Month: Nov 2020

Maintaining A Long Lasting Relationship In 6 Steps

ifyouseerachel3 Comments

Now before we get started, I am NOT claiming to be any sort of advice guru that knows everything about every relationship ever, nor do I know the secrets of living happily ever after. However, I’ve been with my boyfriend for nearly 4 years now, which I know is a long time for some and a shorter time for others, but over these years we’ve been through ALOT together. I think I’ve learnt what it takes to make a relationship work and have helped out a lot of couples along the way to work out if they are in the right one. SO you lucky loved up (or not) lot, I’ve gathered a list to pin point once and for all what you need to do to make a relationship work or if its time to leave and find love elsewhere.

1. Communication

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Going straight into the deep end first off with the big C, communication. I feel a lot of partners struggle with this especially in these days of technology, social media and texting. Bottom line, TALK TO EACHOTHER. It could be something as simple of discussing what you’re having for dinner or big future plans. Keep your partner in the know.

If there’s something that is bugging you or you feel you’re upset about a certain thing that they said or did, don’t stay silent and be petty about it, or worse let it build up in your mind. Simply say to you’re partner “hey can I speak to you about something quick” or just be up front and ask them straight out. It may be confusing or upsetting for them at first, but they’ll 100% appreciate you having a discussion about it. Especially when it comes to arguments or disagreements, try sort it out as quickly as possible, and most of the times its all a big misunderstanding or not seeing their point of view. Discuss with each other your plans for the day and keep them in the know, or maybe even at the end of the day tell them how your day went. These simple conversations can really build strength in a relationship and its a great way to bond and learn how to listen to each other. It shows you care enough about that person to learn about the ups and downs of their day and how it effected them.

It isn’t always about what you communicate either, it can also be HOW you communicate. Yes instant messaging/texting is quick and easy for them simple conversations, but when it comes to important discussions or arguments oh my god DO NOT TEXT! Messages can be read in completely different tones and come across differently. So lets say your having a small argument with your s.o, you could read something as being rude in your head, but in theirs they didn’t mean this, which would anger you more and only escalate the situation un necessarily. The best way is just to either call each other or meet up face to face, get it all out in the open and be done with it. None of this silly ignoring messages or leaving them on read.

2. Manage Your Time With Each Other

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Ahh yes “time management”. Something you would expect to write about on your CV or boast about during a job interview. But time is also a very important factor in relationships too, and it’s mostly about getting the right balance of time, together with your partner and apart.

Whatever your situation may be, we all have lives and stuff going on, which could either be work, school or various other commitments. So I can fully understand sometimes when it can be hard to find time for each other. I experienced this in the second year of my relationship with my boyfriend when I changed jobs, with very long hours and only weekends free (and he wasn’t really available all day at weekends). This was very tough for us and I eventually left this job (for other reasons I wont go into) but we did find our way around this.

The best way to find time with each other with busy schedules is to really stick to a plan for when you can see each other. Even if its for a small hour or so, this hour will make all the difference when it comes to spending more time together. Plan dates in advance, organise time off work at the same time so its something to look forward to and also a great opportunity to plan a holiday together. For a really simple fix is, if your comfortable with this, stay round at each others for the night for various days in the week, doesn’t have to be everyday just enough to get that connection we all need sometimes for when you are sleeping. I am lucky enough to have a new job now that is very flexible and they allow me to take every Monday off , which is the same day my bf has off. This is really great for both of us, because I always know no matter how busy I am in a week, I always have that whole day to spend with him.

I know I’ve blabbered on enough about finding time to see each other, but it’s also really important to find time for yourself as well. Yes I know they may be the love of your life and you just really want to spend every second with them blah blah, but you need to give each other space. Go see other friends and family, have solo shopping days or go to gym on your own. Just always try to have that healthy balance of you time and together time. It’s also very attractive for your other half seeing you as this independent person with their own life and plans. (Also a p.s for the girls/guys with male partners, withholding information from them about plans for your day and what your doing can really drive them crazy, in a good way. If you want him to miss you, give him that time to miss you and he’ll be craving you like mad!)

