Arundel Castle

As it was my mothers birthday yesterday, we decided to make the most of the British summer and go out. We love our history and visiting castles, so we took a drive to Arundel to visit 'Arundel Castle'. This is also the castle where they filmed 'The Young Victoria', which is one of my many favourite films.

This is one of the sides of the castle (I'm not sure whether this is the front or not). This to me looks unreal and does not look like i'm in England, I mean there is no cloud in the sky! They also held a cute little market that set you in the medieval times, which had events such as cooking, clothing and jousting, which was amazing, because I become a geek when it comes to this sort of stuff!

We also visited the chapel, which was right by the castle and gardens. Although it was amazing and stunning with the stained glass works and woodwork, yes I admit I love that stuff, it was creepy.

The next few photos are from the gardens, which were so peaceful and calming, besides the scorching hot weather.

This kind of day out, is also suitable for younger children, as they held so many activities for them and still keeping it educational. Overall one of the best days so far of summer. Next on my list is to visit Kensington Palace, so stay tuned for a post on that! 

Thanks for reading!xo

Alice

Top 5 Summer Reads

I have always enjoyed talking and sharing about my favourite books and I thought this was be the perfect time to as it is now holiday season! I find that I practically go through my entire book collection. Below I have managed to select 5 of my favourite books to suggest and recommend some awesome reads perfect for summer. 

1. Hester Browne - The Vintage Girl 

This book is great if you like adventure and investigation stories. This story focuses on a young women who ventures to a house in Scotland belonged to her heritage. This book allows you to follow her journey in investigating the secrets of her past family members and soon discover a 

2. John Green - The Fault In Our Stars

A romantic young adult novel with comedic tone and language. This book has been the rave for months, along with one of the best authors, 'John Green'. The success and popularity of this book has lead to becoming a major motion picture. It is the perspective of a young teenage girl, Hazel, who suffers from cancer, but leads to her meeting her love, Augustus. This book had me both crying and laughing, honestly the only book that I have felt quite emotional about. I am quite put of watching the film as I expect such high expectations from the book, but I will probably end up watching it either way. 

3. Rainbow Rowell - Eleanor & Park

This book is very similar to TFIOS, with the original love story of a teenage couple, however the thing that makes this story unique is the differences and how the characters are created. The best thing about a book is watching the character progress and develop, especially for a teenage character, which this book definitely succeeds. 

4. Neil Gaiman - The Ocean At The End Of The Lane 
5. Rainbow Rowell - Fangirl 

A Trip to New York City

The last week I have had the opportunity to go and visit one of the most famous cities; New York. Although it was an educational trip with the college, it literally felt like any ordinary holiday. From going on boat rides, museums, Brooklyn bridge, walking around central park and of course shopping in Times Square. I have met some amazing people, which felt like we were a huge family. Through our experiences with our lost luggage and cancelled flights, they were a few ups and downs, but everyone supported each other. As I have so many items and adventures to share with you, I have decided to break this topic into three blog posts, otherwise this will be a long essay. 

On The first day was a walk through Times Square to get to the sea for a boat ride to see the island where the Statue of Liberty is placed. Just walking through New York is amazing, there is something going on at every angle. We all witnessed to buses crash right in front of us which made all the windows to smash, something you don't see often in the UK.

One of the best visits we went was to Times Square. The atmosphere is so friendly besides how busy it is. The best shop we went to was Toys R Us, it was literally heaven, with three floors full of toys. 

Above was a panoramic view of Central Park. It is unbelievable how big it really is; we ended up walking the full length of the park to eat lunch, although it was tiring, it was definitely worthwhile.

 We also walked over one of the worlds famous bridges 'Brooklyn Bridge' which although doesn't look as attractive as expected, it sure had the best views of sea and skyscrapers. As you can tell by now, this trip included alot of walking, which resulted to alot of us with bruised, swollen feet.

