Saturday 27 August 2016

5 REASONS YOU SHOULD EMBRACE YOUR FLAWS


We all have things we don't like about ourselves but are you obsessive over them or have you learnt to embrace them? I am not exactly one to preach about loving yourself, as I find this one of the most difficult tasks in the world to do but that being said I defiantly think we should all embrace our flaws or what we perceive as "our flaws". After all some of the most beautiful things in this world are blemished and that is exactly what makes them beautiful and unique. Here are 5 good reasons you should embrace your flaws.

One: They set us apart.
All our little blemishes and imperfections are exactly what makes us original, they separate us from one another. Unfortunately we live in a society that tries to feed us perfection and sometimes it is difficult to embrace our flaws when the expectation to be perfect sits heavily on our shoulders. If we all had perfectly symmetrical faces and perfect hair, how would we set ourselves apart? I can guarantee that thing that bothers you the most about yourself, someone else loves. They love how it sets you apart and makes you an individual, and you should too.

Two: It boosts self confidence.
I'm not going to lie, I do struggle with my confidence but since having my daughter it has completely changed me. I have come to terms with my "flaws" and I'm actually pretty comfortable with them.  Now I've accepted my blemishes I no longer strive for perfection. Now I've stopped striving towards an unrealistic goal I feel my confidence growing rapidly. 

Three: You have more time for the important things.
I defiantly used to be the obsessive type when it come to my flaws, I spent so many hours poking and prodding at my face, my flaws and anything I felt wasn't right. When you start to embrace your imperfections you have more time to worry about things that matter. Don't get me wrong I have the odd day where I struggle to accept something about my appearance but I spend a lot less time worrying about the little things and more time worrying and enjoying the bigger things, the things that matter.

Four: Your a kinder person.
Okay so I say this lightly and from personal experience. I'm not saying your unkind if you don't embrace your flaws, that is defiantly not what I mean. All I mean is, since I have embraced my flaws I have been happier with myself and have felt like I've wanted to help others more and also I want to compliment people more often. This one could just be me, but when I felt insecure about my flaws I found it difficult to compliment others because instead I spent that time comparing myself to them, asking myself "why are they prettier than me?" "why are they happier than me?" Now I'm like "girl you so pretty" (insert love heart eyes)

Five: There is no shame in flaws.
Being honest with yourself and understanding that everybody has a "flaw" whether it be with the way they look or a personality trait, everybody has atleast one thing they probably don't like about themselves. Being able to accept that shows you are a strong person and it allows you to grow in every aspect, if you can accept it you can grow as a person and personal growth brings the best kind of happiness.

I hope you have enjoyed this post, and possibly taken something from it.

Let me know one of your flaws and why you embrace or why you are struggling to embrace it.


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Sunday 21 August 2016

10 SIMPLE WAYS TO UP YOUR BLOGGING GAME


By all means I am not one to be giving blogging advice as such. This post is more of a "note to self" get off your bum and make the improvements you've been meaning to you lazy mare. My blog is so far from "perfect" and needs so much work still so I figured why not share the ways I plan on improving my blog because maybe, just maybe this may help someone. But like I said my blog is a working progress and its kind of like a teen going through puberty, awkward and a little bit lost of the direction they are going in. That being said I can see a dramatic improvement from my first few posts, but here is my 10 simple steps to up my blogging game.

1) Consistency.
I think it is safe to say consistency is one of my biggest downfalls. I've gone from posting twice in a week to no blog post for a month. It's hard for me to guarantee 3 blog posts a week because I have a 3 month old colicky baby, which is not always an easy task and can take up a lot of my time. However I think I can try publish one blog post each week. That seems achievable, just remember if your setting yourself goals make them realistic and do-able. If you know it's something you can't keep up with don't even put the pressure on yourself.

2) Plan ahead.
This is one of the biggest blogging mistakes I've been making. I usually don't plan much in advance which worked okay for me before my daughter come along, but now every second I get needs to be cherished and I need to make an attempt to achieve as much as possible in the 5 minutes I get while Amelia naps. The best way to utilise my time is by planning ahead, plan when I'm going to take photos, when I'm going to do the write up and everything else. It makes it a lot easier than attempting everything in an hour and producing half assed work.

