Fjords, Mountains & Cruise Ships | A week in Norway

I’ve not been on a proper holiday for years. Once my sister and I reached the age of going to university and fending for ourselves, invites to family holidays soon decreased, eventually down to a big fat zero. However, out of the blue earlier this year, my parents casually slipped into conversation that they were considering a cruise to Norway, and asked if I would like to join them. After about 1.5 seconds of thinking about it, of course my answer was yes!

So July came around, and off we went, tootling down the road with our suitcases in toe, down to the ship. I feel like cruises are something young people often turn their noses up at, with the stereotype of them leaving you trapped on a boat full of elderly people, with nothing to do. I’m sure at some point in time it was possibly like that, but today’s cruising reality couldn’t be further from it. With bars, theatres, cinemas and pools, there’s not a minute where you find yourself with nothing to do. You find yourself on what feels like a little world in the middle of the sea, with no boats or land as far as the eye can see, in a place far away from the reality of home, with way better phone signal too (I could get full phone signal in the middle of the North Sea, but have to stick my arm in the air next to a window at home to get a single bar of the stuff- madness!). Sounds like heaven if you ask me!

Anyway, our cruise took us up the Fjords of Norway for a week, and I have fully concluded that Norway is one of the most beautiful places I’ve had the pleasure of visiting. If I wasn’t such a city person, I’d say a quiet life living in the Norwegian mountains wouldn’t be too shabby at all. I spent much of my week stood (admittedly in the freezing cold!) on mountain tops just taking in the incredible natural beauty of the world that we live in, and as corny as that sounds, I have no shame in saying I enjoyed every second of it.

But as they say, a picture speaks 1000 words, so I’ll stop with the rambling and let them do the talking..

 

 

 

 

xoxo

Okay, so it happened again..

Who knew that becoming a graduate could take so much out of you?!

Yep, that’s right. I’m a graduate now *screams in despair*. I have to be an adult and do adult things. Rolling around in bed until 3pm and living on a diet of beans on toast (occasionally with cheese on to spice things up a bit) is no longer acceptable. I walked across the stage, shook the hand, got the degree. £27,000 and 3 years of hard work printed right there on a single piece of paper. I’ve never experienced something so exciting yet completely terrifying.

As trivial as I make this whole becoming a graduate thing seem, I guess I can somewhat push the blame of my recent unplanned blogging absence upon it. I had the post uni breakdown, and boy did I breakdown hard. You know when you have something so good which you just didn’t anticipate having to let go of so soon? That’s exactly what happened to me, and I just didn’t want to have to deal with, or think about the fact that my time at university was over, so I just pretended it wasn’t there. Moving home has taken a while to adjust to again, but I’m getting there, and with that my blog has become something of a greater importance to me. I initially started this blog sat at home last summer, as a bit of a release, and a world away from a reality that I wasn’t particularly content with. Although I guess I’m back to that place again, at least I can enter back into that world with my fingertips at the ready on my keyboard and a blog waiting for me with a number of followers (still hopefully there!) to read my drivels as I leap back into the blogger world once again, this time leaping fully with two feet, rather than cautiously dipping my toes into it.

Third time lucky and all that jazz.

xoxo

Life Update | Finishing University

So after having a (somewhat lengthy) blogging break, I feel a life update is a good place to start on the road back to bloggerdom. The past 4 months have been preeetty crazy- filled with laughter, stress, and a lot of tears.

I guess my not so small piece of news is that I finished my degree! After what felt like an endless run of essays, revision, and exams, I can finally say that I did it. 3 years. University. Boom. Done. I feel like now is the time when everyone gets super nostalgic and has a few (probably pretty dramatic) mental breakdowns about where the heck all that time went, and the inevitable thing that is having to brave the big wide world alone- something no one planned on happening so soon. It took me 3 years to learn to cook something other than pasta. I feel like a baby bird that isn’t strong enough to fly out of the nest yet. I just don’t think the world (and by world, I mean me) is ready to see me being unleashed into it.

