31st July: Happy Birthday to The Beauty Tearoom

Image Source: Google Search Birthday cake

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEAUTY TEAROOM!

So this time last year I sat at my laptop one sunny evening and started my little blog. I had no idea what I was doing back then (like I do now) or who would even be reading but that began my little slice of heaven on the web. I had no idea that blogging would change my life the way it has. How dramatic but it's true! This time last year, while I would still consider myself a very happy person, my self confidence has grown and I am much more secure in myself. Sometimes we just need that time to grow as a person (so cheesy!). 

I absolutely love gushing about this lipstick or that foundation, but I'd be wrong in saying that it's the only thing blogging is about. Blogging allows me to not only jibber jabber about the things I'm passionate about, but also share it with like-minded girls (and boys). It's also an outlet for me to get creative and express my feelings and views. In the beginning, I didn't think 2 people would read my blog, let along pushing 280! The support I get from you is unbelievable and I have met some absolutely lovely people through blogging. 

I'd like to thank all the people who have messaged me or left comments, hearing from you brightens my day and I always make sure I reply to everyone, without you I'd be sat here talking to myself. I pride myself on being a sociable and approachable person, so if we haven't had a natter yet, drop me a comment or an email, I always love to hear from you!

So to end what is in danger of becoming a very long post, thank you. Thank you to my lovely members, my Bloglovin followers and all the people who pass by. I will make it my mission that as long as you keep wanting new posts, I will keep making them. I've has so much fun! I'd also like to mention that while it's not on the cards yet (poor, boo hoo), I will be organizing a giveaway sometime soon, I really want to reward you for being so supportive! 

So to sum up, thanks for reading and giving me your support. Here's to next year!

Seventeen Dolled Up Mascara

Evening lovely readers! I've had this mascara for a while now and feel I've got a good feel for what it's like. For a beauty blogger, I'm way too safe when it comes to mascara. I've stuck to my trusty Miss Sporty mascara for getting on six years now. But, following a read of some fabulous mascara blog reviews over on Mascara and Maltesers (you can give it a read here) it prompted me to try something new.

From any mascara I use, I want length and curl mostly, i'm not too fussed about thickness. The oh so cute packaging of this little beauty attracted me to buy it along with the curved wand. I clumsily didn't check the colour and ended up picking up Black-Brown (how annoying) but surprisingly, it doesn't look the slightest bit brown on the eyes but still very natural too. With design and colour, I was impressed.

As for the actual mascara itself, I'm not overly impressed. The first thing I noticed was that it took agesss to build up any thickness whatsoever. Secondly, after a long shift at work, I had little clumps of mascara over my cheekbones if i'd touched my eyelashes at all throughout the day. Do I like how it looks at first, yes I'd say its okay, would I change from my trusty Miss Sporty? Err, probably not. This badboy will set you back £6.29 which is cheap-mid range for mascara, but I wouldn't say it was worth any more than that unfortunately.

So to sum up, my world has not been rocked by this mascara. Have you tried it and if so what did you think? Let me know in the comments below!

Changing Hair with Reviews and Tips

Image: Google Search Edited: By Me

Hello all, hope you've had a good week! Time seems to be flying my end, what's that all about? Anywho, I've been meaning to do this post for ages as I've had quite the mare getting my hair from brown back to my natural ash blonde. Along the way, I have made some discoveries and several mistakes, all of which could have been easily avoided. As I used a lot of products, I thought I would do one big post and review everything I've used, what worked well and what didn't.

You can see my changing hair over the years above. My natural hair colour is a dirty blonde, which goes really blonde in summer and darker in winter (I call it mood hair, haha). I always loved brown hair because I thought it was so feminine and on one of my girl crushes, Cheryl Cole, it always looked so amazing. I remember walking back to my digz at uni with my friend Pippa and telling her how much i'd love to dye my hair brown. Her reply was 'Well why don't you already?' and so I went and bought the dye and did it that day. We went out the following night, pictured top right and I loved it. Over three years, I went slightly darker and then decided I wanted the old me back, here's the products I used.

1. John Frieda Go Blonde Highlighting Kit/ Here
I'd used a Colour B4 Hair removal kit (from Here) to get rid of a lot of the brown dye. Because I had been dying my hair for over 2 years, there was a lot of brassiness. I asked around a lot of hair dressers for advice which I always recommend as they know what they're talking about. They advised that I highlight my hair to gradually lighten the colour. I did some research and found this little kit by Jerome Russell with good reviews. The application itself was fairly straightforward but the results were HORRIBLE.