Lastly, was my all time favourite adventure, which was to the top of the rock, which basically gave you the full scale of how big New York is. You could see for miles, full of buildings. This was taken around 8:00 pm, just as the sun was setting. It was peaceful and calming, one of the best views I have seen. After the sunset, gradual lights of buildings lit up, which against the sunset was perfect. Overall the perfect end to the trip. 

Makeup Monday #4 - Barry M Spring Collection

Barry M is a popular drugstore nail polish brand which have many unique products including, Gelly, matte, nail effect and the makeup essentials. My personal favourite is the Gelly hi-shine line, so I was so excited to see they were bringing out three new shades for spring. The hype for spring this season is pastel colours, so the colours are pastel blue, pink and green. As seen in the picture below I only have the blue and pink to review. This is because the green was sold out when I purchased them and I haven't seen it since. 

Firstly the name of the shades are cute and adorable, matching well with the colour. I believe the green shade is called, 'Sugar apple' which I personally sounds quite high street, similar to the Essie products. Though this means they have alot to live up to. The consistency of the varnish is quite thin and sheer. I found it took about 3-4 coats to get a good strong balance of colour. Even with the amount of layers I put on as well as a clear top coat it managed to chip quite quickly. Though overall I would say the rose hip is a beautiful colour once applied. I also found the blue applied much easier than the pink and also didn't chip as much. Overall I recommend to go for the blue or either green, as they may not take as much layers/coats and are much less time consuming.

Thanks for reading!xo

Alice

BLOG UPDATE

Hey blog readers!

I apologize for the serious lack of blog posts; I have been caught up with coursework and deadlines as well as the horrible dreaded exams, so instead of writing my posts I've been doing revision. I also found it difficult to balance out time to prepare, shoot, edit and write for each post twice a week, so I came up with the solution to upload a blog post whenever I can, but to give an aim to upload at least 4 a month, so 1 a week. However I will still be titling them 'Makeup Monday' and 'Fashion Friday', just they won't be every week. You will see alot more exciting posts to come as now the long summer holidays will give me so much time to write. As my blog is primarily beauty and fashion based, I have also decided to add in a lifestyle theme etc.so including day trips and weekends. 

Thank you for reading!xo

Alice

Makeup Monday #3 - My Perfume Collection

Firstly this perfume is possibly my favourite and most worn fragrance. As labelled it is from Next, which I think is one of many stores that stocks affordable pretty perfumes. This is the New York Eau de Parfum. It is not over powering, which makes it a really good everyday perfume. As you can tell from this image I have used this quite alot, so much that now I have just purchased my second bottle. I really recommend checking this one out, or for an alternative the London and Paris are just as good but with slightly stronger and floral scent. 

This is another favourite of mine, purely because of the sweetie scent, which reminds me of candy floss and summer. The bottle is also beautiful with the ombre effect. This perfume was from the body shop, and i say 'was' as it unfortunately is not on the line anymore. I believe this was also a summer limited edition, hence the sweet scent. As you can tell from the image I have barely used it, this is purely because i know i won't be able to purchase another, therefore saving it as long as possible. Hopefully I can find an alternative that is similar to it!

This is my most recent perfume, I have worn this only a few times because it has a strong scent to it that I like to keep for going out. This perfume is the Katy Perry, Killer Queen. I fell in love with the packaging, bottle and of course the smell. I know that this will last me for a while! I have also seen over social media, e.g Instagram, that there is going to be a new Katy Perry perfume, identical to this but in purple, called 'Oh So Shear', so that will be going on my wish list! 

Links-

New York Eau De Parfum

Katy Perry Killer Queen
Justin Bieber Someday
Accessorize - Enchanted fragrance
The Body Shop - Fragrances

Fashion Friday #2 - Shoes Of The Season

These style of shoes is the bringing back of old school shoes. These replicas are also known as t-bar geek shoes. They are simply made up of the traditional black patent material, buckle and cut outs at the toe. After being on my wish list for a while, I finally found the perfect pair for me purchased from River Island. However I can't seem to find the link for these exact ones online, but I have found similar ones on Topshop which I have linked below. 