However, I can somewhat relax with the whole ‘so what comes next?’ thing, with my teacher training place patiently sat waiting for me to tootle along up to it in September. Now with my degree actually over, I am counting my lucky stars that I have this lined up, otherwise I would currently be sat in the inevitable pit of doom which is OH MY GOD I HAVE TO GET A JOB?!?! So yep, going to put that one off for another year I think…

Other than moving back in with my parents for at least the next year (au revoir freedom!), I may be alone in saying this, but I’m actually pretty excited for the next chapter in the rather odd book that is life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m going to miss university like MAD. Getting wasted on a school night and rolling home (quite literally) at 4am is no longer going to be acceptable. Although this may take me a while to adjust to, with change comes new responsibilities, and sadly it will no longer be my responsibility as a true university student to fulfil the expectations of drinking ungodly amounts and doing ridiculous things that I will have completely forgotten about the next day. I think my dignity is thankful for these new responsibilities.

So that is where I am at. Currently rolling around in bed doing absolutely nothing, enjoying the last ounce of freedom I have for the next few weeks, and loving every second of it.

xoxo

Oi Lauren, Where Have You Been?!

Oh hey there Lauren, remember this thing you once said you would put more effort into to make sure it didn’t get neglected like your previous blog attempt? Yeah, you totally let it happen, didn’t you?

Okay okay… I hold my hands up. Life, love, and my degree got the better of me and my poor time management, and it may or may not have resulted in a momentary 4 month break from my blog. This makes me very sad as this was once something I put so much time and effort into, and genuinely really enjoyed doing. So I hope that you, my lovely followers, are still there, and are willing to forgive my unanticipated break!

So here we go again, take two. Brace yourselves people. I am back, and (hopefully) better than ever!

xoxo

New Year, New Feature – Introducing Monthly Favourites

This is a feature that I’ve seen pop up on many a blog, and this feels a little bit like jumping on the bandwagon, but hey, I love reading these kind of posts so I might as well give writing them a go too! I feel like having a set post to write monthly will give me a much needed kick up the backside, and will make me actually write posts (something I haven’t done too much of lately- damn you uni work!). I’m going to include a bit of everything in these posts- beauty, hair, fashion, tv… you name it. If I liked it, it’ll be in there somewhere! So let’s get started…

1) Smashbox Limitless Eye Liner
Liquid eyeliner has been my absolute favourite item to use in my everyday makeup look for quite some time now. I’d pretty much ditched kohl eyeliner from my makeup bag- something I was a very frequent user of during my teen years, so I suppose you could say this is a bit of a re-discovery for me and my makeup routine.

After receiving a Smashbox Try it Kit for Christmas, I gave this little number a bit of a go, and oh my word I have not looked back. I’ve loved creating a bit of a more smokey, smudged daily look this month with this awesome eyeliner which will I’m sure remain a favourite for months to come.

2) Floral mini vintage hair clips
After getting my hair chopped last year, I’ve since decided to grow it longer again (as per usual with cutting your hair short..), and haircuts have been something which have been pushed to the back of my mind, which, I know, isn’t great. My hair has become a bit of an unruly mess these days which I both oddly love, yet hate too, so I’ve been looking for things to help me avoid using heat styling while sorting out my mane on a daily basis.

I love these clips. Firstly, they’re so cute- I love the vintagy floral pattern on them, and at £2.99 from New Look who can really say no to them?! They are great for if I need to leave the house in a rush- I can just whack half my hair up quickly, keeping it from inevitably flopping in my face and annoying the hell outta me.

3) Zoella Blissful Mistful
I hate following the crowd, but when everyone kept on going on and on about this, I couldn’t avoid popping into my local Superdrug myself and seeing what all the talk was about. I’m always a bit dubious about the whole Youtuber product thing, because I can’t help but think that everyone raves about them purely because they love the Youtuber rather than love the product itself. I don’t think this is the best body spray I’ve ever come across in my life, but I’ve been enjoying using it this month- it leaves a nice fruity scent that I definitely won’t say no to smelling like. The packing is also super cute and has been sitting nicely on my shelf with all of my other beauty related products.

4) Soap and Glory Hand Food
The cold winter weather that we’ve been experiencing here in the UK this year has been taking its toll on the ol’ mitts. No one likes dry hands, so this hand cream has been a bit of a life saver, keeping my hands silky smooth (plus it smells super good which is a great bonus!).

5) Sleek Contour Kit
If you saw my post on this kit [here], then you’ll know that I can only speak positively of this compact. It has really opened my eyes to the contouring world, and has definitely been my go-to for day to day contouring this month.

