Ever Feel Like You Need A Pick-Me-Up?

I think everyone goes through those times, whether it be a day, week, month or even year, when you just don't feel like yourself. Everything seems to be getting on top of you and you want something to go your way, just. this. once. but it never seems to come. You need a serious pick-me-up, but you wait for one to come and, again, it never seems to.

I go through these patches sometimes, and almost always I suddenly realise, no one's going to make me feel better but me. I need to give myself a boost, no one can do that for me. Here's a few things you can try to get you back to feeling yourself.

1. Look for something good in every day. 

If you're having a bad week, try focus on the good, it could be anything. I believe there is something good in every day, you just sometimes have to force yourself to see it.

2. Clear your head. 

Go for a walk or a drive. I find that taking a trip out to the countryside in the car is a great way to clear my head, it's always so peaceful and people seem their happiest out there. If you're not comfortable going out on your own, stick your headphones in, you'll soon lose yourself.

3. Do something that makes you happy. 

Forget everyone else, do something for you. Bake, read a book, draw, do a sport, anything that gives you a buzz. Maybe even try something new.

4. Buy something. 

This may sound silly but, buy yourself a little present. Maybe some flowers, or that make up you've been wanting to try. Something inexpensive that you know you'll love. Food works well too!

5. Assess the real problem. 

Just take a minute and think about how you're feeling and if there are any triggers. Once you start thinking about it more in-depth, it's likely that you'll realise it's something that's not much of a big deal at all. 

6. Finally, let go. 

Let go of all that tension, those ideals, that 'perfect situation' and stop worrying. Tell yourself you're willing to let go because you deserve to be happy.

Remember, you're not alone, a lot of people often need to take time out and have a pick-me-up moment. Just breathe and relax.

Do you have any pick-me-up methods? Let me know in the comments.

Becky
XO

Psst... All my social media accounts are linked to the right of this post. There you'll also find a button to follow my blog on Bloglovin', or you can click here!

Feel Unique and Holland & Barrett Haul

I recently ordered some bits from Feel Unique and Holland & Barrett and thought I'd show you what I got! There's only one product in here that's a repurchase, the others are brand new products I wanted to give a try.
(All products are linked below the images)

Feel Unique:

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo[+] / Yes To Grapefruit Eye Cream / TIGI Small Talk

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Duo[+]:

I got three things from Feel Unique and I might as well start with the one that's a repurchase. This moisturiser is a holy-grail product of mine, it is by far the best moisturiser I've ever used and definitely does everything it's supposed to. It's perfect for my oily/combination/blemish-prone skin. I'm sure you've heard enough people go on about this in the past few years so all I'm going to say is, you need to try it!

Yes To Grapefruit Dark Circle Correcting Eye Cream:

Now we've got my repurchase out of the way I can go on to talk about the products I'm still yet to try. I got this eye cream as I've been looking for one for a while but can never seem to find one that will get rid of dark circles and also reduce fine lines. I have a problem with both, and didn't want to spend loads or have to buy two different products as I felt applying two products may feel too heavy or cakey on my under-eyes. I settled on this one as the reviews were all pretty positive and some people said it helped reduce fine lines too, win win. This has a really smooth texture, it's not too strongly scented either. It is made from 99% natural ingredients, which is another reason I settled on purchasing this one. 

TIGI Bed Head Small Talk:

I heard someone talking about this when I was in the hairdressers the other day and thought it would be perfect for my hair. The woman that had come in was wanting to buy some and was raving about it, my hairdresser agreed it was amazing and that's why they were out of stock. So as soon as I got home I googled it and, sure enough, everyone seemed to be raving about it so I thought I best get myself some! This smell of this is b-e-a-utiful! (Name that film). I put a bit on the back of my hand to see what the texture is like and it doesn't seem sticky or greasy at all so I'm really looking forward to trying this out. It says it's a 'Thickifier, Engergizer and Stylizer', I'm hoping it'll be a perfect match for my hair as it can be very flat and hard to add volume and texture too.