3. Take Interest In Their Interests

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Whether you share the same interests or not, you should always respect what they enjoy and show that you appreciate this part of them (I mean, unless its something illegal or something idk lol). It can be very attractive to your partner if you sit, listen and learn about something they’re passionate about, it shows you really care about them.

If you share a common interest, GREAT! Thrive with this and use it to make you both stronger as a couple. If its a certain TV show, maybe watch it together, or if its a type of sport go out play together! Sometimes if its a hobby or skill you both share, you can find ways to help improve each other and give feedback that you know is coming from someone you trust. Literally any interest you share you can always find a way to incorporate it within your relationship.

So what happens if your partner doesn’t share the same interests as you, does this matter? Nope. Never shrug these un common interests away and ignore them, just to let them go and get on with it. Instead, build this into a way of finding out more about your partner and show them you really care about something they are passionate about. For example, when I first met my boyfriend he was really into football and supporting his team, something I literally hated at the time and swore I wouldn’t get myself into a relationship with a footie fanatic. Now 4 years down the line, we have matching Man City shirts, I watch the games with him and I also go watch him when he plays for his local team. Still do not have the foggiest idea what the offside rule is and I do tend to fall asleep during some games, but all that matters is that you are tying, and that little bit of effort really means a lot to most people. Even if you’re really not interested in what they’re into, at least give them that time to do what they love and don’t put them down for it.

4. Arguments Are Not The End Of The World

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At the end of the day, something you always have to remind yourself is that we are all human (unless you’re a racoon reading this, hello). We all are entitled to hold our own opinions and feelings and, no matter how dramatic they sound, they are always relevant and should never be ignored. Which does ,unfortunately, mean arguments will happen, and that’s totally okay.

The most important thing to note is that no matter how bad you think an argument may be, if you love this person enough, there is always a way to resolve it. In fact sometimes I think arguments can actually be healthy; it means you’re comfortable enough around someone to express how you feel, or that you care about this person enough to be upset by them. In my own experience, I know that our first year together we had are ups and downs with an argument or two happening every month or so. But we learnt so much about each other during this time. I now know what makes him upset, I learnt how he reacts to certain situations, and most importantly we both know how to resolve these little tiffs quickly. 4 years later, I honestly can’t remember the last time we had an argument and our relationship is stronger than ever.

My biggest advice would be is to never go to sleep on bad terms. We all know that life can throw us into awful situations and you never know what is round the corner. This makes it mega important to resolve your issues quickly and carry on loving each other unconditionally. It also just helps with less stress and anxiety that arguments can cause. I know that if I was to have an argument with my boyfriend, I find it so hard to sleep or even go about my daily routine without him constantly on my mind filled with worry and upset. We have now established this rule to always resolve these upsets before bed, even if its not completely resolved or still a bit meh, at least you know in your mind the next day you did something productive to move past this.

5. Trusting Each Other

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Ah yes, trust, another big one and I honestly believe that no relationship is capable of working without it. And sometimes trust can take a very long time to build, especially if this is a new relationship and their trust has been broken before in previous relationships.

Trust isn’t always about knowing if they’re cheating on you or not, in fact its a lot more then that. Its knowing if they’re going to make it to a date on time, knowing that they’re not bad mouthing you behind your back, feeling like you can confide in them without any judgement. So yeah its a pretty big deal and it’s the key to happiness and comfort in your relationship. Its not just something you can build over night and can take months of knowing each other to see if you have trust in one another, and that’s okay! It doesn’t mean you don’t love them, because of course you do. It just takes time for your brain to recognise these interactions involving trust and building and up a good trust rapport.

So what happens when this trust gets broken? What if they have lied to you about something? Yeah it really sucks doesn’t it and I can tell you we’ve all experienced it before. Especially if you suffer from anxiety, its really hard when you have these un-trusting thoughts swirling around your mind and it can really damper your relationship down. But before you start thinking about bringing this partnership to an end, try to have honest decisions with each other, asking why they did this and explain how much this has hurt you. Give it some time to build this trust up again, even if it means taking a break, and give them that opportunity. Then hopefully like when you first met, this trust comes back gradually with time. But remember, if this is a constant re occurrence of breaking trust and forgiving again and again, this is way too draining for the both of you and it may be worth thinking about bringing the relationship to a close, and finding someone who has all the trust in the word to give.

