The Liebster Award pt. 2

Hiii, so this is the follow up to the first part of my Liebster Award!

I felt like it was going to be a very long post I thought it would be better to split it and make it more enjoyable!

Lets get started:

My Questions from Megan:

1. If you could be any animal, what would you be and why?

This one is easy for me, an owl! I love them, fully obsessed! I think they're just beautiful, so wise and majestic. To me they feel like animals with power, and that's what I'd want to be like! Powerful & wise!

2. Heels or flats?

I'm definitely more of a flats girl, I love nice pumps and sandals, and I'm obsessed by trainers! I do like to wear heels too though, it's a lot girlier and you do feel so classy! And this is good life advice:

3. What book are you reading right now?

I've bought 'The Fault in Our Stars' and 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' to read! I've read TBINSP before, and it broke my heart.. So honestly I don't even know why I bought it again to put myself through the horror and emotion! 

4. What blog inspired you to start your own?

Easy peasy, my lovely bestie's blog http://beccasbeautyspot.blogspot.co.uk/, she's my best friend, my wifey and my soulmate all rolled into one. This gal keeps me sane, and as well as being my everything, she's so bloody talented with a set of makeup brushes, and some props. My girl is gonna go far!! Inspires me everyday. Pictures are below are of her work for a photoshoot for uni, I was a mugging victim - how amazing and realistic is it??

 

5. What celebrities would you invite to your birthday party?

The whole Kardashian family and extended fam (i.e. Scott, Kanye, French Montana etc), Eminem, Calvin Harris, Snoop Dogg, Tyra Banks, Jim Parsons, Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting.. It would be a strange mix of people! But they all interest me so much in different ways so I'd love to get to talk to them all!

6. If you could change your name, what would you call yourself?

Holy moly, I'd probably revert to my middle name which is Louise, I think I suit my names so I don't know if I could decide on another!!

7. Guily pleasure?
I shouldn't do it, and I haven't done it in a loooong time because it's just SO bad. But eating a whole tube of pringles in one. Yes I'm a disgusting mess. (p.s do it with salt and vinegar flavoured ones and you'll numb your whole mouth - it's like being at the dentist haha)

8. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? 

My weight, for sure my weight. I'm working on it, unfortunately relationships are very tempting to let yourself go, which is fine when you're with that person.. But when you're not, you feel rubbish! I'm working on it though in a healthy way, hence no more full tubes of pringles ;-)

9. What is your favourite quote?

"A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor" - even when you're having a bad day, there's always something you can learn to better yourself and to try and be better in that situation if it ever happens again!

10. Describe your dream holiday.

Going across America in an open top car with the wind blowing in my hair with my friends around me. That would be ideal!!

11. How long have you been a blogger and what do you love about it?

I've been blogging for just about a year and a half now (since Feb 2013)! I love it because you can just come home, ramble a few words out and clear your brain. I can't sleep when my head is full so I feel like this is a good recycling ground for me!

Check out the previous post HERE to see who I nominated and what questions I asked them! 

Thanks for reading! xxx

The Liebster Award pt. 1

Evening guys!

I opened my inbox the other day and seen I'd received new comments on a blog post of mine, (always exciting) and when I clicked into it I seen I had been nominated for the Liebster Award not once, but twice by Sara and Megan! Now I can't lie.. I'd never heard of this before! So I did a little rooting around and discovered this is an award that bloggers give to other bloggers to find out more about them and share their favourite blogs with other people! I think this is SUCH a nice idea, the thought of it even put a smile on my face on a busy Thursday morning in the office! Thank you so much Sara and Megan! You can follow Sara on Blogger and on Bloglovin :) and Megan on Blogspot and on Bloglovin!

This was going to be a pretty long post so my questions from Megan will be going up in a separate post which you can find HERE:

The Rules (every set I've seen are different so this is what I'm rolling with!):

1. Thank the blogger that nominated you!

2. Answer the questions they sent you (down below!) 

3. Nominate 11 bloggers to answer your set of questions! (less than 250 followers)

4. Contact them and let them know they've been nominated!

My Questions from Sara!

