20 things I've learnt before turning 20

I'll turn 20 on the 27th of January. This makes me feel quite sad as i've really enjoyed being 19 and enjoyed being a teenager for the latter part too. My teenage years were quite up and down. I was quite chubby, shy and my love of black and neon colours shrouded my fashion judgement too. I didn't feel confident in myself, both, how I looked and what I thought. I didn't have many friends and would drift in and out of friendship groups so never really had a best friend. I didn't really enjoy being at school most of the time so I never really understood why adults would tell me it would be the best days of my life. Working full time I get what they were going on about now!

There was a change when I reached about the ages of 16-17 I lost some weight and felt a lot happier with the way I looked and my confidence grew with that too. I started sixth form and I felt I had a bit more control over what I was studying. I found my love of writing and media studies so really enjoyed going to those lessons. I made new friends and I still talk to most of them now, three years on.

I've decided to write this post as a I wanted to share some of my wisdom, the life lessons i've learnt and also just to pay homage to my best decade (out of two, mind)

 Don't worry so much. 

I used to stress and panic over silly little things and looking back I can barely remember any of them now. I've learnt from the 'will it matter in five years from now' quote so if it doesn't matter in several years time then I try to forget about it and move on. I went through a difficult time with friendships over the years. I never really had a best friend before and that used to bother me a little. Now I would say that I met some very nice people about three years through a mutual friend and I have a small group of close friends rather than a big group of acquaintances. 

Wear something outrageous. 

After all you are only young once so how many times can you get away with wearing a skintight, sequin jumpsuit?!

Passing my driving test was the best thing I've ever done.

Passing my driving test was probably the best thing I've ever done. I love the freedom I have now and I really enjoy driving too.

Experiment with your style.

Over the last few years I have really enjoyed playing with my style. I love trying new things from dying my long hair red, to black to a shoulder length ombre cut. 

Your parents are actually pretty cool. 

As embarrassing as they may have been when you were thirteen you'll realise that they are actually cool people and you'll cherish the time you spend with them in years to come. 

Try doing something outside your comfort zone. 

Whether that be talking to a new person, trying a new food or even a bolder or more vibrant lip shade may make you feel a little nervous at the thought but once you've taken the plunge you'll thank yourself. 

Try taking a break from social media.

Even by just taking one or two days out to focus on yourself and those around. You can give yourself some me time and you also give yourself the chance to live in the moment without posting it online with a snazzy hashtag.

Sometimes you just have to dance like a loon at a concert. 

I love nothing more than getting my bad moves on at a gig. Losing yourself in the moment and letting go of all your worries. The sense of euphoria at concerts is one that can't be described.  

You have to stand up for yourself and what you believe in. 

In the last year or so I have definitely grown into myself a lot more. I used to find it quite difficult saying no to people or allowing myself to give in to peer pressure. Now though, I stand up for little old me and if something or someone is making me unhappy I won't go along with it. 

Don't be afraid to not follow the crowd.

A big part of growing up and becoming an adult is to figure out who you are and be proud of that person. 

You'll remember your first job for the rest of your life. 

I've only had three jobs in my life and I can remember them all. When I was sixteen I volunteered in an Oxfam bookshop near me over the summer. After that I had a six month contract at my local Boots store which was a fun introductory into the pleasures of working with the general public. Then lastly, the job I'm at now, I work in a health food shop. It's not exactly my passion but I really get along well with the ladies I work with and enjoy my time there. 

Immerse yourself in your hobbies.

Throw yourself wholeheartedly into whatever you love. Do it to the best of your ability because you never know that in x number of years you might not have the time.. between a relationship, career and children after all!

Travel as much as you can.

I'd love to travel all over the world if money was no question. Travelling helps to broaden your horizons, meet new people, learn about other cultures and learn about yourself. 

Learn to cook the basics. 

Even though I'm writing this I think I could definitely still brush up a lot more I can cook/bake some easy things like pasta, cake, putting a frozen pizza in the oven can be quite tricky too hehe.

Learn the basics of 'grown up stuff'.

I never really paid much attention to financial or political features in newspapers, magazines or on the tv because it honestly didn't really interest me. Once I reached 18 years old and was of age to vote I felt this would be something I should know at least a little bit about this type of thing. Also now that I work and earn my own money I want to pretend I know what I'm talking about in terms of money and which ISA to choose.

Look after yourself and your skin. 

It takes 21 days to form a habit and 21 days to break it too. If you set yourself in a good regime of staying healthy, exercising and taking care of your skin it'll certainly make it easier and pay off in the future. 

You'll go through pain but it will get easier and so much better.

At the time it may seem like everything is going wrong and the light at the end of that tunnel is dimly lit but you'll come out of it stronger and it will be okay. 

Sometimes you have to forgive and forget, not hold a grudge and be the bigger person. 