6. Keep That Spark Alive

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Last but not at all least, keeping that love spark alive. Remember the time when you first met your partner? Remember them first couple of dates and how you had all them butterflies in your stomach? Ah the good o’ days, but just because these moments were all in the past doesn’t mean you still can’t experience these feelings months or years down the line.

Sometimes once you’ve been with someone for so long, it can feel as if you’ve just fallen into a very spark-less relationship, just being with them feels normal and, dare I say, boring. You can easily avoid these dull feelings by reconnecting with your younger selves and do things you would do when you first met. Go on dates to the cinema, bowling or even to where you first met to bring back that fun and excitement you shared. Buy each other gifts “just because”, like flowers, cookies and jewellery to put an un expected smile on their face. Have adventures together, from small walks to travelling the world, a perfect opportunity for alone time together and make them all important memories. And for the bedroom department, don’t have dull, boring sex all the time just to say you’ve done it. Try new things, go to a hotel for the night, dress up and laugh together to bring back that sexual energy you both had in your younger days. All in all, just remember to make each other smile the most you can every day and strive to be the light of their life. Remember why you both fell in love and never forget it.

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And there you have it! I’m no expert but I really do believe these are the key building blocks to create a perfect relationship with your partner. Love is an amazing thing and if you share it with someone, do all you can to keep it.

“No relationship is all sunshine, but two people can share one umbrella and survive the storm together.”

– unknown

Belfast: The Land of Game Of Thrones

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Ah Game of Thrones. Lets face it, I was going to talk about it on my blog sooner or later considering its one of my biggest obsessions and favourite TV shows of all time. So why not start by telling you fellow GOT fans out there about one of my favourite holidays, which was to Belfast in Northern Ireland. The Holiday itself was a gift to me from my wonderful boyfriend for my 21st birthday. We both love the show and was one of the things we both connected with when we first met, so this holiday was perfect not only for me but for the both of us.

“So what does Belfast got anything to do with Game of Thrones?” I here you say, well you may not know but Titanic Studios in Belfast was one of the main filming locations for the show and where most of the important production meetings were held, its main “hub” as you might say. And with its fantastic countryside only being a 20 minute drive from the main city, it was the perfect location to venture out for various filming locations in the show.

If you’re not much of a reader (because I’m fully aware of how much I blabber on) but still want to know what our little Game Of Thrones adventure was like, head over to my Instagram @ifyousee_rachel. Here you can scroll along my highlights and find these and see what I experienced when it happened!

The Exhibition

The moment we hopped off the plane and checked into our hotel, we headed straight out into to the city to hunt for the Game of Thrones Touring Exhibition (looking like absolute trash from my early flight but honestly at this point I was so excited I didn’t even care). We was lucky enough to go in July 2019, just after the season 8 finale, meaning the touring exhibition had arrived in Belfast a few months beforehand and was there until September. We arrived into the Titanic quarter of Belfast city and followed the signs heading towards the exhibition, around the same area as the filming studios. To my surprise once we arrived, right next to the exhibition all fenced off and quite badly hidden, was THE SET still all there, for burnt up Kings Landing and the massive green screen! I was amazed.

Once I had taken a few pictures of the set and the massive exhibition signage, we headed inside! It started with a proffesional photo taken of us in front of a greenscreen, pretending to be on top of Drogon! A group of us all then crammed into one room and watched a small clip highlighting the best bits from the show to get us all hyped up for what was outside the room. The doors then opened and we was let in to view all the amazing costumes and set props from the show! It was honestly so surreal and amazing to see all these beautiful creations up close, knowing they were the exact items and clothing the actors used and wore on set. You didn’t have any time limit on how long you spent in there and you didn’t have to follow a group, which was great to make sure you got to view and take pictures of everything. There was also lots of interactive bits, like getting your face put on the wall of faces and various picture opportunities (I did all of them of course). Andddd finally at the end of the exhibition, there was an AMAZING gift shop where I could of honestly drained my whole bank account but controlled myself and bought a Stark t-shirt and a neat lil stark keyring. Then at the very end, there was another proffesional photo shoot of you sitting on the throne and then a desk to purchase and print your photos (this was an extra cost to buy these but hell it was my birthday and spent ALOT getting them all printed, whoops)

Overall, The Game of Thrones Touring Exhibition was such a great experience and seeing the set outside the entrance was such a lovely little bonus! Below you can take a look at some of the photos I took.