1. Who would you say is your style icon?

This is actually tricky, I don't necessarily have a style icon, I have girl crushes on a lot of peoples fashion, but style icons like Cara Delevigne, Kate Moss etc are thin.. And I'm not particularly thin! Everything they wear looks AMAZING but it would never look anywhere like that on me! I wear quite a mismatch of styles and trends too, so I don't think I have one particular style icon per say? So I can't really answer! 

2. What is your favourite place to travel to or visit?

Before I moved to England, I probably would have said Spain for a holiday! But now I really appreciate going home and getting to experience the absolutely (mostly) gorgeous place that we live in! When I went home in April with Lizzie we went to the Giant's Causeway and I really enjoyed it! You don't necessarily appreciate things when you're around them all the time!

3. Your top blogging/makeup tips.

Top blogging tip: Do it because you want to do it! So many people blog now because they want to be the next Zoella and get really rich from it, which of course would be lovely! But it's not realistic for anyone that has a full time job and is busy! I really enjoy blogging now that I can come home do it and relax! 

Top makeup tip: DON'T SLEEP IN YOUR MAKEUP. I know it's so easy to come home from a night out when you're a liiiiittle bit worse for wear, but take 5 minutes, rub a wipe across your face and at least try to get it off! Your skin will thank you for it I promise!

4. Your favourite high street foundation?

Without a shadow of a doubt, Rimmel Wake Me Up. I love it, I love it's slight shimmer and I even love the smell. My favourite high street foundation for sure :)

5. Do you have any pets?

At home, yes I have my almost 3 year old shih tzu Harper. And at the house I'm living at now, my landlady has two more dogs called Narla and Milo, so I don't miss Harper just as much as I did last year!

6. What is your occupation?

Officially, I'm Nestle's Corporate Student Nutritionist :)

7. Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I would hopefully like to be a Home Economics teacher somewhere in the world, but who knows, I might stay in industry if I enjoy this placement, you never know! Leave it up to fate!

8. Favourite high street shops?

Dorothy Perkins, Primark, River Island (sometimes) and Topshop for a good old splurge!

9. Do most of your close friends/family know about your blog? Where you embarrassed to start with?

Most of my friends and family know! I wasn't really that embarrassed, Becca had been doing it for years so I knew what to expect :)

10. What made you start writing?

I got bored one day in my flat in Manchester and then put fingers to keyboard.. It was history!

So the people I nominate are:

(I've went off their bloglovin' follower count by the way!)
beccasbeautyspot.blogspot.com

bowbombshell.com
fandoms-made-fabulous.blogspot.com

gloss-aholic.blogspot.com

newmoderndamsel.blogspot.com

theperksofbeingsharna.blogspot.com

socksandsparkless.blogspot.co.uk

purelybeingher.blogspot.com

peacelovevintage.com

emmehurr.blogspot.co.uk

scolvinbeauty.blogspot.com

And my questions for my nominee's are..

PLEASE NOTE: THESE ARE NOT THE ACTUAL QUESTIONS. Just incase...

1. What did you want to be when you 'grew up'?

2. What's your guiltiest make-up pleasure?

3. What is your evening relaxing routine if you have one?

4. What made you start blogging?

5. If you had £100,000, what would you spend it on, and why?

6. Have you got any pets?

7. (Random one!) did you watch Blackfish? What did you think of it?

8. Do you like face wipes or do you prefer a real cleanser?

9. What's your overall life ambition?

10. If you were Prime Minister and could make up one new law, what would it be and why?
11. What 3 celebrities would you have afternoon tea with and why?

Thank you for the nomination Sara and Megan and hope everyone else enjoys the Liebster Award!

xxx

Life Update!

Afternoon lovelies!