These shoes are one of  the most comfortable shoes I own/ed. The main advantage of these is that they can be worn for any look and can make an outfit look smart or cute. I wore these with a blue simple dress and they automatically transformed the outfit to a smart casual. For a cute and girly look, dressing them with either a skirt or dress would be ideal. To create an even cuter, pair them with lace frilly socks; another  fashion craze. Another advantage is that the outer sole has really good grip, linking to it being a good all-day shoe. Though because of the minimal padding on the topline and insole it may be an irritate and cause a rubbing on the feet; but from my experience this lasted for the first couple times I wore them and now they're absolutely fine. 

These types of shoes have proven they've got popular as they now have re-introduced jelly shoes. These are my main childhood shoes for me; I remember wearing them when going to the beach on holiday. New Look specifically own a complete range of different colours, which I will be of course purchasing a few of. They are a bargain as well, at only pricing at £10; Compared to the ones below which cost me £30. Though from their success in popularity I'm sure you will find a bargain in purchasing a cheaper pair and that look identical. 

Thanks for reading xo

Links-

Margate T Bar Geek Shoes
Lace Trim Ankle Socks
Jelly Sandals

Makeup Monday #2 - Rimmel Eyeshadow Palettes Review

Referring back to my previous Make up Monday I focused on the bringing out of pastel colours, therefore for this blog post I have decided to write similarly on the same lines, but this time i am looking at eye shadows. This is also similarly to a classic review on them as they are all the same products just with different colours. The product which I will be reviewing is the Rimmel London Glam Eyes eye shadow palettes. 

1. This is Rimmel London's trio palette in 'Sumptuous Tourmaline'. From its appearance, you may guess that it's more suited for a winter or autumn season, however this can be used for the brighter weathers, especially with the lightest shade, being a pastel lilac colour. The pigmentation however is minimal and applies a light shimmer, therefore if you're opted more for a coloured shade, possibly the second darkest in the palette would be best to use. The darkest shade would be best used for defining the crease as this gives a strong result, or on the outer corner, replacing the use of an eyeliner, as this would give a softer look. Overall this palette would be also ideal for a night out because of it's high result of shimmer. 

2. State of Grace is possibly the best palette for this season as it ranges from blue, silver and purple which typically describes spring and summer. It also gives you a variety of combinations of eye looks as its gives you different colours which all go together. The blues can be paired together, with the lightest blue all over the lid and the darkest creating an ombre effect. Or on the other hand the blue and purple can be paired together to create a complete different look. Pretty much all these palettes have the similarity of having shimmer rather than a matte finish. This definitely shows through with the metallic silver colour which gives an awesome result from its strong pigmentation. This would work well in the inner corner, or for creating a dramatic look on the brow bone and arch. Overall if you like to experiment with colours and creating different looks, this palette would be great in achieving them. 

3. Sapphire Moonstone is actually the least one I have used, predominantly as I have purchased it not that long ago. Although from it's appearance I know I will make use of it. Particularly with it's flesh colour, which is a great everyday and wearable colour. The navy blue again is suited more for the winter and autumn season however could be worn in a way to suit the lighter seasons. I intend to use the black shadow as either the crease or on the outer corner. Although from it's shimmer finish again, I would personally focus on using this on a night out. 

4. Beauty Spells is similar to State of Grace, with its quad style and the ranges of colours it offers. It also used the same metallic silver colour which is very versatile. It does however offer a dusky pink and a lilac color, alike in Sumptuous Tourmaline. From the image, it presents that I have currently hit pan on the black shade in the palette. I use this for defining the crease and occasionally under the lash line, because I prefer to create a softer look. To summarize, if you are possibly new to trying out eye shadows, this palette would be relevant to you and worth trying, as the lightest colours give a soft toned outcome, and can be developed in creating a bolder look. 

