hadn't applied, and I was going to work until I figured out what exactly I want to do with my life. Back then, I thought it would have been a relatively easy decision choosing what I'd want to and what career path to follow for the rest of my life, but as I lay here writing this still in bed on a Sunday morning, it couldn't be further from the truth.

I suppose in my head I had these grand ideas that a year on from sixth form I would be working in a great job that I'd love and I'd really show all those people who went off to uni and thought i'd never be able to compete with the careers they'll have when they finish. Another goal of mine was to lose some weight and shape up a bit. I'm not saying i'm the biggest girl in the world nor by any stretch of imagination am I the smallest but I'd like to drop a dress size or two for myself, to make me feel happier and healthier.

A year on from finishing at school, I am working the same job I was in when I was at sixth form but just doing more days there. Don't get me wrong I like working there, I get along really well with the two ladies I work with and enjoy the learning involved along the way. It's just not what I envisaged or hoped I'd be doing. I'm still living in the same place I've lived since I was a week old and having a lot of friends move on to bigger things and places has made me yearn for a new beginning and a fresh start. It hurts that a lot of my old friends have moved on with their lives and rarely speak to me anymore, and I find that quite upsetting because in a way I miss them and wish it was all like old times again but probably more importantly I'm jealous of the fact they've got new things going on and new people in their lives. Lastly, I have put on a lot of weight in the last year so my confidence has taken a real nose dive. I'd love to be able to wear shorts without feeling self conscious about the size of my legs or dresses and not worrying about weather my tummy looks big in it.

I'm seeing this post, as its one of the more personal admissions I've made on here, as a promise to myself (and you are all witnesses to this remember!) to change the things that are making me unhappy at the moment. I feel like i'm stuck in a rut and life is passing me by as I sit here wondering how exactly I want to live my life. I went away last week on holiday which gave me a lot of time to think about what I want, what's important and what I'd like to do or change.  So wave goodbye to Sandra Dee as this time next year, hopefully, things for me will be a lot different!

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you liked this post. Love, A x

My favourite lip products

My thought of the day: Has anyone ever finished a lip balm? I find an inordinate amount of them in old coat pockets, various make up bags or handbags that I don't think I've ever even come close to halfway of using it let alone finishing it. 

I always like to keep some lip products on me as I often get quite dry lips so use a lip balm quite a lot throughout the day, or equally if I'm spontaneously going somewhere a touch of lipstick or lipgloss can really add to a look or outfit! 

So here's some of my favourite lip products that I use most days. 

 These nine products are all my favourites and are relatively cheap too at all under £6 each.

This is a Collection lipstick in the shade Cherry Pop. It's a really vibrant red with pink shades in it too so it's not too dark and vampy. 

I'd tend to wear this one at night as I feel it's quite bold for a daytime look.

This lipstick is also from Collection in the shade Pretty Please. This shade is quite a nice coral/pink colour. 

Here you can see the two different shades together. I like the lighter colour one for in the daytime and the redder one for a night time look. 

Like many other bloggers I succomed to trying this. At first I thought it may have been overhyped given that this lip scrub £5.50. But I can honestly say this stuff is amazing. Plus it smells and tastes amazing too! I have the bubblegum flavour but it also comes in Mint Julips which tastes like mint chocolate and a popcorn flavour too. 

This is made from caster sugar, jojoba oil,  which help scrub away any dead skin leaving your lips feeling soft. It also contains some colourings and flavourings too. 

I like to put a good amount on my finger and scrub all over my lips and then lick the rest off!

I like to bring out my inner Miley using these at the beginning of the We Can't Stop video. My sister got me these two for Christmas and I love them. I have the flavours summer fruit and sweet mint. I like how portable they are as I can throw one in the bottom of my handbag and unlike a tin of Vaseline or similar your finger isn't left feeling all sticky or greasy. 

I also like the fact these have an spf 15 rating unlike some lip balms.

When I use a dark red lipstick I like to use this Barry M lip pencil to make it look a lot neater or equally if I want to do an ombré lip look I'll use this around my lips and a lighter lip pencil or lipstick in the middle to create the ombré effect.