Soooo, I'm on the 2 week countdown until I start my 1 year student placement at Nestle! I'm joining the team as a Student Nutritionist in their Confectionery and Food departments and I am SO excited! It's the opportunity of a lifetime and I feel completely blessed to have got the position!

I'm moving to Gatwick (which is Nestles UK headquarters) so I'll be leaving Manchester for London! I'm living half an hour out of the city (approx!) but I still feel like I'm gonna be in the big smoke! London is one of my favourite places in the world, I love the atmosphere, I love the buzz and I love the tube! 

People say that they find Londoners very rude and unhelpful, but it's one of the things I kind of love about the place! I like the whole 'fend-for-yourself' attitude, it teaches you to cope alone, and that's something I'm really trying to teach myself at the minute.. It's OKAY to be ALONE. I'm single, and I'm enjoying not being tied down to anything.. I think the two pictures below really sum it up quite well!

So, next Sunday, my mum, my brother and my little Clio will be setting off towards Scotland and then travelling to London, with a little stop off in Manchester to pack up my stuff and take my brother to the Manchester Metropolitan University open day! He's 18 and in September he'll be applying for University, not sure where he wants to go yet but he's definitely considering across the water! He said something the other day which is super true for people from Northern Ireland - they tend to stay at the two universities in Northern Ireland, either Queens or University of Ulster! 

Ryan turned around to me and said "It's a 3rd of the price of going across the water, but you only have a third of the opportunity!" - as a big sister (even though he's 6ft2 and everyone thinks I'm the youngest) it made me proud! It's not easy going away to uni, but honestly moving across the water has been the best thing that's ever happened me! I was a homebird that cried for my mum when I was a Scout and we drove 20 minutes away for an overnight camp! Going away has cut the apron strings, I'm independent, I don't like relying on my parents anymore or anyone else for that matter! Things can be difficult, but the below saying in the picture really sums it up for me - if somethings easy, you never work for anything, or learn anything from it! And thats why 'A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor' is my motto in life'!

Just wanted to do a little life update as I'm probably gonna be quite absent over the next wee while, I'm gonna be working hard and adjusting to a full 9-5 life, unfortunately retail and it's unpredictable shifts don't really set you up for that kind of lifestyle!

Thank you to anyone that reads my blog, I really appreciate it - it's nothing amazing but I do love blogging whenever I have the time and I hope you all like reading it :)

Lots of love guys and girls!

xx

Busy weekendzz!

Hellllllooo guys!

I have had the most JAM-PACKED weekend of my life in a long time! It's now Sunday and I'm in come down mode and feel so zonked out! (Apologies if zonked isn't even a real word!)

On Friday my best friend and I went to Tennents Vital, a 3 day festival that takes place in Belfast at Boucher Road playing fields! The line up was Tommy Trash, Naughty Boy, Rudimental, Tinie Tempah and the headliner was Avicii!

It was a great night and all the acts were AMAZING! But Tinie Tempah was definitely my highlight, the man is beautiful! 

I didn't get a full photo of my outfit, but I wore a baseball top from h&m, high waisted shorts from Primark, suspender tights by Henry Holland (which laddered before I left the house TYPICAL!) and black and purple nike hightops.. Which are now brown from the mud.. Lovely ;-)

Here's a few snaps from Friday!  

On Saturday my mum and I were at a wedding of one of her colleagues! The wedding took place in St Macarten's Cathedral in Monaghan, and it was a beautiful setting for the wedding! The sun was shining and the bride looked GORGEOUS! 

I did my makeup myself, and I'm wearing MAC's Magenta Liner on my lips and Eylure's 400 lashes! I love over the top lashes! I have tiny eyelids so it's the only thing that adds definition to myself! I got my hair done by my hairdresser, she used GHD's and lots of hairspray to get the waves into my hair! And if anyone's noticed, I'm going blonde! I got loads of blonde in on Friday morning, and will be continuing to go this direction.. blondes DO have more fun! ;-)

My mums dress was from Debut in Debenhams and I think she looks gorgeous! She's my best friend and I love to see her looking gorgeous.. She even wore false eyelashes for the first time! Proud!!

