The Autumn Tag

Hello muffins!

So, it's here.. It's officially Autumn, literally in the past week it's got very cold and all the leaves have started falling off the trees, I swear it was warm and I was sunbathing in the garden like 3 weeks ago??

Anyway, to mark the start of the season I decided to do the Autumn Tag! 

As you can probably guess I've got really into Tags but I find them really interesting to read and you always find out something new about someone and I really like that!!

So, let's go!

Ok we're talking coffees - what is your favourite seasonal drink from Starbucks, Costa or Cafe Nero etc?

Not necessarily a seasonal drink, but it's something I started drinking about this time last year and it's quite a heavy one so I don't like it during the Spring/Summer but it's a White Chocolate Mocha.. I've had these from Starbucks and they're delish! I'm not the biggest white chocolate fan but these are just so good. I can't wait to have one now I've started thinking about it!

Next up is accessories - what do you opt for, scarfs, boots or gloves?

I'm a scarf and boots girl, I love a good boot all year round but it's hard to escape the sweaty feet situation in the warm weather - yes I went there sorry! I've already bought these Suede Knee high boots from New Look and I can't wait to wear them! And pretty much the same to scarves, I'll just alternate between heavy scarves in the winter - i.e. my Forever 21 men's tartan scarf from last year to light scarves like the little cotton ones that Primark sell! Scarves really make an outfit, and sometimes when you can't find a nice top to match something, I'll go for a plain top and stick on a scarf. Easy peasy. 

Then onto music - what is your favourite songs to listen to during autumn?

I don't have favourite songs to listen to during different seasons, to be fair I'm still listening to the same music from approx 5 years ago since I resurrected my old iPod, and whatevers currently in the Topsify Top 40 list on Spotify.. I used to be really good with new music but I just don't have time now, I stick to the classics/mainstream!

What is your favourite perfume during this time of the year?

Oh in my opinion you just can't beat Thierry Mugler's Alien at this time of year.. That really musky scent just sums it up perfectly, it's nice and strong and distinctive, so even if you're wrapped up in approx 10 layers you can still smell it and recognise it instantly!

Which candles will you be burning this season?

I'll be pulling out my Yankee Candle giftset that I got last year and burning the ones I haven't got through yet and going out to repurchase the Salted Caramel one, it's just so good, you can't beat that filling up a room!

What do you love most about autumn?

I love the anticipation that it's almost winter? I feel like Autumn is just the prequel to winter, and it generally goes by in a flash! I also love it because it's my birthday during Autumn (October 15th - a week to go!) so I'm always usually quite excited! I'm not looking forward to turning 22 this year so it's my 21+1 birthday and I'm having lots of different celebrations! I'm sure there'll be pics popping up soon after all the festivities have ended!

Favourite make-up look?

Favourite make-up look of winter has got to be a strong dark lip, particularly a berry but this year I think I'm going to be leaning more towards a dark brown! I've been loving that browny pink lip all summer so this seems like the perfect step forward! The lipstick I'm currently most looking forward to wearing is Illamasqua's Growl which I picked up over the summer and haven't really had the chance to wear yet! I'm also looking forward to getting back into my blushes, I've been rolling with bronzer a lot this summer so I'm gonna step away from the bronzer, embrace the paleness and pick up my blushes again :) 

What are you looking forward to most this year?

Well I'm looking forward to heading off to Switzerland with work at the end of October for training (exciting!!) and just continuing to work hard at my job! This year is really important to me and I really want to get as much out of it as possible so I really am busting a gut to work hard! Also, I've got 3 and a half weeks at home for Christmas as I'm working from home so it'll be really good to work but get to see my family too! All very exciting but I'm just looking forward to taking each day as it comes and seeing what life throws at me next!

Hope you enjoyed reading this!
I tag everyone to take part if you read this! 

Leave me the link to your response when you've finished!

Thanks for reading xxx

The British Tag!

Evening guys!

Hope you've all had a lovely week! It's been so warm in Gatwick, like 30 degrees! And as a result it's currently thundering massively outside my house and I don't like it!!

I was tagged by the lovely Sara at www.simplysara.co.uk to do the British Tag! You previously might have seen this tag over on Lily Pebbles Youtube channel and if you'd like to you can watch it here!

I'm from Northern Ireland, and it can be a little controversial about whether we consider ourselves to be 'British' or not depending on what 'side' we're from! I've been in England for over 2 years now (holy crap!) and I've realised it's so unimportant! I don't like everyone kicking off at eachother, we should all be nice! I enjoy the festivities of both sides, the 12th and 13th of July and St Patricks Day, but it's more to spend time with my friends and family and have fun rather than support some religious piffle I don't even agree with or understand! I think we should take note from the picture below and just all be happy!

