So univerity isnt for everyone, and thats okay!

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So it’s that time of year when my bloglovin and blogger feeds are filled with blog posts about university and hyping it up in every possible way. It’s an exciting change and I can see why there is so much noise around it, however it makes me kind of cringe inside.

Here is why, so I’m not some anti uni type, I went to uni and am glad I did but I wasn’t a great experience for me! I thought id share it with you all, I hope it doesn’t come across as too negative as I’m a pretty positive, happy person, I just feel like sharing my story with you all. I just want to put it out there that uni isn’t for everyone and actually that’s okay!

I went to uni a couple of years later than most of my friends as I took  time out to go travelling, on returning I felt I needed to be doing something productive and wasn’t keen on returning home for full time work. Instead I applied to uni and got into Bristol so off I headed. Just before I did, I was dumped out of the blue, I was in a long term relationship head over heels in love and just didn’t see it coming. I was heartbroken and a complete train wreck, some might think this was perfect timing for a fresh start but I was a mess. This made enjoying the fresher’s week and the likes pretty much impossible, my heart wasn’t in it and looking back now it took me a very long time to get over it.

Also whilst at university I was a hormonal nightmare, I was all over the shop and felt I had no control over my emotions. Turns out I had an underactive thyroid which is basically a hormone, so when it’s not at the right level like mine it can really play with. I actually thought I was a head case at the time, imagine PMS times 1000. It made it hard to feel normal and level headed. I didn’t get diagnosed with this until after uni but it’s nice to understand why I was the way I was now!

Finally I applied for my course on a whim, I thought it was what I wanted at the time but I ended up not enjoying it fully. The course I studied was for a particular profession and was very intense. There were parts of it that were fab but the rest I didn’t like at all. I came out with a 2:2 at the end and am glad I stuck it out and got the qualification. I would be doing what I am now without it.

I think it was just a lonely experience for me, I had some wonderful friends there and they were amazing people. I just struggled and never felt fully at home.  I did have some pretty fun times so it wasn’t all bad, in general I was very lucky, just in hindsight it wasn't a high point in my life. Looking back (isn't it funny how it all becomes a little clearer then?!) I've also realised that I am a pretty creative person and that a life of academia massively stifled this, it also didn't help that I get bored quite easily, I constantly need to be challenged, Its how I thrive.

Saying all this I don’t regret going to university, I wouldn’t have got my current job, or even be who I am now without that experience. I genuinely don’t believe in regrets. I guess the purpose of me writing this post is to say that University can be awesome but it’s not for everyone and can be hard going if your hearts not in it.

I just want people to follow their hearts and know that everything happens for a reason and contrary to all the hype out there at the moment, uni isn’t the be all and end all! If one person reads this and can relate then that’s why I’m writing this post, so people don’t feel alone. There is so much hype about how amazing uni is and what an experiencee it is, I just want people to know that it’s okay if you’re not enjoying it, if you find it hard and it’s not all sparkles and glitter.

I apologise for the waffle and hope it makes sense? If nothing else, its been pretty therapeutic for me putting all this into words. Odd post for me hey! But I would love to hear about others experiences of uni?

Malta

So a few weeks ago now I jetted off for 10 days in Malta with my friend and her 10 year old son. 

Apologies for the lack of incredible photos, I daren't call myself a true blogger! To be honest for the majority of the 10 days the most I moved from my sun lounger was to grab a bottle of water or have a dip in the Pool to cool down. I really wanted to just switch off from life for a while, from work, my blog, my home life, from it all and I really did! So my camera didn't make it out much and I tended to use my phone for the few pics I did snap, so I apologise for the quality! 

 

We stayed at the Luna hotel apartments, which we got for a really reasonable price and were really lovely. We went self catering which suited our needs and there was a shop next to the hotel so we just picked up a few bits to keep us going from there.

 

Our big day out was to the Aqua Park, which is a great day out and id recommend for any age. On the bus over there I got chatted up by a gorgeous foreign man, who had the most beautiful eyes and made me go super giggly! Sadly he didn’t speak a word of English and I didn’t have a clue what language he was speaking but we definitely had a moment!

 

The whole holiday was very relaxed and chilled out. Amazing how getting away you can really switch off and get a proper mellow feeling. I'm so used to running around juggling a thousand things that I forget that having some me time and being relaxed once and a while is so important for your well being.

 

I'd really recommend a trip to Malta, we did it pretty cheap with Ryan air flights and booking the hotel directly. We also went self catering and cooked for ourselves which was super easy and meant keeping out budget down. Malta is a really pretty country, most people spoke English and you can easily get around the Island on the buses which run regularly and only cost €1.50 for a day ticket! 