Here is what the lip pencil in shade 2 looks like. The harder you press down with it the darker the colour. 

I wasn't really a big fan of tinted lip balms but I really like this one by Miners.

It's a light pink colour and applies really nicely and leaves my lips feeling soft and moisturised. 

The colour is probably a lot lighter than I'd naturally go for but it doesn't look too pink on and I think it suits my natural lip colour. 

This is the Blistex lip massage. It smells like the sweet blue Millions. 

It has a ridged applicator tip to massage lips to give stimulation. 

I like this luxe lips from Miners in the shade It Girl. It costs £3.99 and is super glossy and pigmented. 

The applicator is a thin brush and I think that's really cool compared to the more popular heart shaped tip.

It's a creme gloss so has the pigmented colour but also has a moisturising effect too.

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

Saturday 7th June and Sunday 8th June

I had a really good weekend this weekend and would like to share with you what I got up to! 

Saturday 7th June. 

Even though I worked on the Saturday, where I work in the town there was a food festival on which was really cool to have a little look around before work and also the town was buzzing with a lovely atmosphere. 

Luckily the sun came out on the day too as it was supposed to be quite stormy and raining. 

There were so many different stands from a creperie, a wood fired oven stall, a goats milk soap stand, flavoured marshmallows and loads of delis and bakeries too. 

I had some very healthy Churros with chocolate for lunch. They were so good!

I also spotted this jewellery stand with some gorgeous rings on. 

In the evening I went out for a few drinks with my friends Vicki and Christina. That was really nice as I haven't been out in ages and Christina was only home for a week or so from uni. 

In a pub I spotted this lamp..

The hallmark of a good drink, how luminous it is! 

Sunday 8th June. 

Today I drove my parents and sister into a bigger town about 30 miles away and I did a fair bit of well overdue shopping!!! 

I picked up this minidress in navy for £5 from Primark, what a bargain!!

On the front it has this crochet style detailing. 

I saw this kimono style jacket that I loved as soon as I saw it from River Island. My sister really liked it too so we decided to go halves on it. This was £40.

I love the pattern on it.

It's also got some jewelled bits on it too.

I think I'd wear this with a black dress and ankle boots or even a black top and jeans and some simple flats. 

I picked this up in Boots as it was only about a pound or so and I love having silky smooth hair so this should hopefully help when straightening my hair. 

I love Original Source as they smell amazing and also I like the fact they are vegan.

I thought I'd try something new with these two as I have used the bee strong hair products. I wanted to get some which would be good for smooth hair as I straighten my hair a lot and it also goes quite frizzy too. 

I got these two as I love the coconut one and the fabric masque I saw in an old sprinkle of glitter video and had been looking for one for ages yet couldn't find any anywhere.

I picked up this razor which had been reduced to about £3-4. 

I also bought this heat defence cream to use before drying hair which should make straightening/curling a lot easier. 

I popped into Accessorize and bought a bracelet and a pair of earrings I've liked for a while now. 

I got this elephant bracelet for £4 and those silver and teal earrings for £6.

I think this is really cool and looks quite simple too with the plain white band.

I love the tribal style to these and would look great with a messy bun and a maxi dress in the summer. 

I hope you liked reading this post, thanks for reading. Love, A x

Barry M Aquarium nail polish in Pacific.

Barry M has to be one of my favourite high street beauty brands. I love that their products are very affordable yet also very good quality too. I am a big fan mainly of their nail polishes as they apply so well only using one or two layers and also their vibrant and vast array of colours too!

So say hello to Barry M's Aquarium collection with four different two tone shades which glimmer differently in every angle. As well as two new glitter top coats which go perfectly on top of these colours. 

My sister picked me up the shade Pacific on Wednesday and I wore it out last night and I really liked it and got some compliments on it too. 

This is the pacific shade. As you can see it has different shades of blues and greens.

I really like this colour, I felt like a mermaid wearing it! 