My Pictures from Game of Thrones Touring Exhibition – July 2019

The Tour

On the next day of our holiday, we had no time to have any sort of lay-in, as today was our 11 hour walking tour of a few filming locations in Northern Ireland, including Winterfell’s beautiful location set at a real castle. This tour was also a gift for my 21st birthday, but worked out so well as today was also my boyfriend Jack’s birthday as well! Once we’d opened his birthday presents and got ourselves ready (both wearing stark t-shirts, blue jeans and boots how cringe) we headed out to meet our group at Belfast’s Jurys Inn hotel at 8:15am. Me and Jack in our excitement were one of the first people there and got the front seats on the coach like the eager GOT nerds we are. Once we had all arrived, we were introduced to our tour guide of the day, who was an extra on the show and obviously was a huge fan like the rest of us.

After about an hour on the coach and a short ferry trip, we arrived at Castle Ward, which was the filming location for Winterfell. It started to rain a little bit (typical of Northern Ireland) but I was honestly living the dream knowing I was walking around the same area where all my favourite actors and actresses had been. Out tour guide was so well prepared and had big, laminated photos with him to show you what the location actually looks like compared to what your saw on TV. After our time at Winterfell, we carried on walking around the area to various other filing locations, including the hanging tree, Robb Starks camp and Walder Frey’s twin towers.

It was defiantly time for a quick break to rest our legs and have some lunch, and where better place to go then The Cuan! This was the restaurant and hotel some of the actors stayed at during the filming of the show, as it was so close to the filming locations near by. The owners embraced its relevance to Game of Thrones, displaying pictures and costumes from the show, and even had its own beer called “The Hodoor” and sold “Kings Gold Mead”. Our tour guide quickly called us outside and said he had a surprise for us, and well, he did not disappoint. Outside waiting for us in a small courtyard was the two Direwolf dogs, named Odin and Thor, that played Robb Stark’s wolf Grey Wind and Bran Stark’s wolf Summer. Omgggggg I was in love. Their owner was amazing and let us all take turns taking pictures and stroking them, whilst telling us some amazing stories of what it was like being on set with his puppies. You can check out their Instagram page here to see for yourself how beautiful they are and keep up with their adventures. There were also some other guys there that were also extras on the show, selling lots of merch and painted photos (I of course bought a massive Stark banner which currently hangs on the ceiling above my bed!)

We hopped back onto the coach and headed to our next location “Inch Abbey” where Robb Stark was crowned King of the North. When we arrived, we all got given these hand made Stark cloaks, shields and flags to get fully immersed into our Game of Thrones adventure and took lots of photos which looked awesome! Our tour guide handed around some of the swords from the show and had us guess the names and which character it belonged to (my favourite obviously being Long Claw belonging to Jon Snow). After we had our fun, we headed back onto the coach to our last location Tollymore Forest. A beautiful forest park that covers over 1,600 acers of land and was used to film many key scenes in the show, including where Wills finds the dismembered bodies in the very first scene of the show, Tyrion and Jon’s campfire on their way up north to the wall and where the Starks find there Direwolf puppies. After our very long day, we headed back into Belfast city centre, thanking our tour guide and feeling fully immersed into the Game of Thrones world.

I would fully recommend going on this tour, especially if you’re a fan of the show, but even if you’re not! It’s an amazing way to get to see some of Northern Irelands best scenery and meet some amazing people. It was so well organised and was looked after very well, making sure we all had many toilet breaks, handing out ponchos when it rained and kept us entertained on our long coach journeys. All this for only £45 each which I honestly think is an amazing price for the experience you get. If you would like to also go on this tour, we went of The Winterfell Trek which you can click here to read about OR you can also do The Iron Islands Tour which we haven’t yet done but can read about here.