 

I am now looking at what to do next year, I am desperate to go off travelling for a few months and I have a few ideas in the pipeline but I shall wait and see before I share with you all!

Nails // Avon Speed Dry Nail Polish in Yellow Mystique

Today’s nails are painted in Avon Speed Dry Nail Polish in Yellow Mystique. I am desperately trying to hold onto summer and I can’t stress how much I hate this autumnal weather that seems to have come our way. Hence the bright yellow nails!

I am still umming and aaahing over this colour, it’s a canary yellow with glitter specks in it. It’s also ridiculously translucent which I was a bit disappointed about. I was hoping it would be quite a solid block colour. On the plus side it applies easily and it’s really quick drying as promised!

Not sure I’ll be using this colour again though as not sure it’s really me. Have you ever sported yellow nails?

Motivational Monday #25

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So for the last week you may have notice I went a bit AWOL and didn’t blog….what do you mean you didn’t notice?! Any way I gave myself a week off, well not completely, I have spent a ridiculous amount of time this past week match making for The Bloggers Snail Mail, and all those who have signed up should have received an email by now with your new buddy’s details! If you missed out this round there will be another one coming up the beginning of December.

Sorry I digress! So apart from The Bloggers Snail Mail, I haven’t written a single post, taken one photo or joined in a twitter chat. I gave myself some well earned time off, and do you know what? For the first time ever I’m actually ok with that! I usually get terrible bloggers guilt when I don’t blog, if I haven’t got a few posts up each week, but I’ve been feeling burnt out and just massively needed to switch off from this virtual world and enjoy some time in the real world! It has been awesome, I’ve had a spa day, I went to a water park, I headed up to London with one of my besties to see my sister and check out London Dungeons. I also got a haircut and indulged in a lazy weekend catching up on TV shows like Doctor Who. I can’t explain how much I needed that time out! It has made me come back and sit down at my lap top excited about what I want to blog next and with some fresh ideas.

I think we are all guilty of doing too much and not taking a little me time every now and then. So I would like to challenge you all to take a little time out and do something fun for yourself, and then tell me about it in the comments below?! I would love to hear about it!

Also can we get a quick mention in that it’s the 1^st September already!!! THE 1^ST SPETMBER!! This freaks me out so much, time is just flying by this year and it’s mad. It makes me want to live life to the full and embrace every moment even more!

Happy Monday Lovelies!

 

Who's in my sidebar... August Edition

 

Welcome to the August edition of ‘Who’s in my sidebar’! Lipsticks and Lashes now offers advertising packages, and I am beyond excited to introduce this month’s sponsor, Shivon whose You Tube channel is ‘shivonmakeupbiz’. I love sharing other bloggers and you tubers I come across, especially when their channels are as fab as Shivon’s!

 

What Shivon has to say...

“A creative You Tube channel dedicated to make up tutorials, reviews and fashion posts. I'm 19, a Gemini, love purple eye shadow and live in the South-East of England!”

I have spent a ridiculous amount of time checking out Shivon’s videos and I though id share with you my top 3...

Glittery Smokey Green Make-Up Tutorial

I love a smokey eye, but am terrible at applying without looking like I’ve been punched in the face! Shivon’s tutorials are so easy to follow and she is really clear about what she’s doing. I am definitely planning on having a go at this one myself!

The Power of Make-Up

If you only have time to only watch one of Shivon’s videos then please, please check this one out! It pretty much sums up my love of makeup and why I’m a beauty blogger!

Summer Sunset Tutorial

My favorite beauty vloggers are ones who make their makeup look like a piece of art work. It inspires me and I adore the looks they pull off. This is one of the first videos of Shivon's I watched, inspired by sunsets she uses this to experiment on her eyes and the result is stunning!

If you’d like to advertise with ‘Lipsticks and Lashes’ in September check out my sponsor page for more details and any questions please get in touch!

To celebrate Lipsticks and Lashes second birthday and reaching 1000 bloglovin followers, I am now offering a 50% discount code for anyone who decides to advertise with us during the next month! Just email whatsinyourmakeupbag@gmail.com for the code.