When someone has upset you, wronged you it's difficult to pretend it didn't happen but at the end of the day life is far too short to give yourself added stress (and added wrinkles). It takes more muscles to frown than smile. 

Pull an all nighter.

Whether that be a movie marathon of all the LOTR films or out on the town with a fun group of mates leading to legendary stories like "That one time we did tequilas and ended up sat on the beach at 5 am with a group of disheveled friends, a chicken and someone from Blazin' Squad. 

Enjoy your freedom.

You're only young once and there are only so many times you can get away with stumbling out of the kebab shop at quarter to three on a saturday night/morning.

Thanks for reading, I really hope you liked this post. All my love, A x.

Linco Care Gorgeous Bronze review

The best part of going out sometimes is the getting ready and for me sometimes that can start three days beforehand. Fake tanning, manicures, pedicures can be planned to military precision.

I was very lucky and grateful to recieve a at home tanning kit from Silkia called Gorgeous Bronze in the shade light to medium. I'm quite fair skinned anyway so do often use a fake tan so naturally I was eager to try it. 

This tanning kit is different from most as it had a spray head attachment making it an evenly spread spray onto skin. I also like this design as it's not an aerosol so doesn't contain CFC aerosol gases so you can reduce your carbon footprint whilst looking every inch the bronzed beauty! 

Gorgeous bronze comes in a long bottle with a detatchable spray head. 

'Scuse the tanning glove! 

Frontal view of the spray head. 

One hard squeeze of the spray trigger gave this dark brown colour. Which may look too dark but once applied to the skin leaves you with a lovely golden tan look. 

So let's start with the review! 

I prepped my legs my shaving, exfoliating and applying moisturiser. I applied heavy quantities to tricky, dry areas like my ankles and knees. Once that had all soaked in I got started. 

Before shot! Please excuse my chubby milk bottle legs!! 

I applied my tan sat on an old towel in the bathroom just because sometimes tanning can get a bit messy! 

I should also add in the box this came in included two pairs of gloves to apply and rub into the skin. 

So I sprayed some of the tanning liquid straight onto my leg and rubbed it in, in a circular motion. 

Taking extra care on those tough areas like my knees I sprayed a little at a time as you can always add more. 

Once I finished one leg I did the exact same with the other. 

What I noticed and really liked about this product whilst applying was that it takes literally no time at all for it to dry after a minute or so the skin is still somewhat tacky. It also has a really nice smell in my opinion. Some tanning products have quite a chemical smell whereas others leave you smelling of biscuits all day after. However this one has a very pleasant sweet, almost floral smell! 

So both legs dried leaving me looking bronzed and ready to go! 

Overall I am really happy with this product.

Pros:

-Good value for money at £19.99 and will last you a good while as well. 

-Dries quickly.

-Smells really nice.

-Product is easy to put together.

-Washes on and off. If you want a more natural tan you can apply this and wash off after two hours so the gradual light golden tan develops. Whereas those who want it to last a bit longer can wash off after eight hours, enjoying the gorgeous golden glow which will reduce over a week. 

Cons:

- I would say my only issue with this product is that if you've never used anything like this before you might find it a bit harder at first. I would probably suggest having a go with it first somewhere on your body you don't have to show off that way you get used to it. 

Overall I really liked this product. I sometimes suffer with very dry skin and have found if I'm using this I have to slather my body in moisturiser and exfoliater before hand. 

Thank you so much for reading this post. I really hope you liked it! I never normally take pictures of my body and I feel quite self conscious of it so it's a massive step for me to put two pictures of my chubby legs on the World Wide Web!!! 

Anyway all my love, A, x.

Lush Avobath bath bomb review!

One of my all time guilty pleasures is treating myself to a long, hot bath, throwing in a few bath products and some music or something to watch. Absolutely bliss. 

Knowing this, for Christmas I was treated to some gorgeous bath products from my friends and family. My sister certainly spoiled me rotten and I decided to use one of the bath bombs she gave me. 

The one I used is called Avobath! 

 It's a big, green spherical shape as you can see from the image above. It's smooth unlike some bath bombs that have added bits in it. 

Like all Lush bath bombs this one fizzed and bubbled away very rapidly. 

Leaving the bath this lovely deep green colour with shimmery, glitter bits in too but my camera couldn't pick those bits up. 

This has got lemongrass and bergamot oils which'll help give you a little pick me up. It also contains olive and avocado oil as well as mashed avocado battling dry skin. 

It's got a gorgeous, refreshing scent to it and it isn't too overpowering which I really like! 

I would give this bath bomb a strong 4 out of 5 as I really liked it for a first time use of it. 

 What's your favourite Lush product?

I hope you liked this post, love, A.x

My December 2014 in photos!