My dress is from the Billie and Blossom range in Dorothy Perkins! I love the bright orange colour! The belt is from Dorothy Perkins, the shoes from Topshop, handbag from New Look and my necklace is from a discount jewellery store in Belfast called Muse! 

It was a lovely day and it was so good to be part of the wedding! The bride and groom looked so happy and in love!! Weddings always make me emotional, I cried at the bride walking up the aisle! 

I've had a busy weekend and have never been so glad to spend a whole day in bed today! It's my friends 21st birthday on Monday so more partying is to come!! 

Hope you enjoyed this more personal post!! 

Talk soon darlings! 

xxx

Radio 1's Big Weekend - Londonderry/Derry

Hiiiiiiiiii!! 

I've had the most amazing weekend, I've been at Radio 1's Big Weekend ... Wooo!!

Me and my best friend Becca were lucky enough to get tickets for the Friday and the Saturday and it was amazinnnng! Friday was more dancey and R'n'B focused, which are my favourite types of music so it was perfect for me :)

Saturday was more poppy and rocky, not my fave's but there were still some amazing acts on!

On Friday we seen... Katy B, Maverick Sabre, J. Cole, Wiley, Dizzee Rascal and Calvin Harris! All of them were amazing, and Calvin Harris was an amazing headliner! He played such a good set and the atmosphere was unbelievable!! Everyone was so hyped up to see him! Dizzee Rascal was great as well, he even brought Robbie Williams with him to play his new song.. SO GOOD! :)

You can see a little bit of Calvin Harris's set in this video on my facebook... Calvin Harris - I Need Your Love ... Apologies for the crap quality!

The acts we managed to catch on Saturday were ... Kodaline, The 1975, Kendrick Lamar, The Saturdays, Ellie Goulding, Labrinth.. And my favourite act of the two days.. IGGY AZALEA! I am bordering on obsessed with her, she's got the most beautiful body and she's just perfection to me! 

The picture quality is terrible and I apologise for that! I was dancing too much to get a decent picture! She's got such an amazing body! And her outfit was unbelievable!!

The weekend was amazing and we stayed in the most gorgeous hotel.. Such a comfy bed to relax in after such a packed Friday!! Here's a few photos of my outfit choices for the weekend :)

• Dress - River Island - This dress was £20 when I bought it down from £35.. Now it's £10! Bargain :) Especially as it comes with an attached necklace! 

• Bagpack - Primark - This was £9.. So much handier than having to carry a handbag, this little beauty was going nowhere!

• Denim Shirt - New Look - I got this for Christmas so it's gone off the website and I can't remember how much it was :( 

• Rings - A mix of Primark rings and River Island midi wishbone rings!

• Playsuit - Primark - This was £5! Such a cheapie and such a pretty pattern!

• Denim Shirt - Same as before!

• Belt - Primark - £3! Another cheapie and so similar to the style being sold in Urban Outfitters for a hell of a lot more!

• Necklace - Topshop - Sale bargain at a fiver! As you can tell I'm a big fan of the cheapies haha.

• Bracelets - Internacionale - £1 each! 

• Shoes - Primark - Converse style high tops for £7! I don't see the point of paying £42 for the real things when I'm gonna wear them out and ruin them! I can have 6 pairs of these for the price of 1 real pair!!

• Tights & Frilly Socks - Primark - Socks were £1.50, and they're identical to Topshops version! Tights are £3 for 3 pairs!