My Pictures from the Winterfell Trek – Game of Thrones Tour

Belfast City

Now there is a reason why I named this post what it is, because Belfast and Northern Ireland in general truly is the land of Game of Thrones. As soon as you hop off the plane and into Belfast airports, you are welcomed with posters everywhere advertising various tours, experiences and merch all related to the show. I honestly think this is fantastic and our tour guide explained to us how Game of Thrones has changed this country for the better.

Before the show, Belfast was really only ever known for building the Titanic, yes and incredible and famous boat but didn’t really interest most people (and lets be honest it sunk so it can’t of been built very well, oops). But ever since Game of Thrones came to Northern Ireland, tourists from all around the world have travelled here to fulfil their GOT fantasy’s and learn more about the show. This has been FANTASTIC for the tourist industry in Northern Ireland and has created many job opportunities in and around Belfast city. He explained to us that most of the extras from the show are from Belfast and loved their job so much that they didn’t want their Game of Thrones lives to end. This is why most tours and experiences are all lead and managed by these extras, so they can share their love with Game of Thrones with the rest of the world and get to carry on their fantasy.

It seems like every corner you turn in Belfast city, there is always going to be something GOT related about to jump out at you, but one of my favourite parts was a project called “Glass of Thrones”. Dotted all around the city was 6 stained glass windows, beautifully decorated to depict some of the most iconic scenes from Game of Thrones. My favourite being the very last, and most hidden one, The Iron Throne, with a little seat on it to have a photo on! This was such a lovely little touch to the city and really showed how much Belfast appreciated Game of Thrones.

You can also find lots of other Game of Thornes related things in Belfast city, like themed escape rooms, shop window displays selling merch and jewellery, even down to random graffiti saying “jon snow waz ‘here”. We visited the Ulster museum which displayed an iron throne made all out willow, created for the European premier and for final season after party. And if you’re being really adventurous, we went on a hunt to find more set around the Titanic quarter which at the time was all still there and very interesting to look at! Obviously it was all fenced up and hidden, but that didn’t stop me having a little peak through the fences! Another little touch that I love about Northern Ireland is that the created something called “The Journey of Doors” . The filming location for the Kings Road in the show was hit by a storm and some of these trees fell, but they used two of these trees to create 10 GOT themed doors and dotted them all around Northern Ireland pubs. In each of the pubs you can gain a stamp on a little booklet to say you have visited each one. We unfortunately on got to find two as we had a very busy holiday planned out, but if we ever went back to Northern Ireland, this is something I would defiantly like to continue and find them all!

I’m so glad Game of Thrones has made such a positive impact to the tourist industry in Northern Ireland and I really hope this continues even after the show has finished… or has it….

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And here we are again at and end of a blog post. If you really have sat and read this much thank you so much for reading! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my little Game of Thrones Adventure to Belfast and would love for you to visit their too!

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7 Make-Up Products I Use Religiously

ifyouseerachel2 Comments

Personally, I’m not really the type to spend excessively on materialistic things unless it’s really worth it, like make-up for example. And when it comes to make up, its either a quick 5 minute job or a full 2 hour session in front of the mirror, working through sweat, stress and tears to get that perfect going out-out look. But either way, make up is a part of my daily routine and over the years, I have tried and tested a wide variety of brands, from the very cheap to the very expensive.

Today I will be revealing to you all the 7 products that I use EVERYDAY and literally don’t think I could go a day without them in my make-up bag.

1. Nyx Micro Brow Pencil – Shade Brunette

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Now my journey with eyebrow products has been a wild one, and that’s putting it kindly (scroll to 2016 on my insta and you will see brows half the size of my face).  But making the discovery of this product, the NYX Micro Brow Pencil in Shade Brunette has honestly been a GAME CHANGER.

Its thin shape makes application so precise you can draw on fine lines, but the formula is creamy enough to fill in the whole brow. This make up product lasts ALL DAY, with it being smudge and water-proof. And if that wasn’t good enough, it’s double sided! With a small spoolie brush on the other side to help you brush the product through the brows.