Hello everyone and happy new year! Can I still say that on the fourth..? As always I really enjoy sharing some pictures and Instagram posts from my previous month with you all. Some say posts like this are a bit of a cop out but I like to keep you all informed on all the little things I've been up to and seen! 

My favourite shower gel in the world. I love the candy sweet smell. I was very lucky to recieve another bottle for Christmas just as this one ran out!

Terrible picture quality but my high street looked very Christmassy at the beginning of December. 

I had a long, hard day at work and there is no better feeling than coming home and cuddling my dog <3. 

Another shot after finishing work and this was taking just after half past four and it was so dark! 

Such a child, but there's something so fun about kicking crunchy leaves. 

You can call me 👑🐝 

Watching my favourite Christmas film, Elf.

Walking the dog on a Sunday and the sun was poking his face through the clouds. 

My doggy getting ready for Christmas. I got this little hat for 69p in B&M. 

Another one of my favourite Christmas films. I have serious Cindy Lou hair envy!!

I made myself a smoothie bowl for breakfast with cocoa flax, chia seeds, dried cranberries and flaked almonds. 

Cutest gingerbread house in John Lewis. 

I had a lovely veggie and lentil burger with my friend Vicki one evening. 

Some of my favourite rings from Topshop and Charmed Ivy.

Some street art I saw in Bournemouth. 

Chicken Korma all round when I met my friend Eloise for dinner. 

Very lavish chandelier in the old city hall.

Signage. 

Charlie looked very glam on New Years! 

I hope you liked this post. Thank you for viewing! Love, A x. 

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everybody! I hope you all thoroughly enjoyed 2014and you are looking forward to the new adventures that 2015 entails. Yesterday I had to go to work during the day and in the evening I had a nice meal with my family. We tend to do something nice like that every year. After that I went and stayed at a friends house with some other friends. We had lots of drinks, nibbles, dancing, chatter and stayed in until midnight. After that we walked into town to see other friends and go to a few pubs. Considering all of this I feel surprisingly fine this morning!


There is something so fresh and forgiving about the start of a New Year. Different to previous years I have decided not to set any New Year's resolutions for myself mainly because I never remember to keep them. Instead I have given myself some goals I hope to achieve by this time next year. Some of them are little like remembering to take my make up off after night out whereas some of them are bigger and more personal like cutting things out that are making me unhappy and toning up a little bit more.

As cringy and cliche as this sounds I really want to make 2015 a great year for me. 2014 was very up and down for me. I felt like I was stuck in a rut, wasn't confident in myself or what I was doing.

Are you all looking forward to 2015?

Have you made any resolutions?

Thanks for reading, I wish you all a Happy New Year and here's to 2015! 

Love, A x.

The Christmas Tag!

Seeing as it is four days until Christmas day and I'm finally in the Christmassy spirit I have decided to do the Christmas Tag. I have seen this floating around a lot of other blogs and wanted to do it too! I haven't been very good at keeping up with blogging this month. What with work and seeing my friends and family this has unfortunately taken a back seat.

Question one. What is your favourite Christmas film?

Elf! Such a feel good Christmassy film. I love Will Ferrell as well. My other favourites would be Home Alone 1 & 2 and The Grinch. 

Question two. Do you open presents on Christmas Eve, Christmas morning or Christmas evening? Usually we open presents Christmas morning. However this year we may spread it across the day and leave it for the evening. 

Question three. Favourite Christmas food? 

Turkey with all the trimmings is a complete winner for me! I love gorging on Christmas dinner as it's only once a year eh ;). 

Question four. Favourite Christmas smell? 

I love the smell of Christmas dinner cooking. I also love those traditional Christmas candle smells like cinnamon, star anise, cloves and orange. 

Question five. Real or synthetic tree?

I love the look and smell of a real tree.  But I have always had a synthetic tree so that's always felt like Christmas to me!

Question six. What is your favourite Christmassy coffee shop drink?

I love the black forest hot chocolate from Costa <3

Question six. Do you prefer giving or receiving gifts?

I love receiving gifts don't get me wrong, but in the last few years I've really enjoyed earning my own money, putting thought into gifts and giving someone important to me something they'd really want. 

Question seven. What do you do on Christmas Eve?

Usually I stay in with my family and we watch a Christmas film and my parents attend Midnight Mass. This year I will be seeing my friends on Christmas Eve which will be nice :). 

Question eight. What do you wear on Christmas Day? 

I usually wear something quite smart on Christmas Day. Oh and accessorized with a glam hat from a cracker!

Question nine. What is your favourite Christmas memory?

I remember when I was really little how strongly my sister and I believed in Father Christmas. Leaving a carrot out rudolph and genuinely thinking we heard his sleigh..Bless haha ;)

Question ten. What is your favourite part about the Christmas period?

I love having all of my family together, spending time with them and making memories. 

I tag all of you to take part in this! 

As always, thank you so much for reading this post. I hope you liked it. 

Love, A x.