Month In Review

Happy Leap day guys! Hope you had fun with your 'extra day' this year, and it was a goodun'. This month seems to have gone by so quick for me personally, I can't believe it!
Highlights have included my stationery collaboration with Paperhaul, getting a new phone (because who doesn't love that?!), being on the cover of Love From magazine (yay!), going the movies with friends, buying the cutest new outfit, working with some amazing brands and hanging out with Gary. The weeks go by so quickly and I wish I had more time to sit back and take things a little slower sometimes!
Gracing my sidebar we've had the most amazing collection of advertisers. These guys have truly been a pleasure to get to know, and to have. Firstly we have Fiona, who has always been a pleasure, but especially this month! Chatting with her and having that support has been so lovely. Then there's Holly who I consider to be one of my all time blogger BFF's now. She gets my weird/twisted humour, doesn't judge, and is a huge Leo fan too. I like her a lot. Kelly is someone I've talked to and admired for a long time, and it's amazing to see her blog grow and develop. She's a babe I someday hope to meet. Matt's the only male in my sidebar this month, which automatically earns him a crown I reckon. He's an amazing lifestyle blogger & I'm so glad to have featured him this month. Jasmine was blogging about cat videos during the month and I had to say this made me love her even more. It's also been a pleasure to have Sam in my sidebar and get to know her more! Her blog is a little of everything which I adore. Kirstie's blog has become one of my faves this month! She's a perfect example of why advertising can be so good. It helped me get to know her and her blog and I've fallen head over heels! Her photos are GOALS. Lis is another angel who has graced my sidebar and left me a huge fan! I'm so glad to have this girl (her content is amazing!). And finally we have Livvy who has written about some great stuff this past month, like not drinking.

It's fair to say I've spent more time reading blogs this month. I've enjoyed sitting down and getting lost in someone's little online world, it's so cool. 
Downsides to the month..? Probably just not getting much time 'off' as always haha. Must try harder...

How did February go for you guys?

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5 Tips For Long Distance Relationships

Hi guys, I hope you're having a great weekend so far. I'm feeling pretty motivated and inspired right now, so I'm hoping that feeling is here to stay! A lot of you already know of my boyfriend Gary (he's usually that weirdo in my Snapchats with me!) and some of you may already know that he's originally from Plymouth. When we first met he still lived down south, and with myself here in Liverpool it was impossible to date 'normally', and so we had to get creative. We did long distance for the first 18 months of our relationship, which is pretty impressive I think. Especially because we did it as a new couple, not an already deeply committed relationship that then deals with long distance. So yeah I'm pretty proud of us to be honest, and I think we did brilliantly considering the challenges. So I thought today I'd share with you my top tips for doing long distance successfully. Now obviously I can only speak from my own experiences, but I hope this might help one or two of you if you are currently going through this. It doesn't have to be the worst thing ever! :)

The Power Of Blogging And Social Media

Writing has always been an escape for me. An experience of pure joy, honesty, relief or inspiration. Ever since I was a little girl who would get carried away writing stories in school, to feel so proud when the teachers would tell me how imaginative they were, to hear them read aloud to the class as examples; writing has always been a good thing to me. A necessary and wonderful thing which shaped me into who I am.
With the technological developments that have happened since I was much younger, and sharing your writing with the world being such a normal thing now, it was kind of obvious that I'd delve into blogging I guess. And as much as I love it, even more than ever; today I wanted to talk about some of my worries about writing.
I don't have anywhere near the audience of some people, obviously. I'm just a girl from Liverpool who sometimes has some people follow her and keep up with her blog posts. I know that, I just needed to say that before I go into this next part okay? I'm not trying to suggest I'm some bloody superstar over here, LOLZ. But lately, I'm more aware of what I write about, and the people who are viewing these words all across the world. I was recently featured in my local paper, and my old co-workers got in touch with me to say they'd seen it. I share my blog posts on my Facebook, where family and friends can click and visit this blog any time they like. I have almost 10,000 people following me on Twitter, and almost 5000 on Instagram. When a new blog post goes live and I promote it on these social accounts, I can see the numbers going up. I can almost feel the eyes on my blog in those moments.
This is a fantastic and amazing thing, something that continues to inspire me. After all, it's what I want... isn't it?

Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Blush Palette

Gwen Stefani always reminds me of being a young teen, at a huge high point in her career with No Doubt; I was still at school and I idolised her look. I think the 'Hollaback Girl' video put her in my top 10 women forever. Over ten years later and she's still a huge style inspiration for me. Whether it be an elegant look for an awards show, or a day to day casual look while out and about; she always looks totally ON POINT (I promise to never say anything so lame ever again, but you know what I mean, right?!).
So when I heard she had collaborated with Urban Decay to create a unique collection in her signature styles, I almost tripped over my own tongue from drooling. I was GAGGING for it, basically (that's sure to make Google think I'm writing a well dodgy blog). There have been a few posts on my favourite blogs featuring Gwen's eyeshadow palette and lippies, and I'm keen to get my hands on them for sure.
However when House of Fraser offered me the chance to review something of my choice, I decided to go for the Blush palette, as I haven't seen as much on that as of yet; plus I need more blushers in my life!