5. Orion is my favourite palette from this collection as well as in general of all eye shadow's. This is also my second purchase, as I hit pan on all the shades from my previous one and eventually couldn't get anything from it. The three colours are so wearable, although from its shimmery finish, it appears very lightly. They all give great pigmentation, literally just with one coat, it gives an amazing colour. I wear this all day and it stays there all day, I also don't experience any fall out either during the application or throughout the day, which equals to a convenient advantage. Overall this is personally the best palette to go for if you're looking for a simple natural look and again can be worked with to create an evening look. 

These palettes all cost at £6.99. However both Boots and Superdrug offer these eye shadow's to be sold singularly, which cost at £4.49.

Thanks for reading xo

Links-

Rimmel Glam'Eyes Quad eye shadow 

Rimmel Glam'Eyes Mono Eyeshadow Glam Ice 100

Rimmel Glam Eyes Mono Eye Shadow

Fashion Friday #1 - How To Style Statement Necklaces

One of the biggest fashion trends this past season is the craze for statement necklaces. From small trinket designs to ones that are full of colour, gems and patterns. Although they make an outfit look red carpet worthy, it can be difficult in achieving this. This is because it can be hard to select which necklace looks better with a certain type of clothing. Therefore for my first Fashion Friday, I intend to give you hints and tips in choosing the best necklace. I have ensured that all my outfits cover a casual everyday look as well as a going out evening look, as not only does this you let you show of you glamorous necklace but to wear it multiple ways and make the most out of your spending.  First this is an overview of the few necklaces I am going to cover. I have decided to chose necklaces which are toned down and less over the top as I am focusing on conveying more of a beginners guide into statement necklaces.

This is an example of an original statement necklace. It is very versatile as they come in all different sizes and patterns meaning they can be worn throughout the year.  I got this during the autumn season last year, when the tribal and aztec trend was popular. Although this exact one is no longer on the site, many shops such as Etsy and Topshop are likely to stock a similar style. This necklace is easy to wear for both occasions. It can be paired with a peplum top or t-shirt to create a chilled daytime look, or primarily with a chiffon shirt, making it that the triangles peep out under the collar. Overall this necklace is an easy throw on necklace that makes an outfit complete. 

This necklace is similar to the one above from its tribal inspired colours and style. Statement necklaces like this are really good to create a bold look to your outfit. It's simple design is great if you are first trying out statement necklaces. The advantage of these style of necklaces are again effortless to put together as they go with most clothing, such as t-shirt, peplums, tunics, and shirts. This particular necklace also comes in a light pink and gold contrast as well as white, which overall would be great for spring and summer. 

This necklace is my all time favourite necklace. I wear it alot with plain tops and sweatshirts and it effortlessly finishes of the outfit. I would recommend to avoid wearing this necklace with a pattern as it would take away the attraction on the design. I have worn it alot recently, as the floral designs and daisy patterns are basically the representations of spring. This type of necklace would be great if you have already worn a few statement necklaces as it steps away from the simple designs and more into the broader designs.

Lastly this necklace is another example if you decide to go towards a broader design but not over the top. The statement is basically a much smaller version to those strong vibrant ones, making it the ideal necklace to go for. It's emerald green colour also links with this, as it steps out from the comfort zone of wearing dark colours. This necklace is unique from its snake like chain, which makes it different and stand out from other necklaces. This would give the confidence later on in wearing the large statement ones.



Overall I hope this guide as given you some sort of idea of what style and design to go for. I will also do an updated post on statement necklaces, giving the latest trends on designs, as well as the best and worst of them.

Thanks for reading xo

Makeup Monday #1 - Top 5 Drugstore Lipsticks For Spring

The change from winter to spring is in my opinion, one of the most exciting times of the year. As we enter the spring season the weather is of a warm and bright atmosphere meaning the colours transform from dark colours to more vibrant. Easter is also during this season, so it’s just another excuse to eat chocolate. However spring impacts on numerous of makeup brands as they begin to stock up with their newly seasonal products. For this Makeup Monday, I am focusing on my top 5 favourite drugstore lipsticks to wear during the spring season.