1. How many cups of tea do you have a day? + How many sugars?

I genuinely have about 5 cups of tea a day, it's increased a lot since I started in Nestle, the NHW team love a good tea break! I don't always take sugar, in work I don't.. So I look well healthy innit yeah? And when I'm at home I have 1. Or 2 if I'm having a bitchy day haha.

2. Favourite part of your roast?

Roast potatoes!! Roast potatoes are life. There's nothing sexier than a roast potato with crunchy bits of fat on the outside. I pray to the God of roast potatoes for crunchy bits. 

However, when I try to make roast potatoes:

3. Favourite dunking biscuit?

This is actually a hard one! I do love a good biscuit dunking, has to be something that will melt a bit so that usually means chocolatey! Chocolate Hobknobs might be my favourite, I think they just pip Chocolate Digestives to the post. But let's be honest, I'd eat them both. Probably at the same time.  

4. Favourite quintessentially British pastime?

This is a hard one, I don't necessarily know what a British pasttime is, but I've rounded up a few of my favourite things that we do in Britain!!

1 - Animal Traffic Jams

Any city slickers reading this post will probably have never seen the animal in the picture (it's a herd of cows FYI)! They're on their way to the milking parlour (FYI, milk comes from cows just in case you thought it just came in cartons - you'd be surprised!!). Farmers enjoy opening the gates about 5pm, generally when everyone's on their way home from work. If you live in the countryside this is sometimes the most irritating and exciting things that will happen in your day!

2 - Talking about the weather

After working in retail for 4 years, I've learnt a lot - people don't know how to hang clothes up after they've tried them on, Cashmere and Wool are very different things, and that if you feel awkward - you can always return to a conversation about the weather. It's an ice breaker, and strangely everyone appreciates it - you can moan when it's cold, you can moan when it's warm, you can be happy when it's cold, you can be happy when it's warm! It's uniting and it's so typically British!

3 - Obsessing about the Royal Family

Now this may divide people, but a lot of people I know and myself included love the Royal Family! I love the fact that people would queue up and pay insane amounts of money for a plate with the Queen's face on it! When it was the Royal Wedding, everyone was so joyous (maybe because it was an extra day off work - Thanks Kate & Wills!) but it was a uniting time! I love the fact there was street parties to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee - their big moments give us (*read "the commoners") the chance to celebrate and I love it!

5. Favourite word?

My favourite word is 'sweltered'. It's probably a bit more Northern Irish than British but it literally means when the weather (see I told you we always come back to it!!) is so warm you're practically melting a little bit! Check the Urban Dictionary description, that pretty much sums it up!!

6. Favourite cockney rhyme slang?

Cockney Rhyming slang literally confuses me so much, it takes so much for my brain to work it out!! My favourite is probably one I seen someone tweet a while ago, "Wallace and Gromit" which means vomit! That one might be handy after a night out on the town ;-)

7. Favourite sweet

Hmm I don't love sweets, I would always choose crisps over sweets! But probably Wine Gums, probably due because part of me always hopes that if you ate enough of them you'd actually get a little bit drunk! 

8. What would your pub be called?

As everyone probably knows by now, I'm obsessed with owls... If you don't know that, where the heck have you been? So my pub would probably be called something like "The Owl and The Pussycat"! Stolen off quite a well known nursery rhyme I know but imagine the sign below hanging on a post at the side of the road, of course you'd want to stop off and have a bevvie!

9. No.1 British person

It has to be the Queen, she's an amazing woman and still battling on at 88 years of age! She is an inspiration, and reminds me an awful lot of my Granny Quinn, so I think that makes me love her more! She has such good dress sense, she's rocking it out in rainbow colours! If I'm as cute and fashionable as her when I'm 88, I'll be fucking chuffed to bits!

10. Favourite shop / restaurant

Favourite shop: This is hard! I have so many!! Can I have 2? Topshop because it's always one step ahead of a trend, and the handbags and makeup are so nice but Dorothy Perkins as my second because it copies Toppers but it's SO much cheaper!

Favourite restaurant: It's so gluttonnous, it's so naughty, but it's so so nice. It has to be Almost Famous in Manchester, the things that the restaurants come up with are delirious and crazy, but it works. It works so so well. 

 

11. What british song pops into your head?

Anything Oasis. I was raised on it. I seen them live for my 15th birthday and they were amazing! I can put on an album and within seconds it takes me back to staying at my dad's house and being woken up on a Sunday morning at 10am. I'm hoping that eventually Liam and Noel will make up again and tour because only seeing them once is not enough!!

12. Marmite.

I've tried it, and I hated it! Lauren drunkely made me Marmite on toast in first year after a night out and it was rank! It's definitely a love it or hate it and I hate it!! How I felt: 

I absolutely loved this tag! It made me realise how much I love where I live and my nationality!

Definitely think everyone should give it a go! If you do, please leave me a link to it in the comments, I really wanna read more!