3) Preparation.
Prep is key. So prep and planning ahead is kind of the same thing, but when I say prep I mean remembering the silly things like making sure your camera and laptop are fully charged, making sure you have an idea of what your going to be shooting and have all your inspirations in one place. One of my biggest tips would be do a test shot with your camera, make sure the lighting and everything else looks good before taking 100 photos and realising the lighting was off. I've done this before and it is beyond annoying. By preparing everything before hand helps the blogging process run slightly smoother.

4) Quality over Quantity.
Okay so this is definitely something I am well and truly guilty of. Sometimes I put a post up because I want to try post something and for the most part I like it and think its okay, but I don't want to just like it I want to be happy and proud of every piece I write, I don't want to look back and think well that's just merely okay. I want to look back and feel inspired by my own work.

5) Venture out.
I've been a bit boring recently, my blog goes a little something like review, review and oh another review and while reviews are great my mind is filled with ideas and inspiration. I've just found it difficult to put my ideas into action, however I'm not going to settle now. I want to be able to create the posts in my visions and I want to venture out. I love reading fashion blogs and looking at look books and OOTD but I find it difficult to pluck up the courage and post more pictures of myself, especially after having my daughter but I refuse to let the idea of me looking like a potato in a dress put me off.

6) Interact.
I like to think I'm pretty good at interacting with my readers, I try to reply to every comment on my Blog, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, however of course the odd one does slip by but I would say 99% of the time I reply. When I say interact I mean more with other bloggers, take more time out to go comment on other peoples blogs. I think it is good to check other peoples blogs out, get inspiration and just appreciate someone else style of work. The blogging community is amazing, although I don't have a lot of people reading my posts, the ones that do take there time to. I really appreciate and think I could take a leaf out of their book. This is by far one of the things I need to be doing more often. Not only does it get your blog out there more there is also nothing more rewarding than when someone leaves a simple comment. I know its silly but it makes the all the hard work pay off when you realise someone is interested in what you have to write about. So if I could comment more on other peoples blogs, hopefully it will make them feel like all the hard work was worth it in the end.

7) Comparison. 
I'm guilty of this in every aspect of my life unfortunately, but it really is the biggest dream killer.
If your constantly comparing yourself or your blog to someone else, someone who has been doing it for years and who has a professional photographer then of course you are going to give up before you have even started properly. Healthy competition is fine but putting your own work down because it's not as good as someone elses, thats unhealthy. You need to believe in yourself and your work and if something isn't as perfect as so and so's then thats okay. You can aspire to be like them without putting your self down, just know that what your doing is a working progress and set yourself goals to get to the place you would like to be. Constantly comparing your blog or yourself with others will only make you dislike what your doing. Give yourself a break, it's okay to not be perfect.

8) Passion is more important than being unique.
While being able to create something different is admirable, don't worry if your post is similar to someone else or if everyone is talking about the same product. If your passionate about it, that will shine through and in my opinion passion is more important. So next time your put off because something is too similar to the idea you had, screw it! If your passionate about it do it regardless. If you have a great idea that is unique and your passionate about it, great! But don't beat yourself up if you can't come up with something completely unique, their are millions of bloggers out there of course, occasionally you are going to end up with a post thats similar to someone else, all that matters is the time and energy you put into it. Make sure people know what your striving towards. Also just as a little disclaimer when I say passion is more than uniqueness, I don't mean copy someones hard work word for word, I just mean it's okay to be inspired by someone else and create your own twist on something.

9) Personality.
I always find that the most talented writers are the ones that let there personality shine through, which isn't an easy task. I try to let my personality come through in my writing but occasionally I just get lost in the facts, but this is something I'm definitely working on, because well, I'm kind of hilarious, or atleast I think I am.


10) Be personal.
Again this kind of comes down to personality, but I want to try be abit more personal in my posts. I think the posts I enjoy reading the most are when people feel real, when they feel vulnerable and human. While I want my blog to look professional I still want to be honest and relatable, that to me is what is most important. I want to be able to tell a story sad, happy or funny and for someone to be able to be like, do you know what, I can relate to that.

Okay I'm done with the rambling, these are my tips and tricks to upping my blogging game and maybe one day, just maybe, my blogging game will be strong. Stronger than my eye brow game, although thats not setting the bar high.