These polishes are £3.99, they took two coats for me to get the desired effect. And I think they look really cool and would look great on my toes in the summer time. 

My Nail Polish tag!

I love nail varnish, maybe a little too much, so when i spotted this tag floating around I really wanted to do it too! 

How many nail polishes do you own? 

109. I know, I know it seems a little (very!!) excessive but in my defence I've had some of these for a couple of years now. I realise that they have a suggested shelf life of about two years but mine have kept their colour and didn't thicken or separate.

Favourite top and base coats? 

For a base coat I tend to use either the miss sixty base coat or a Champneys top and base coat I got as part of a set from a Boots Christmas 3 for 2. I'm also loving Sally Hansen's hard as nails or maximum growth top and base coats, they give my nails a lovely shine and make them look really healthy. As top coats go I either use the Champneys one, or a glitter coat, Bourjois matte top coat or the Seventeen UV top coat to make nails glow in the dark. 

Top 3 favourite nail polish brands?

I tend to mainly stick to drugstore brands for most cosmetics and occasionally splash out on something a bit more expensive and high end. I'd say my favourite nail polish brands would be Rimmel London, I'm really loving the Rita Ora collection. Another fave would be Barry M and Sinful Colours as I love the amazing collection of colours they both have. 

How often do you paint your nails?

I haven't painted my nails in such a long time actually, because we're not really supposed to wear nail polish to work. But  I'd ideally like to be able to paint my nails once a week.

Favourite neutral polish?

I love Let's Get Nude from the Rimmel London Rita Ora collection. Two coats of it and it looks great!

Pink or red polishes?

I love dark red polishes and pastel pink shades too.

What's on your nails at the moment?

Nothing! Well I think I have Sally Hansen's maximum growth and that's it.

If you had a nail polish line what would you call it?

Ooh! I think I'd like to have a collection that isn't too expensive and came in cute little glass bottles with an oval shaped brush for easy applying. I think I'd call my nail polish line called Talons for all us glamorous birds out there haha! 

French manicure or colour?

I think some French manicures can look really nice and classy but for more everyday looks I like to have a plain colour.

Favourite summer colours?

I love either pastels or neon shades. I love coral shades or even white or black on a summer tan.

Thanks for reading! I really enjoyed this tag and I hope you liked reading it too. Love, A. X 

My May in photos.

I'd have to say May has gone so so quickly for me. I don't know whether it's because we've had two bank holdiday Mondays off of work and I've been working 5/6 days a week this month so it has gone super fast! So here is a little collage of all my May Instagram photos to show what I've been up to this month!

Starting from the right to left. 

Top row:

Left- I took this photo on the first May bank holiday as I went to the coast with my family and I saw this tower that I thought it looked like nice with the bright sky behind it.

Middle- a raspberry yumdough (yum yum cross doughnut) my sister bought me from Waitrose. Was so good! 

Right- A cute row of thatched houses I saw on a day off work I had.

Middle row:

Left- I met up with my friend Sarena for a curry a few weeks ago. It was really nice to see her as she has spent the last three or four months in India and Malaysia. 

Middle- here's an old throwback photo of my friends Sam, George, Courtney and my best friend Vicki. This photo is from a meal at Sam's house and is about two years old.

Right- last weekend as it was a bank holiday and I had a day off work after that we made the most of it and headed down towards Devon for a few days away. I saw these beach huts on a sunny afternoon in Exmouth.

Bottom row:

Left: Also from my weekend away I spotted some BN biscuits which I haven't had since I was a child and got some dark and milk chocolate ones from a French farm shop. 

Middle: last night, my mum, dad and I had a night in and mum got some cute mini macarons from M&S. This one was a raspberry flavour from their summer fruits macaron collection.

Right: I didn't Instagram this one but I wanted too. The foods I've been obsessed with at the moment, this Reese's but bar is absolutely gorgeous with a Reese's peanut butter and caramel centre, peanuts then covered in milk chocolate. Also this Limonata//lemonade made from lemon juice!

Thanks for reading I hope you liked this post! Love, A x