Until next time lovelies xxx

21 Questions!

Haaaaaaaailo!

This is just a fun mid-week post, basically I've been itching to write for a few days, but I've got nothing to write about, I still haven't unpacked all my makeup yet (don't read that bit mum, my new room is tidy I swear! :-/ ) and I haven't got time, considering I've only been working for Nestle for two and a half weeks, I've already worked up 6 hours overtime. I am so busy, by the time that I get home I just wanna eat, sleep, watch TV and flop into bed :( 

Dolly Parton was all excited about working 9-5, I can't say I agree with her on that one!

But anywaaaay, I just wanted to do something to bide the time until my newest Latest in Beauty Glamour Edit Beauty Box arrives (hopefully before the weekend!!) so there'll be a new post up on that as soon as it does! Today, I discovered an old friend from school in Northern Ireland blogs too, you can find Sara over at www.simplysara.co.uk :) I was having a nosey through all of her lovely posts and came across a 21 questions tag, which I've now decided to steal - thanks Sara! :)

Soooo, without further ado, let's get started!

Haha, sorry I couldn't resist a cheeky little 50 Cent reference!

Now on to the serious stuff, I promise!

1. Are you named after anyone? 

No I don't think so! I think my mum and dad kind of just decided they liked Rachel and went with it! My little brother is named after Ryan Giggs though, which I find quite hilarious after it turns out he's a bit of a plaaaayaaa. Awks mom & dad, awks. 

2. When was the last time you cried? 

Yesterday evening, I was having a little wobbly, I was exhausted and a little bit homesick. The price of flights from Gatwick to home for a weekend just pushed me over the edge!

3. Do you have kids? 

No! And they are a loooooong way off. 

4. If you were another person, would you be a friend of yourself? 

Ehhhh, this is awkward, I know I can be quite a bitch so maybe not? But then again, girls generally make friends with people who dislike the same things/people as they do.. So maybe I'd be my own bestie!

5. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Yes! A lot, it's really part of our culture though, everyone is sarcastic and it's accepted, I have a Northern Irish lecturer at uni and everyone actually presumes he's a little bit rude because he's so sarcastic, but it's typical Northern Irish sense of humour! 

6. Will you ever bungee-jump? 

Hell to the no. Heights? Relying on a giant elastic band to save my life? No!

7. What’s your favorite cereal? 

Frosties! Oh hi, I'm a nutritionist. 

8. What’s the first thing you notice about people? 

It differs depending on gender! On guys: eyes, smile, shoes, hair. On girls: eyebrows and what they're wearing!

9. What is your eye colour? 

It's weird, they change, sometimes blue, sometimes brown, sometimes green? weird. 

10. Scary movie or happy endings? 

Happy endings! I don't like films very much, I hardly ever watch them! But I would never watch a horror, ever. 

11. Favorite smells?

Freshly brewed coffee, fresh cut grass, the smell of my mum's Irish Stew cooking!

12. Summer or winter? 

I change my mind everytime, I love winter clothes and being able to snuggle up in Uggs and jumpers, but I love the atmosphere that summer brings, everyone is so happy when it's sunny!

13. Computer or television? 

Probably TV? I prefer watching stuff on TV rather than on my laptop, I don't really know why haha. 

14. What’s the furthest you’ve ever been from home? 

Californiaaaaaa, Los Angeles! But that was in 2001 so a longggg time ago! Needa start saving for a proper adventure after placement or whenever I graduate!

15. Do you have any special talents?

The only thing I can claim is that I can memorise a hell of a lot of rap songs, and remember ALL the words! That's about it, I'm useless haha. But if Einstein had no special talents, it's okay isn't it? ;-)

16. Where were you born?

Craigavon Area Hospital, Northern Ireland.

17. What are your hobbies? 

Shopping, spending time with my friends + family, listening to music, reading blogs, watching Youtube, TV, walking, exploring, travelling! Just the generic things really!

18. Do you have any pets? 

At home with my mum I do! My (almost) 3 year old shih tzu, Harper! She's my baby and I miss her so much when I'm away at Uni :( 

19. Favorite movie? 

Oh hi, still living as a 14 year old girl - MEAN GIRLS.

How much can you quote Mean Girls in one day?

^^^^^

My favourite use of a quote of ALL TIME.

20. Do you have any siblings? 

Yessss, one 'little' brother who's 18 years old and 6ft2 and everyone presumes he's my boyfriend. *sigh*

21. What do you want to be when you grow up? 

A nutritionist or a Home Economics teacher hopefully! But maybe we'll reassess that after a year at Nestle! If all else fails, maybe a princess? ;-)

Anywaaaaay, that's me in 21 questions!

Hope you enjoyed reading and if you have any more questions you'd like me to answer please leave them in the comments below!

Thanks for reading :-* 

xxx