First of all; the packaging. While I think the outer packaging looks luxurious in black and gold, the darker shades probably aren't my thing. The palette itself though is AMAZING. A beautiful white casing with gold feature, which is much more up my street. I fell in love looking at it.
The palette itself is made up of six shades of blusher; Cherry, Easy, Angel, Lo-Fi, Hush, OC. Easy, Angel and Hush are shimmers while the other three are matte shades, which gives a good balance for everyone whatever your preference. Personally I can't resist a good shimmer, I do love to glow a little. For the past week I've found myself experimenting, trying out all the shades. My favourites are definitely Cherry and Easy; the more pink tones. However I did find myself loving them all in one way or another. The only shade I probably won't use as much is the 'Lo-Fi'; and only because I think it's a little dark for my skin tone. I could probably get away with using this as an eyeshadow though!
The first thing I noticed when using this palette was the great pigmentation. Seriously, upon first use I had a 'Woah!' moment when I realised I'd picked up too much on my brush and made myself look a little too 'blushing'. The quality is amazing and it's fair to say I wasn't expecting to be so wowed, even though I knew it;d be good. I can see this lasting me a long time because a little goes a long way!
Overall I'm SO happy with this beautiful addition to my collection, and I'll definitely be checking out the other products in the range. I can hear those lippies calling out to me...

What do you guys think of the range? Will you be trying any of it? :) (If you're thinking of it, the blush palette is a truly FAB choice!)

*Post contains PR sample

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The Coffee Table Edit

Happy Tuesday guys! Let's hope the start of the week has been kind to you all. For me it's been a busy one already, but really nice (the girl gang chat last night especially brought a smile to my face!). I've been adding the finishing touches to our flat this week (after a bloody year of living here), with a new TV, a brand new sofa finally arriving this coming weekend, and starting to sort out my office once and for all.  It's starting to feel really homely around here, and I can't wait to give you a whole tour (hopefully) soon. However in the meantime, I wanted to show you some sneak peeks of how I've been updating little parts of our home, and adding small finishing touches to places to give them a little more style, hopefully!
I'll be doing these sort of posts every so often now, and I hope you enjoy seeing snippets of my home and where I live/how I organise things, because I've wanted to do this for so long! :) If that's not your thing, that's fine! However for you other homely geeks out there, today I wanted to chat about my coffee table.

Making Your Blog Photos Stand Out

If you were to ask me what my favourite thing about blogging was apart from actually getting to write and share my thoughts with the world; it would be taking photographs. Over the past 2 years I've learned more about photography from blogging than I ever did when I actually studied Photography at A Level in College. Seriously. And it's been amazing.
At college we learned the basics of how to use different cameras, and how to develop our own images, but I feel that blogging has brought me even more knowledge and passion than my tutors ever did, unfortunately. Blogging has made me want to constantly improve my images and how I can get creative through the lens. I feel I've now learned a few things now that help my images stand out, and really represent me and my blog, even when lost in a sea of other bloggers.
The camera I use for all my blog photos, if anyone is interested; is the Canon EOS Rebel T2I. It's one I've had for years, and I basically stole it from Gary, lol. However it is only in recent month's I've really pushed myself into learning how to use it manually, and I've found it so helpful. Adjusting even the smallest of settings and focusing yourself can really make an image POP.

The Best Week Ever, Giveaway & A Catch Up

GUYS, oh my god we really need a catch up don't we? I feel like I haven't had a chance to sit down and just type and update you lovely readers in the longest time. Maybe a few weeks?! That feels incredibly weird. Sorry, I'll try not to go that long again ;)
I'll start by squealing over how well this week has gone! I get so busy sometimes that I barely have time for a proper night's sleep, to pamper myself or to even hang out with friends. Basically anything good or normal, haha. However this week, amidst the madness of my schedule I managed to indulge in using lots of my recent Lush goodies; like Prince Charming (mmmmm), Unicorn Horn (SO GOOD) and even throwing some Fairy Dust all over myself for extra fairy princess feels. It felt really good to even just take an hour to relax and think of myself to be honest.
I also finally went and got my thumb tattoos, which I've been wanting for at least 2 years! I'm so incredibly happy with how they turned out, and they didn't even hurt! I already have another finger tattoo, which I got years ago; but I remember that one being super painful. So I was really surprised on Wednesday when I got a moon and planet tattoo on each of my thumbs, and it felt completely fine!