The weather stayed dry on Friday thankfully but the heavens opened on Saturday evening... At exactly the same time as Labrinth was singing 'Let the sun shine'!! Too ironic! We were well prepared with our raincoats and hats, nothing was ruining our weekend :) We danced in the rain and just enjoyed it!! My hats from eBay and was super cosy and warm :)

One last picture, we were lucky enough to bump into the lovely guys from Kodaline in the crowd when we were watching the 1975! They were so nice and more than happy to pose for a photo! They chatted away to us, and we walked past them a few more times during the night and they always gave us a wave!! Hopefully we'll see them in concert again soon because they were sooooo nice!!

We were filmed by the BBC dancing into the crowd for a montage going out on Friday (31st May) ... Keep an eye out, you might see Becca and I on TV! One step closer to being famous ;-)

Chat soon guys!

Rachel, x

Outfit Of The Night! Summer drinks :)

Helllooooooooo!

Last Friday, we were actually blessed with some summer type weather! It was warm, well above 10 degrees so I decided to break out a few summer pieces! I was going round to my friends for some pizza and drinks, so wanted to make a bit of an effort! :)

My outfit was basically all from Primark! I know people can feel that Primark is cheap and badly made.. But for items I'm gonna wear a few times during the season I don't mind not having the best quality! Cheap and cheerful is the way forward for any fashion addicted student, there's no way you can afford to rock Topshop or Zara every day!

• My trousers were £9! Absolute bargain and I'm in love with the pattern on them! 
• The crop top was £3, you can't say no to that! I bought it in a fluorescent pink as well but it was just a little early to break out that colour haha. I'm no skinny minny and I know crop tops can look a little dodgy on those on the bigger side of the clothing scale but the trousers were pretty high waisted so I felt I could get away with flashing just a hint of skin! 
• The necklace is ancientttttt and has been floating around in my wardrobe for at least 3 years! It was a bargain, £1 from Dorothy Perkins! I never buy full price jewellery, it doesn't stay in style long enough to spend loads of money on it, I'm a sale junkie!!
• I teamed this outfit with my favourite Dorothy Perkins wedged trainers! Another sale bargain at £15, and I've worn them to death! So comfy but yet give a nice bit of height :)
• I also stuck on my sleeveless denim jacket just for a slight bit of extra protection against the evening chill! This is a Topshop bargain and I think it was £15, such a steal :)

It was the first time seeing my friends since I got my hair done so I was looking forward to showing off a bit ;-)
My makeup was my basic look, strong eyebrows, nude eyes, lots of mascara and my new favourite lipstick! It's MUA's Shade 3, and in my opinion it's a complete dupe for Topshop's Brighton Rock that I posted about last week.. And the best thing is, it's £1!! A gorgeous bright pink, that unfortunately this pic doesn't do justice to! I'll have a blog post coming up on my recent MUA purchases that I'll share soon!

Hope you enjoyed this little outfit post, hopefully I'll be able to do a few more soon :)
Happy Sunday guys :)
Rachel. x

Topshop Lips Wishlist!

Helloooo everyone!

Exams are DONE! Yayyyy! They went well, I think I've managed to at least pass them all which means I'm not gonna be worrying until results day (which is the 28th of June for me!)

I'm finally home in Northern Ireland for the summer! 10 hours on a bus/boat was a loooong journey but I had my boyfriend at least so it wasn't too bad! Definitely was a weird experience though!

Ever since Zoella talked about Topshop lipsticks about a year ago I've been interested in them.. I thought they would be typical fashion shop makeup items & not much use.. But when I bought Nevada (a creamy nude) I was totally proved wrong! They're a gorgeous consistency and so easy to apply! And a steal at £8! They have a high end formula at a drugstore price point! 

I've also now become the proud owner of Innocent, a very light pink in a creamy texture & Hazard which is a matte dark red lipstick that I LOVE. Both of these lipsticks are actually still available on www.topshop.com so go have a nosey!

Now onto my wish list! I tried Brighton Rock on my hand a few weeks ago and fell in lurveeeee but tried to restrain because my makeup spending has been slightly extravagant the past little while! But now I just can't thinking about that gorgeous bright pink shade! I've been trying to be more adventurous with my lips, and I think a bright pink is just what I need! 