Also from Feel Unique, when you spend over £30, you get to choose 2 free samples (There's 6 to choose from). I chose the I AM JUICY COUTURE perfume sample and the Emma Hardie Amazing Face Protect and Prime SPF30. The perfume has a fruity but flowery smell to it, it's also slightly musky, which I like. I can't comment on the Emma Hardie product as I don't want to open it until I want to use it but I've heard good things about her range. 

Holland & Barrett:

Bioglan Superfoods Supergreens 81 Vital Ingredients Powder / Berry Burst Powder

Bioglan Superfoods Supergreens Powders:

I don't often buy things from Holland & Barrett but I'd heard something about these vegetable powders that give you your 5 a day in one drink. Now, I don't eat much fruit and veg at all, I just don't like the taste or texture. I'll have a small portion every now and again, but I probably don't even have 5 portions in a week, never mind a day. When I heard about these I started to do a bit of research as I thought they'd be great for me to get my 5 a day without having to actually eat the vegetables. Anyway, I found out about these and all the reviews are amazing, everyone says how much more energy they have and how they've helped them feel more healthy. These are quite expensive (£21.99 for a 100G packet), but I got them in the penny sale so got both packets for just £22, which seems pretty good to me! There's a few different one's but I chose the '81 Vital Ingredients' and 'Berry Burst' ones as they had the most ingredients. I'll probably be doing a review once I've tried these so keep your eyes peeled for that.

I hope you enjoyed my little haul of products I've bought recently. 

Becky

XO 

Psst... All my social media accounts are linked to the right of this post. There you'll also find a button to follow my blog on Bloglovin', or you can click here! 

My Top 3 Photo Editing Apps for iPhone

I think the key to a good photo editing app is a simple and user friendly design. Most of these apps have very similar features but, to be honest, I use all of them equally as they do vary slightly. All the apps that I am going to talk about have the option to post straight to your social media accounts, such as Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, or you can save to your camera roll. 

1. A Beautiful Mess - Price: Free

When you first open this app you are greeted with this screen (first image). It gives you the option to either work with one picture (Solo) or make a collage of multiple images (Collage). For this example I chose 'Solo' so the middle image is the next screen you get. You can now choose to add a picture, background pattern/colour or crop, I chose colour. I selected my colour and then you are given some more options, you can add a filer, border, doodle, text or phrase. The phrase I chose is a pre-made one that comes with the app. I find this app great for creating typography images of quotes.

2. Instasize - Price: Free

Next up is Instasize. When you first open the app your photo library will open on the screen, along the bottom there is an option to switch from 'photo' to 'video' or 'camera'. Once you select your image it will put it in a box (screenshot on the right). I find this app best for when you don't want to crop any of an image to post on Instagram. For example, say you have a nice landscape image and you don't want cut anything out, you can pop over to Instasize and it will centralise your image in a box. You can then put filters on this, create a collage, add a border/background image, adjust, add stickers, text overlays or crop.

3. Afterlight - Price: Free

Afterlight might be one that a lot of you have heard of as it seems to be quite popular. The apps welcome page is similar to the one for A Beautiful Mess, you get the option to either take a picture or choose an existing image from you camera roll. When you choose your image it will ask you if you want to continue, when you click 'use' you will see this next screen (right screenshot). Here you can edit your image using the usual tools, add a filter, boarder or crop. 

So that's it, they're my top 3 photo editing apps!

I hope you enjoyed this post, if you have any photo based app recommendations then leave them below in the comments :)

Becky

XO 

P.S: All my social media accounts are now linked to the right of this post. There you'll also find a button to follow my blog on Bloglovin', or you can click here.

Introducing Me...

Hey there! This is my 10th post so I thought a little introduction was in order. 

I'm Becky, 22 from Sheffield, England. 

Last year, November 2015 to be a bit more precise, I graduated from York St John University with a 2:1 in Film Studies and Media. I currently work in retail while I try and figure out what to do with my life! I really enjoy writing and expressing myself, so this was one of the main reasons I decided to start this blog.

Although I love writing, I've never been able to keep a diary, I can't even handle a 'One Line A Day' diary. I just find them so tedious and boring, I just basically ended up writing the same thing each day.

Whereas with this blog I get to talk about products and food and life in general, which is a lot more exciting to me!