Now like everything in life, this brow pencil isn’t perfect. With the width of the pencil being so thin, it means there’s less product and does run out very quickly. It’s also a bit on the pricey side, costing £9/£10 a pencil, which doesn’t sound much at first, but with the little product you get for the price, it does eventually start adding up when you buy them frequently. Lucky for you lot, I’ve worked a way around this. When you buy from Amazon, you have the option to “Subscribe and Save” meaning once you sign up to regular orders of this products, you can save yourself some pennies! Another bonus with amazon is that they are ALWAYS having these random price drops now and again, like recently I got one sent to me for just over £6! So that’s how I do it folks, buy the Nyx Micro brow Pencil on Amazon, get monthly deliveries, save yourself some cash and worry less knowing you’ll always have it in stock

2. Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge

Now this bright orange egg shaped sponge has probably been in everyone’s make up bag at some point in their life. For me, the Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge still remains there all these years after its first launch in 2013, perfect for the application of liquid and powder make up.

If you’re looking for a high quality make up sponge that won’t break your bank, I’ll tell you now this is probably the best and cheapest one you’ll find, ranging from about £5/£6 depending from where you buy it from, but you can save more pennies when you buy them in multipacks! What I love most about this product is its shape, with a rounded side to cover large arears of the face, its pointed tip to get into all the tiny corners and for precise coverage, and finally the flat side, PERFECT for blending out foundation and packing in loose powder. I use this sponge when its slightly damp for a better and smoother application,

Again, nothing is perfect. The only downside to this product I find is how long it lasts, which isn’t very long at all. Within weeks this bright orange sponge, bright enough to replicate Trump, eventually turns into a gross brown shade, so full of product that it turns as hard as a rock and riddled with bacteria. You can wash and care for the sponge all you like, but eventually this will be your outcome no matter how hard you try. But saying this, I do feel for the price you pay for this sponge, it doesn’t hurt to go buy a new one after 1/2 months once it’s got all dirty like all make up sponges do.

3. Maybelline Fit Me! Foundation – Shade 100, 105 & 128

When it comes to this foundation I have two words. CRY PROOF. Yep. For years I have tried and tested a ridiculous amount of foundations, proper expensive ones too, only to realise after a mental breakdown (we all have them xo) you’d have these AWFUL tear lines coming down your face! And for someone who cries an awful lot (I’m a cancer what else would you expect) this is a deal breaker.

To me it just made me think, if a foundation can’t handle a couple of tears, surely this would be the same with oils, rain and sweat? You pay all this money for expensive, fancy make up for it to just slide away off your face, Thankfully I discovered Maybelline Fit Me! Foundation when trying to find a new foundation for my yellow under-toned skin. If you also have fair skin and yellow undertones, the shade I mostly use is 105 all year round. Then shade 128 when I’m tanned or for a bit of contour and 100 for the really dark, wintery months when I’m pale AF and to also use as a highlight. I love this foundation SO much, it covers up my pores effortlessly, but the formula is light enough to not make your face cakey. All this for, wait for it, £6!!!

The only negative I would say for this foundation is that it needs to set with a loose power to really get it to stay all day and can sometimes get a bit oily round the t-zone later on. But if I’m honest I really can’t fault this foundation anymore. So if you want to switch up your foundation or try something different I would defiantly give this one a go! I always go to my local Superdrug to buy my Maybelline Fit Me! Foundation as they always seem to always have all 40 shades in stock and quite often have deals on!

4. Benefit Hoola Matte Bronzer – Shade Lite

“Hold tf up, didn’t you literally say at the beginning you’re not the one to spend excessively on make up?!?” Yes, yes I did…”…and isn’t this bronzer £27???” YES I KNOW not like me at all, but let me explain to you how I came across the Benefit Hoola Matte Bronzer in the first place and why I can 100% justify buying this make up product.

So for a long time I had been trying to find a nice bronzer which wasn’t too intense but not really having much luck. One night I stayed round at my friends uni and saw the Hoola bronzer on her desk…BUT IN LITE. Me being dumb thought Benefit only produced one shade…but there’s 4. The next day I went into Boots and found the nearest Benefit counter TO JUST TAKE A LOOK. I asked the lady about the Hoola Lite bronzer and she said they had some in stock. NEXT THING I KNOW I have a card machine thrown at my face and her saying “that’s £27 please do you have a boots card xoxox” URM. I came here to look hun…but me being my socially awkward self just smiled politely and tapped my card whilst slowly dying inside that I just spent £30 on the smallest box of bronzer ever *sigh* it all happened so quick.