Book Club: What a Girl Wants by Lindsey Kelk

 

The Blurb

Being arrested in your own bedroom is never a good start to the day. Tess Brookes really needs to sort out her back-stabbing flatmate – and her life

Should she gamble all on the new photography job she’s landed, or snap up the offer from long-time crush and best friend Charlie to start up on their own – in more ways than one? There’s just one small thing she hasn’t mentioned. Or rather, one tall thing. He’s handsome, infuriating and called Nick…

For the first time, Tess has to choose between the life she always dreamed of and a future she never imagined possible. From London to Milan, with high fashion and low behaviour thrown in, she’s going to have to make up her mind what a girl really wants…

The Review

I feel so unbelievable torn!! There's nothing worse than a book coma, when you finish a book and you don't know what to do with yourself as you were immersed in a story with amazing characters and then it's all over and you’re not sure you'll ever find a book to compare. Hence, I love a series, it's crap those few months (or in some cases a year or more!) that you are waiting for the next instalment but you feel so relieved that it's not over just yet!! I want to feel that way about this book, it's number 2 in this series and I am in a severe book trauma state, wanting to know what happens next, happy there is a follow up but gutted I've got to wait till next year!! Boo! Are you following my rambles so far?!

Anyway, enough of my emotional state, let's get back to an actual review of this book. I have such a girl crush on Lindsey Kelk, her books are all fab, if you've not read her I heart series I can only assume you've been living under a rock. As I mentioned above this is the second book in this series, the first titled ‘About a Girl’ saw Tess high jack her evil flatmates identity after losing her job in advertising and sleeping with her best boy mate, Charlie. She hightails it under her new identity to Hawaii and pretends to be a fashion photographer for a week, whilst falling for the charms of the gorgeous journalist nick. Check out my full review of about a girl here.

So 'what a girl wants' picks up Tess arriving back in London and follows here taking photographs in Milan for the lovely Al who she met in Hawaii. Our Tess is in a quandary with so many decisions to make from choosing  to continue a career in advertising to pursuing a new avenue in photography. She also needs to decide on her leading man, team nick or team Charlie?! For me this is the biggie!!

Dear Lindsey, of by any chance you see this review pretty please let her end up with nick, he may have emotional issues but he is so perfect for Tess! Charlie is a wet blanket who doesn't appear to give her fanny gallops!! Lots of hugs gem x

There are also plenty of laugh out loud moments mainly brought on by out leading ladies eccentrics pals, Amy and kekipi. Both eccentric and fun in their own way, I really enjoyed that we got to see a whole lot more of them in this book and got to know more of their back ground.

How much do I want to visit Milan right now? Lindsey does an amazing job at making the reader feel like she's experiencing the location of wherever here book may be set from New York, Hawaii, London to Paris. She didn't fail here either, she really made me swoon for Milan from the fashion shopping to the food!

By the end of the book you feel like Tess is sorta getting her shit together. She's starting to put herself first and figure out what she wants rather than putting everyone else first. However I do have that awful end of a tv series, cliff hanger, ridiculous need to know what happens next! I might have to start a petition for the next book to be brought forward!

PS if you haven't started reading these books yet, go get involved! It's a fab, funny read that will have you giggling and crying along with the emotional ups and downs of our heroine!

2nd Blogiversary & a few things i have gained from blogging!

I can’t believe I’m sat here writing about my 2 year blogiversary! Two whole years of blogging have just flown by! I’ve definitely had my ups and downs over those years, but I still love ‘Lipsticks and Lashes’, my happy little corner of the interweb. So to mark this very cool milestone I thought I would share with you what I have gained from blogging over this time….

A wonderful space where I can write to my heart’s desire – one of my aims in starting this blog was to improve my writing as one of my ambitions is to write a book one day. My love of writing has only soared since starting ‘Lipsticks and Lashes

My confidence has sky rocketed! I used to be a huge worrier, I still am to an extent but I now care less about what people think and am so much more happier. Doing my ‘Motivational Monday’ posts every week has definitely helped with this!

One of the things I appreciate most is the awesome blogging community. I love being part of such a supportive network, via twitter and all the blogger chats you can join in with. They really inspire me and give me a kick up the bum when I’m in a rut. Then there are the wonderful folk who stop by here and comment or email. Not forgetting The Bloggers Snail Mail Project (Shameful plug, have you signed up yet?!). All of the above have led me to interact with some fab people in the blogging community.

Through my blog I’ve also improved my juggling skills (not the circus variety!). I am ten times better than I used to be at juggling my time and commitments thanks to my blogging. I am still by no means organised (I would love to be one of those people!) but having to create a balance between 2 jobs, a social life and blogging I have had to learn and have made huge improvements in this area.

Before I started ‘Lipsticks and Lashes’ I was in dire need of a creative outlet, I just didn’t know what form that would take. Then blogging came along and has allowed me to be creative in so many ways! I think this also links back to my previous point around confidence. Being able to do things I love and be as creative as I can has definitely put me in such a happy place. I am much more confident and relaxed compared to 2 years ago!

I also just want to say a massive thank you to every one of you who pop by, spares the time to read my waffle, and those who then spare the time to comment, tweet and email me. It really does make my day and never fails to put a smile on my face!