I'm really looking forward to connecting with others bloggers, both near and far, and joining this amazing community of creative and like minded people.

I'm not sure what else to put here so if there's anything you want to know, feel free to ask in the comments :)

XO 

Go Emoji Crazy With Birchbox's August 2015 #Beautyjunkie Box

This is the cutest Birchbox I have received so far! It's got all these little beauty themed emoji's all over is and I just think it's so lovely and playful.

In the box you get the usual information booklet along with 6 beauty/hair products in a drawstring bag. Also in this month's box you get a set of emoji stickers, you can just see them peeping from behind the lid of the box in the picture above.

1. Rituals Rice Scrub - Organic Rice Milk and Cherry Blossom. 

This smells DIVINE. As soon as I smelt it I basically made my mum smell it too because it's just that good! It smells so fresh and clean, if that even makes sense. The scrub is quite coarse so will be good for exfoliating legs to get rid of any dead skin cells before hair removal. It states in the booklet that it can be used on sensitive skin and when it comes into contact with water it turns into a foaming cream. I can't wait to try this one out!

2. Kebelo Clarifying Shampoo.

To be honest, this doesn't really smell of anything. I don't mind that it doesn't have a scent because, on the bright side, at least it doesn't smell awful. I quite like clarifying shampoos because I have an oily scalp and they help to get rid of any excess oils and product buildup. It says to apply once or twice a month, I believe this is so you don't remove too much of your natural hair oils as this can cause your scalp to become dry and irritated. 

3. BioNike Cleansing Water.

This is a fragrance-free cleanser that is suitable for 'hypersensitive and intolerant skin'. It is meant to sooth spots and leave skin feeling smooth and soft. Apparently you massage this into your face and neck using your fingertips, afterwards you wipe off the excess with a cotton pad, sounds interesting! One thing I like about receiving these little samples from Birchbox is that they are great to use when travelling. My normal cleansing water/toner is in a largish bottle, so now I can just take this instead. 

4. thebalm Cosmetics Balm Desert Bronzer.

A teeny bronzer sample from thebalm. The last product I received in my Birchbox from thebalm (the Cindy-Lou Manizer) was really good so I'm looking forward to using this. It's a really subtle and natural shade, perfect for my pale skin! There's a tiny bit of shimmer but nothing too over the top. 

5. Lord & Berry Blush in the shade Lotus.

This is a gorgeous rosy pink coloured blush, perfect for giving you that natural rosy cheek look. The booklet says that this is buildable so you can either create a natural look or add a pop of colour to your cheeks buy building it up. The texture of this is lovely, very silky smooth.

6. L. Erickson Grab & Go Ponytail Holder.

To put it simply, this is a hair bobble (or hair tie, whatever you may call them). There is no metal on the bobble which means no snagging! I probably wouldn't go out with my hair in this because it's silver/grey and my hair is a darkish brown so it stands out a mile. However, it'll be perfect for bed or when I'm doing my make up. 

There you have it, that's this months Emoji crazy Birchbox in a nutshell!

I hope you enjoyed this post, if you want to be updated on my latest posts you can follow me on Bloglovin' by either clicking the widget to the right of this post or by clicking here :)

Becky

XO

Super Easy Australian Crunch Recipe

This is one of my families favourite things for me to bake and it's oh so simple! 

What You'll Need:

400G Margarine

300G Caster Sugar

150G Desiccated Coconut (Optional)

150G Crushed Cornflakes

2TBSP Coco Powder

300G Self Raising Flour

400G Melted Chocolate (Optional)

Baking Tray (10"x12")

Foil

1 Large Bowl

1 Medium Bowl

Tablespoon

Wooden Spoon

Weighing Scales

Sieve

First up, you'll need to set your oven to Gas Mark 4 or 180 C. You will also need to prepare a baking tray. The tray I'm using is 10"x12" and fits the mixture perfectly. To prepare your tray, line with foil and spread a small amount of butter on the foil, this will prevent the mixture from sticking. The foil and butter also help for easy removal.

Next, you want to melt your margarine and half of your chocolate (200G) over a pan of boiling water. This is the safest way to melt your ingredients and will ensure they don't burn.