But I must say, I dont think I can even begin to think of reasons why I would dislike this product. It’s the right shade for me all year round, can be easily distributed around the face for a soft glow, but then layered for a more intense contour. The box may look small but I tell you what it might as well be a bloody Tardis because my Hoola bronzers have always lasted a year AT LEAST. So in this case, I do really feel you can justify those extra pennies when it’s your exact shade AND lasts a very long time. Why don’t you pop along to your local boots and buy yourself a Benefit Hoola Matte Bronzer but let’s hope you don’t see the same lady as me who Jedi mind tricks you into buying bronzer.

5. Rimmel Scandaleyes Wow Wings Mascara Extreme Black

Oh how I wish I could spend half my monthly wage on lash lifts and extensions, but unfortunately because of where I work they’re currently not allowed (rip). And when it comes to false lashes, christ they are such a pain to put on, and harmful to the natural lashes too. So that leaves me with only option, plain old simple mascara. Me being be, I wanted to find a perfect daily mascara that wouldn’t break my bank but still work amazingly with my natural lashes, which was when I discovered the Rimmel Scandaleyes Wow Wings Mascara.

They named this product very well because my first reaction was indeed WOW. The application brush itself is two-sided, one winged side to get that insane flicked up look and a rounded side to add that extra length and volume. It comes in two colours, black and extreme black which is the shade I use. The price? £8! which is an amazing price for the result you get AND lasts literally forever (well a good few months but you know what I mean).

I would say though I’m not a huge fan of the packaging. It looks and feels like something you would buy in year 9 for your local school disco. It also does clump up very easily after a couple of uses but for a drug store mascara I really think this is worth the price you pay and more. So if you want to give you natural lashes a chance and take a break from harmful fake lashes, I would seriously recommend Rimmel’s Scandaleyes Wow Wings Mascara. Give it a try!

6. Elf Poreless Putty Primer

This is it. The primer EVERYONE and their mums have been trying to get their hands on ever since it broke the internet in early 2019. Why did it break the internet you say? Jeffree Star, world famous YouTube beauty guru and CEO of Jeffree Star cosmetics reviewed the Elf Poreless Putty Primer on his channel and claimed it to be the perfect dupe for high end Tatcha primer. And that was it. Elf primer sales went through the roof. No matter what your opinion on Jeffree Star is with his VERRRY controversial past, you can’t deny he knows his make up quality well and any make up product that is Jeffree Star approved is a product I know I can trust.

On his video where he compares the two products (which you can watch here) he explains the Tatcha primer is worth £40 but the elf primer is ONLY £8 but both work exactly the same. After watching the video, I tried getting my hands on the Elf primer for MONTHS and one day I walked into Superdrug just to have a little nose, AND THERE IT WAS. That’s going straight in my basket. I use this primer almost every day an honestly it’s like my pores don’t even exist and thankfully, you only need a tiny amount, so I can treasure this product until I have to go on a quest to find another one.

You know the drill by now, here comes the negatives. Now in my pure panic to pick up the primer and run, I didn’t realise there was actually 3 types of this primer, The Poreless (which I have), The Matte and The Luminous. And I’m slowly realising I should have bought the Matte putty, as this is designed for oily skin (which I have) instead of The Poreless which is for dry skin (I most certainly don’t have). So throughout the day my foundation does start to get a bit oily where the primer is working to keep the skin hydrated. But saying this, it really does work brilliantly on covering up pores and for smoother finish.

SO if you’re out looking for this primer (good luck) make sure you get the one right for your skin type. I highly recommend the Elf Poreless Putty Primer and hope it works for you too!

8. Maybelline Instant Anti Age Eraser Eye Concealer

Finding the right concealer has also been a bit of a quest for me over the years. Remember when everybody bought the Collection Lasting Perfection concealer just because Zoella swore by it? Ah the good old days of YouTube and simple smokey eye looks. But now I’m an adult and start work at 5am most mornings, I need something to cover up them dark under eyes so bad they’d make a panda jealous. This is when I discovered Maybelline’s Instant Anti Age Eraser Eye Concealer.