6) Electric Blanket
Keeping with the whole winter theme here, my room at uni is basically like a fridge. I feel like having a freezing cold room on the crappily built house extension has become a bit of a common story amongst students, but this year I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing this first hand (woooo). I really don’t know what I would do without my electric blanket now, keeping me nice and toasty when I’m in bed. And let’s be honest, I feel I speak for the majority of students when I say I spend about 75% of my time in my bed, so this is totally worth it.

7) Celebrity Big Brother
I feel a number of people would frown upon this being a monthly favourite, but what can I say? I’m an absolute sucker for trash TV. Being at uni without a TV licence has made me pretty shocking at keeping up to date with TV, but I’ve been pretty dedicated to this, and have found this super addictive to watch (anyone else love Katie Price now too?!).

So here are my January monthly favourites! What have been your favourites this month?

xoxo

Nail of the Day | Black and Gold

Wow it’s been a while since I’ve done a NOTD post! After a month of interviews and an inability to wear nail polish for them, I can firmly say that I was more than excited when I opened my bag of varnishes when I got home, and it took me quite some time (longer than I probably should admit..) to choose what colour I wanted to go for.

I’ve been loving metal colours at the moment- after going for a copper coloured nail a little while ago, I decided to continue this metal theme and go with a gold nail. In reality, this varnish has turned out to be more of a bronzy gold, but I can’t say this has put me off it at all. The nail polish is a Seventeen varnish in the colour ‘Fury’, and I really love it. I got a set of Seventeen varnishes from my sister for Christmas (definitely didn’t get her the same present too… awkward!) and have been dying to try them all. I’ve found the lighter colours to be a bit thin and chip very easily, but let’s save that story for another day… and post!

  

In a true Lauren fashion I haven’t been able to stick to a plain nail so have gone for a little dotty pattern on my ring finger in black. I wanted to keep it more on the simple side whilst adding something a bit different and I think this has done the job nicely!

Rest assured, I’m sure I will be changing my nail colour again in a matter of time, so keep your eyes peeled for more of my NOTD posts coming your way!

xoxo

100 Followers!

So this morning after the worlds worst night’s sleep, I woke up to a nice little message telling me I’d reached 100 followers!

Considering I only started this blog a matter of months ago, and have been pretty neglectful of it at times due to the never ending pile of uni work that keeps on popping up (final year problems), I’m pretty darn surprised that so many people actually want to read my rambles!

So I guess I should say thank you to those of you who have chosen to read, and follow my little blog! You’re all awesome! (Not that I’m biased or anything….)

Here’s to 100 more!

xoxo

So something pretty insane happened this week…

This week I received an offer to train to be a teacher. I cannot even begin to tell you how hard I sobbed after I got the phone call- two hours after the interview as well!

For many it’d seem like a pretty ridiculous dream to become a primary school teacher. The usual things to dream about becoming are singers, actors, doctors. I guess teaching just seems a bit… meh. But when I got asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, my answer was always teacher (well, I probably threw princess in there at some point… a girl can dream right?!), and being in my final year of university (sob), the time to think about taking the plunge and actually doing something about achieving this dream came around quickly.

After a string of pretty stressful and somewhat shocking interviews, that phone call was something I’d tried my hardest not to imagine. I guess one thing I’ve learnt to do is not build things up, because it often only ends in disappointment. This is probably why this whole thing means so much more to me, because I never actually imagined it being remotely within my grasp.

This is a bit of a random post, but this is something that I’m still absolutely buzzing about, days later after getting the offer. I like the idea of looking back on my posts in months to come, and remembering the week that my dream came true.

(Considered going down a don’t be afraid to dream route with this post but let’s be honest that would’ve been massively cringey for all those involved)

xoxo

Contour with Confidence | Sleek Contouring and Blush Palette

I’m actually writing this instead of learning my presentation for my teaching interview tomorrow, but I thought that my blog needed a little bit of lovin’, and I felt that sharing this little product with you was a perfect way to do this (and procrastinate as well…)!

I’ve always found the whole contouring thing to be a bit of a pain in the backside. The idea of Kim K’s super chizzled cheekbones contoured to the high heavens to me feels like a ridiculous amount of effort, and well, it’d look quite frankly ridiculous on me. However, contouring has always left me a little curious, but I’ve always been a bit weary of giving it a go. Being super pale has its benefits and its drawbacks, and in this case I saw it as a drawback- all contour kits I’ve seen in the past have been super dark, and would literally leave me looking like I’ve just draw dark lines all over my face- something far removed from the more natural look I try to focus on achieving on a daily basis with my makeup.