Next on my hotlist is Jewel! Jewel is a pH controlled bright orange which reacts with the natural pH of your lips to give you your perfect shade of orange! I seen Megs from Wonderful You talking about the Barry M pH adjusting lipstick which is pink, but after discovering topshop's version I'm more likely to try them because of the wider colour range! The pH adjusting lip tints are £9, which is double the price of the Barry M one, but I already own so many pinks I think I'd rather spend the money on a daring orange! 

Finally on the lipstick front is The Damned, a gorgeous dark plum/purple shade! You can see from a few posts back I bought Kontrol from Illamasqua, and I'm well and truly obsessed with it! I've worn it on every night out since & even during the day! The thing I'm most surprised about is that my boyfriend loves it and he's not usually a fan of me wearing heavy makeup! I fancy another purpley toned lipstick and at £8, half the pice of the Illamasqua one I'm certainly tempted to give it a try!

My last potential purchase from the makeup department in Topshop is a lip liner! I'm quite of a fan of a matte lip, after figuring or how to sort my dry, chapped lips (LUSH's lip scrub & Korres lip butter) so I'm definitely intrigued on wearing a full lip liner as a lip look! These lip liners are only £5 each and I find that pretty acceptable price wise! This is a dark red liner & I think it would look amaze with my Hazard lipstick! 

 

One final, amazing point with shopping at topshop is the student discount! It's only 10% but ultimately every little bit makes a difference, especially when it's so difficult to shop at places like Superdrug because you can't get discount without an NUS cars! But Topshop let you use your Unidays account for the discount which is much easier and FREE!

So, the question is... Which should I purchase? Just one? Two? Or them all? 

Let me know! 

Chat soon m'dears!

And if anyone has upcoming exams or assignment hand in dates... GOOD LUCK! 

Rachel xxx 

New purchase!

Me and my boyfriend went shopping today in Belfast city centre, and after a lot of deliberation over different colour lipsticks.. I decided on a gorgeous purple lipstick from Illamasqua!

The girls on the counter in Debenhams weren't very helpful, so I totally wasn't sure if the colour was going to suit me, but I was brave and took the plunge anyway!

This shade is called 'kontrol' and I absolutely love it! It's a nice bluey purple, which is easily layered up on the lips to make a really deep shade of purple!

It also fades away to a lovely shade.. Some lipsticks I find fade and look like you might have some kind of strange lip disease! But this turns into a nice pinky hue on the lips!

This lipstick was £16, which to me is quite steep! But I've been wanting one for ages and I decided it was time for a treat!

Have you tried any Illamasqua lipsticks? What's your opinion on them? Are they too expensive for what the product is? Let me know!

Chat soon my lovelies!
Rachel xxx

My first MAC experience..

Being a bit of a lagger-behind in the makeup department until about my £19th birthday I've only really started thinking about making 'investment purchases' in the beauty department!

So after watching 10 million YouTube videos and hearing other people's comments I decided to give MAC a try!

I bought the Studio Finish Concealer in shade NW15.. Got it in the lightest shade as I wanted something that would lighten underneath my eye and make me stop looking like a zombie/other ghoulish creature.

So far I really like it, and I think it's working! My undereye circles are nowhere near as bad as they had been! Combining this with the Collection 2000 much raved about concealer is working wonders for me!

I also bought the Mineralize Skinfinish Natural Powder in shade 'light plus' and I absolutely love it! Definitely the nicest powder I've ever used in my lifey! Good recommendation by my bestie @BeccasBeautySpot (hope that link works)!

Definitely impressed by MAC so far and I have another delivery of products coming to my door next week.. Someone take my bank card off me before I completely blow my student loan!

Hope this has made any make-up worriers like myself perhaps make the plunge into the world of MAC :)