For a long time, I thought “surely the more expensive the concealer the better it will work” and used to use the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer. Don’t get me wrong I loved this concealer, but £24 for 6ML? No thank you that’s not how I roll. This is when I started looking into finding a dupe for my Nars concealer and found out about Maybelline’s under eye concealer having the exact same results. It has a really cute sponge applicator to easily apply the product under the eyes and uses a twist mechanism in the tube to add more product into the sponge. I use the shade “06 Neutralizer” which is perfect for my skin tone and also works as a good highlight. In a INSANT them dark circles disappear, lasting all day long for only £9 for just under 7ML. If you want to go really wild with this product, buy a darker shade and use it to contour!

The only negative to this product is it does run out pretty fast and the twist mechanism can be quite frustrating when the product doesn’t go quite into the sponge. But id take the twist mechanism over a simple applicator any day if it means my product doesn’t dry out every time I open the tube!


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Anddddd that’s it! 7 Make up products I don’t go a day without using! I hope you don’t mind that most of them are simple drugstore products and not high end layered with gold leaf, I honestly just cannot fathom why on earth you’d spend so much on a make up product when you can get the exact same results with a cheaper one? But whichever way you choose to use your make up, I really hope this post gave you some ideas on what products to try if you’re looking to switch up your routine. Thanks for reading!

My First Blog Post

ifyouseerachel8 Comments

Omg I’ve actually done it, after YEARS of procrastination and putting off creating a blog I’ve finally done it *applauds myself for actually doing something productive with my life*.

So yes what you’re reading right now is my first ever blog post….if you couldn’t tell that already. And as you can probably tell, I’m not really the type to be all lovey-dovey and happy in my writing, like “(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ heyyyy my lovelies!!! xoxoxxox what a time to be alive ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* ” nah nah, I dont even puts Xx’s in texts let alone write like that. This blog will be straight to the point, easy reading, no fancy English involved (and I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a few spelling errors to come too…)

So who are you?

…good question… who tf am I? (starts having an existential crisis) Nah in all seriousness, I’m just a simple 22 year old, living in Essex who wants to share my life and advice with my followers.

In my spare time, I like to go to gym, yoga classes, the OCCASIONAL run (dw I’m not that much of a fitness freak) and watch my fave TV shows. Top favourite being GAME OF THRONES which I’m absolutely obsessed with (probably a few posts about that coming soon lol) and Kit Harrington, who plays Jon Snow (duh), is my BAE. Now when it comes to films, I love simple animated films, SHREK being my favourite (not including the 4th one, what even was that?) and My Neighbour Totoro. I do, however, like the Star Wars films, all thanks to my boyfriend who forced me to watch it the first time going round his!

What Made You Want To Create a Blog?

I’ve always been quite a creative person. Growing up in my early teens I 100% was one of them weridos making video stars music videos after school instead of doing homework (yes I also uploaded them to YouTube and yes, they’re still out there). The only subject I ever really enjoyed was drama and the only time I did well in English lessons was during creative writing tasks. One of my biggest passions throughout school was musical theatre, which I studied for 4 years and even gained a scholarship at a theatre school. Soooo why didn’t I pursue drama/musical theatre? As much as I loved, and still do love musical theatre, I just could not see myself going into a career on stage.

I was, however, very interested in media. In college I started studying media and even had my own weekly radio show. A few years after school I got myself a job in marketing (uh oh) since I was pretty good at I.T and spent my whole life on social media.

Now here’s a little life advice from my past mistake: ALWAYS read the job description PROPERLY, which something I didn’t do.

I just saw “digital marketing” which then I fully assumed “omg imma be doing social media posts all day and writing blogs and ahhh” haha nope xo Instead I worked as a SEO executive, sounds fancy af don’t get me wrong but my goD was it boring. I cannot sit at a desk all day sending email after email after emaIL reaching out to 1000s of webmasters everyday to ask for links, just to get rude responses for doing my job. BUT every cloud n’ all, I did learn a lot about managing website and good SEO.

SO what do you do when you have creative writing, a quirky personality, I.T and marketing skills and a few thousand followers?

*°:⋆ₓₒ　you write a blog 　ₓₒ⋆:°*

AND SO, that brings me to here and now. Lets just see how it goes yeah? See you on the blog….