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Tuesday 16 August 2016

Product Testing

I was recently contacted by Nurbesten and they asked if they could send me a few products and in return I would review them. They let me choose a few, so I went onto there website and had a little look at what products they sold as I wasn't familiar with them. At first I was a little bit hesitant because the website was difficult to use because it wasn't all in English and it reminded me of eBay, just all in one location , and let's face it eBay is very hit and miss. Occasionally you find that hidden gem but for the most part when buying something your not sure what your getting yourself into. So although I was skeptical to testing out some items from Nurbesten I figured why not give them a go, after all, all I had to do was review the product and as long as I could give an honest review, I figured why not. 
I have been testing out these items for the past week and a half and all opinions are my own and honest.



Lashes:
So I was sent two different sets of lashes, both fairly similar but the set on the left have a band and the set on the right are band less. I personally prefer band less eye lashes as I don't wear eyeliner to often so naturally I've been drawn to the band less ones. I was very skeptical about testing them out as I've order lashes similar to these from eBay and they was difficult to work with. However since receiving these eyelashes I have worn them nearly everyday and have loved them. I defiantly prefer the lashes without the band, they have quite possibly become my favourite lashes. I have really round bug eyes so it can be quite difficult to find lashes that sit nicely and now I have fallen back in love with falsies!  (Links below)

Brushes:

When I received these brushes I thought they looked slightly cheap and I didn't exactly have high expectations for them. That being said I think I judged them prematurely. I have been using them everyday for a week and a half and I am actually pleasantly surprised. I have been using the flat foundation brush to apply my base makeup and then just using my Real Techniques to make it seamless. I have also been using the flat small brush to sculpt my eye brows and I had been on the hunt for a decent brush to sculpt my brows. The set comes with a fluffy eyeshadow brush and a smaller detailed eyeshadow brush, both which do the job but I have a tonne similar to these two. Finally there is a powder brush, which I have been using to dust off my Laura Mercier powder after baking my face, and it works wonderfully. It's really soft and fluffy and it doesn't wipe the product away like I have experienced with other brushes. The set only cost £12.36 so it is really affordable and I think you would be pleasantly surprised with these brushes.

Gold Brush Set £12.36

Lip Plumper:


So the weird little thing on the right that looks, well a little crazy, is actually a lip plumping device.
The idea of it is you put the top end over your mouth and pull the handle down. When pulling the handle down it creates a suction and your lips are pulled further into the device there for pumping more oxygen around and plumping your lips. This is the item I was most excited about as I had seen a similar item being spoken about by Huda Beauty. However I've tested it a few times and yes it does plump your lips but you have to be careful not to over do it and bruise your lips. Also it's one of them items that has just sat there and I haven't reached for it to often. I always forget to use it before I start my makeup and if I dare use it after applying foundation its literally removes it all from around my face while leaving the area a little red. Overall the product does what it says its going to, but I think I'm just to lazy to add another step to my long makeup routine. However if your not so lazy and want a plumper looking pout, it only cost £6.45 and it is kinda fun to test out.

Lip Plumper (£6.45)

Toothbrush Makeup Brush:

This was another thing I was excited to try out because lets face it, who hasn't wanted to test out this style brush recently? Everyone on Instagram seems to be raving about this style brush, however I couldn't justify spending a fortune on a brush that I wasn't quite sure would work for me. The brush has really soft bristles but is quite dense. I'm not sure weather I didn't get on with this brush because the style is something I'm not use to working with or because it is a cheaper version.  I was a little gutted about this because I really wanted it to work for me, but it didn't. I'm glad Ive tried using the toothbrush makeup brush though, I would recommend buying this one if your considering buying this style brush as its only £2.25 and you won't be disappointed if it doesn't work for you. Also if anyone has any tips to help it work for me, leave them in the comments below as I would love to jump on the bandwagon.

ToothBrush MakeupBrush (£2.25)

If your considering buying any of these items I have a 10% discount code to use at checkout  SWD10.

I will defiantly be purchasing some more items from Nurbesten it is a good little website that offer some hidden gems. I would defiantly recommend checking out there lashes and nail stuff as the variety is crazy! Although the website is a little bit difficult to use because of the language it gets to a point where you start to pick it up and figure out where everything is. 


And just a little disclaimer, all my opinions are honest and my own.

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