From left to right;  210 Coral in Gold, 206 Nude Pink, 130 Oxford Street Fuchsia, 03 Peche Cosy
& 303 Rose Tendre

As spring is the introduction for the light and pastel colours, I have chosen lipsticks which compliment with this trend. I have selected colours ranging from bright orange through to a bubblegum pink.

The three orange lipsticks are by the Rimmel lasting finish lipstick, along with the Bourjois Rouge Edition. Firstly the Rimmel lipsticks are of a great consistency and apply well. The smell of these lipsticks are also sweet and fruity, which suits the spring season perfectly. Lipstick 210 Coral in Gold can seem quite daunting from its bold orange appearance, however when applied it gives a much toned down orange, primarily the colour is portrayed as the name of it; 'coral in gold'. In comparison, the 206 Nude Pink, is different only by it's slightly more pink toned coral colour. These lipstick also cost at a relatively cheap price of £4.99. In a result these lipsticks give a shimmery finish, meaning they would be more suited for a night out.  However if you're looking for a more wearable and everyday lipstick the Bourjois Rouge Edition lipstick is the one for you. This is personally one of favourite lipstick as it gives a matte finish, making it much easier to wear everyday. The consistency is really moist and lasts on your lips for majority of the day, which for a everyday lipstick is convenient. It's price is at £7.99, a little bit extra than the Rimmel lasting lipsticks, but the quality of this product is definitely worth the price. Overall if you are leaning more towards in purchasing a orange or coral coloured lipstick for either a night out or everyday wear, I would recommend putting these on your wish list.

The last two lipsticks are the more pink coloured lipsticks. These are my all time favourite lipsticks, both covering the different shades of pink. Choosing the perfect pink shade can be difficult as it can wash you out. Therefore the reason why I have selected a variety of shades. The pinkest shade being another Rimmel brand, from the moisture renew collection, called 'Oxford Street Fuchsia'.This lipstick is convenient for all year round, as it is basically a lip balm. This is a good dupe for the Revlon Lip butter. The downside of this lipstick is that it gives a strong scent of an original lip balm. Aside that the application is a dream to put on. The consistency is creamy and moist and gives a strong colour. The main advantage of this lipstick is that it can be worn for both night outs and casual everyday. This can be done by how much you apply. To get an everyday look, you can apply a minimal amount and blend it into your lip, or on the other hand, apply all over the lip. However from its consistency it naturally gives a vibrant result. The cost for this Rimmel lipstick is more than the Rimmel lasting finish, at a cost of £6.49, although the quality of this lipstick is seriously worth the price. Lastly, the lightest shade is from the L'oreal Natural Lipstick collection. This is furthering away from your drugstore price at, £8.19, however this ticks all the boxes for me. It is my most worn lipstick and one that I will always go back to. It gives the lowest of shimmer but I personally think this works well with such a light shade. The application is great, with after one layer and it creates a natural look. One of the hardest things i have with wearing a light shade lipstick, is if it actually looks like i am wearing it a lipstick, but with this it does but not over doing atall. The packaging is also my favourite, the contrast between the light pink and shiny gold packaging is beautiful.

Overall I hope this has helped decide on what lipstick to go for, if its to finalize which one you're going to buy or simply getting ideas what colours and styles get.

Thanks for reading xo

Links-  

http://www.boots.com/en/Rimmel-Lasting-Finish-Lip-Stick_1133045/

http://www.boots.com/en/Rimmel-Moisture-Renew-Lipstick_847102/

http://www.boots.com/en/Bourjois-Rouge-Edition-Lipstick_1290744/

http://www.boots.com/en/LOreal-Made-For-Me-Naturals-Lipstick_37653/

http://www.boots.com/en/LOreal-Paris-Color-Riche-Collection-Privee_1369339/