This kit was something I came across after scouring the internet for what felt like hours, and after looking through reviews on fellow blogs, I decided this might just do the job for me!

  

Can I just say, firstly, the packaging. This product, for a lower end product retailing at £9.99 has the NICEST packaging. It really is ‘sleek’ in more ways than one, and feels like more of a higher end product just looking at it. The compact comes with a neat little mirror- perfect for touch ups on the move, and the simple design of the 3 products sat nicely side-by-side in the palette makes this a really lovely (and easy) product to use.

  

So, down to the nitty gritty. I bought the product in the lightest shade, and this is the perfect colour even for me- someone with skin quite possibly as white as snow. The contour powder is a lovely, natural colour, and is really buildable. I tend to go for a more subtle look, but if you really wanted to go full out statement contouring, then this product would still do the job nicely for you. The powder applies beautifully on the skin, and it has great staying power. If I’m honest, I looked into this product purely for the contouring powder- the other two palette components were just nice little bonuses for me.

The highlighter does provide a nice level of shimmer- I’ve only been using it to highlight my cheekbones at the moment. It’s not the best highlighter I’ve come across in my life if I’m totally honest, but it does provide a good, subtle level of highlight, enough to maintain a more natural look if that’s what you’re going for. The blush is a really, really lovely colour. I’d probably describe it as almost a rose gold kind of pink blush colour, but it works so well on my pale skin and provides a nice level of warm colour to the apples of my cheeks.

It looks like this product is not only sleek by name, but sleek by nature. If you’re looking for a handy contouring companion for an everyday subtle, natural look, I’d absolutely recommend this product to you.

Have you got any contouring products that you would recommend?

xoxo

Product Review | Collection Work the Colour Eyebrow Kit

Eyebrows are my absolute number one pet peeve. I’m the kind of person who imagines plucking the stray hairs from someone with messy eyebrows whilst I’m talking to them. I hate myself for it, but we all have our flaws, right?

When it comes to beauty products, I’m the kind of person who will find something I like and that works for me, and will never use anything different again. That goes for my eyebrows too. I’ve been using the same brand eyebrow pencil for probably years now, but when I saw this little kit sat on the shelf in Boots, I just knew it’d have to be added to my Christmas wish list as soon as I got home. Fast forward to now, and yes, I was clearly good in Santa’s eyes this year because my wish for this eyebrow palette came true!

    

I’m the kind of girl who likes to do beauty on a budget. Not because I’m super stingy and unwilling to splash a little cash in order to get a good product, but because I’m a firm believer that you can find and achieve the same quality as high end products with cheaper brands- you just have to do a bit of searching and testing first to find them! Collection is a brand that I came across after hearing TONS about their Lasting Perfection Concealer [which I reviewed here], and have held a firm place in my eye ever since as a brand which provide consistently good products for consistently super-duper low prices. At only £3.99 this little kit is an absolute bargain. So I guess now the question is, is it actually any good?!

        

Well, I can firmly say yes, yes it is. As a previous user of the ol’ eyebrow pencil, I’ve always been a bit dubious about using powder to fill in my brows. I never thought that the same coverage and precision could be achieved using it, but well, after using this kit I can take back my words and say that I was wrong. With 3 shades to match different eyebrows tones, this kit really is a great find. The powders are so buildable, so whether you like to keep a lighter, natural brow or like a darker, bold statement brow, this will be just the thing for you. It comes with a handy applicator, with an angled brush one end, and a rounded brush on the other- perfect for buffing the powder into the brow. On top of this it comes with a neat little clear brow mascara to keep those pesky hairs in place. I’ve had so many tips given to me across the years for keeping eyebrow hairs in place, from using Vaseline to spraying them with hairspray- all with disastrous and very unattractive results, so this brow mascara is a very refreshing product to me, keeping my brow hairs firmly in place whilst maintaining the natural look of them in a non-greasy or crispy fashion. Basically, an all-round winner.

If you’re looking for a beginner’s brow kit, or just something easy and reliable to maintain those brows on a daily basis, I would absolutely recommend this product by Collection to you.

What eyebrow products would you recommend?

xoxo