If you want to cut down on calories, you can make this without the chocolate, the recipe will work fine without it.

Whilst the chocolate and margarine are melting you can prepare your dry ingredients, so this is the flour, sugar and cocoa powder. It doesn't matter what order you prepare your dry ingredients, they will all be added to the rest of the mixture at the same time so can be kept altogether in one bowl. 

For Cocoa powder I'm using Cadbury's Bournville as it's quite rich tasting and perfect for baking, but you can use any brand you might have laying around or, if you're on a budget, whatever's cheapest at the store. 

Another ingredient you'll also need to prepare is the crushed Cornflakes. To do this, simply measure out 150G of cornflakes on your scales (preferably in a jug or bowl so not to make a mess everywhere!) and then crush them with your hands. If you don't like using your hands you could use the end of a rolling pin.

This is what the butter and chocolate should look like when they have melted, they won't be completely together, it's likely the butter will be floating on top of the chocolate. This is not an issue.

Next up, add your crushed Cornflakes into the melted ingredients and stir them together.

After your Cornflakes have been added you will need to sieve the dry ingredients into the mixture. Like I stated before, these can all be added at the same time so there is no need to try and separate them out. Just make sure you sieve these so no lumps are formed. 

Once you've stirred all the ingredients together your mixture will look something like this. 

Simply pour the mixture out of the bowl and into your baking tray or tin, make sure to even the mixture out so you don't get an uneven depth. 

The mixture will look quite 'boggy' but don't worry, this will disappear once the Australian Crunch has been fully baked. If you wish, you can remove some of the oil by tipping the tray to the side and draining with a spoon. 

Finally, pop the tray into the centre of your preheated oven and leave to cook for around 25 minutes. When you take it out of the oven it will appear to be gooey in the middle and may appear uncooked but as long as the top part looks cooked, the middle will settle and solidify when it cools down. 

If you want, you can melt down the rest of your chocolate (200G), in the same way we did in the first step, and then add this to the top of the cooled Australian Crunch. However, this is, again, totally optional. 

Happy Baking (and Eating)!

To keep updated with my blog posts follow me on Bloglovin' by clicking either here or on the '+Bloglovin'' button to the right of this post :)

Becky 

xo

How To Save Your Suede Shoes With One Little Tool

So I was having a bit of a clear out and I found out a pair of suede heels that I don't wear anymore so decided I was going to try and sell them on Depop. They were a bit worn and scuffed and needed sprucing up a bit. I asked my Mum if she had any ideas and she told me to try a suede brush. To cut a long story short, it worked amazingly, so much so that I went and used it on all of my other suede shoes. 

Today I pulled out this pair of heels and thought they were beyond hope, but as you'll soon see, they now look as good as new! So here's how to get your old looking heels and shoes back to their former glory.

What you'll need:

• Worn/Scuffed Suede Shoes
• Suede Brush 

This is the suede brush I used on my heels. It's nothing fancy, just some brass wire bristles on a wooden handle. You can get one similar here and they aren't expensive at all.

Once you've got your brush, you want to grab your shoe and hold it firmly so it won't slip out of your hand. I opted to put my hand inside mine as this allowed me to hold the shoe steady. When you have hold of your shoe, get brushing.

Tips:

• I find that swirling the brush in small circular motions works well.
• Brush 'against the grain', if your scuff is horizontal, brush vertical.
• Don't be afraid to be quite rough.
• Don't give up, it may take a good few minutes to get the desired result.

A scuff occurs when something has scrapped down the side of your shoe and, effectively, flattens the suede down. What using a brush does is fluff the suede back up. 

Before:

This is what my shoe looked like before using the suede brush. These scuffs were quite deep and at one point I didn't actually think they were going to come out.

After: 

This is the end result! As you can see the scuffs are invisible. The area where I've used the brush looks slightly difference to other areas of the shoe, but once you brush round the edges and flatten it out, it looks as good as new.

I hope this helps some of you, if you have any questions, please feel free to comment below!

To be updated on my new blog posts, follow me on Bloglovin' :)

Becky
XO