Above are pictures I took at the time. Surprisingly, I didn't go as ape s**t as you would think considering the state it was in. The highlighting kit had lightened my roots to a peroxide yellow blonde whilst my dyed locks remained a bright orange. Fortunately, you can't really see to the extent it was from this pictures. My Mom literally cried when we washed it out. Can I vouch for this kit, err probably not. I think if you're highlighting just your natural hair (hasn't ever been dyed etc) you should be fine, but seriously do your research.

2. Jerome Russell Powder Bleach / Here and Jerome Russell Cream Peroxide / Here
So after the s**t had truly hit the fan, drastic measures had to be taken. Believe me, I have never been one for bleaching my hair. But when it looked the state it did, I decided it was my only choice. Rather than full out bleach it to try and even out the colour, I researched and decided upon bleach bathing it. It's much more gentle on the hair and lightens it just a few shades. I used TRESemme' moisturing shampoo and conditioner in the bleach bath mix. Thankfully, it did lighten my hair and even my hair out so the extreme blonde areas were toned down.

3. Clairol Nice 'N Easy 9A Natural Light Ash Blonde/ Here
Once I'd bleached bath my hair a few times (oh the damage) and evened it out, I went back to my faithful hairdresser adviser, ignored the horrified gasps and got my next titbit of advice. That was to apply a ash blonde hair dye all over to neutralise what was left of the brassiness and even out the hair which you can see in the bottom left picture of me. This hair dye did work and gave me a more even all over colour. I would definitely recommend this hair dye but I warn you, it honks to high heaven so dye in ventilated areas!

4. Revlon Colour Silk Dark Ash Blonde
So I had been dying my hair ash blonde until I found this shade, which was much closer to my natural hair colour. I dyed it terrified that my hair might go back brown (which had happened once before) luckily, it worked a treat. The bottom right picture of my shows it just afetr I'd dyed it. I bought this hair dye from Savers for £2.99 (hence no link) and it's one of the best hair dyes I've used, my hair feels so soft and shiny after using it.

 If I could advise anyone, think twice before dying your hair, I only ever used semi-permanent thinking it would just wash out but it really doesn't work like that. At last, I have come out the other side of my ordeal! If you're still here after probably the longest blog post in history, thank you! Until next time my little muckas! 

Laura.

Graduation 2014

Hello lovely readers! I'm back and this time I'm a graduate of Aberystwyth University! We arrived in Aberystwyth on Wednesday morning on a caravan site wedge between two mountains. It was the most beautiful and serene place and a lovely break.

On the Thursday, bright and early I donned my graduation hat and robes and stood up on stage to receive congratulations. I wasn't particularly enjoying it at the time and a few of my course mates were laughing at how much I was shaking. Thankfully, once I'd got up and the on stage part was over, I sat back and enjoyed watching friends and fellow students I had shared the last three years with graduate. It is so fulfilling to sit back and feel how proud you are of both your friends achievements and your own.

I'd be lying if I didn't say it wasn't a little sad too. There were a lot of people I knew I may never see again. I've made a lot of friends over my time in Aberystwyth and I feel really blessed to have met them. In the evening, after a nap and a change of clothes, I returned to Aberystwyth and drank with some of my friends around a bonfire on the beach.

Overall, it was one of the most memorable four days of my life and my fellow Aberystwyth Marine and Freshwater Biology Graduates, if you're reading this, thanks for all the good times and congratulations! To anyone else who may have graduated or be graduating soon pat yourselves on the back, getting a degree is no easy thing and you should feel proud!

I'll be putting up more posts soon about my time in Aberystwyth so keep your eyes peeled. Until then my loves, stay safe and happy!

Monthly Diary: July

Hello lovely readers, I'm so sorry it's been far too long since we've had a good old natter. The reason being that I am working so hard lately, I'm struggling to find time even to paint my toe nails. So, after a bit of thinking time, I decided I'd start a monthly online diary, nothing too personal but so I can update you on what's going on. I love reading these sorts of posts from others because they let you know the blogger but also give you a really nice feel for what someone elses life is like. So, before this becomes a dangerously long ramble...

So I've probably mentioned a few times that I'm saving for a Masters degree next year by working at my local pub. And working I am. I've gone three years without a job because of my degree so coming home and working near enough every day a week has been a huge change for me. I love having a good work ethic and I enjoy this job more than any I've ever had. The staff are all lovely and many I'd consider good friends already and the locals always have me laughing. That being said, I feel like I have time to do nothing else. I understand there's some sacrifices that you have to make when working, but I can't help feeling I should be managing my time a little better.

For example, the boyfriend and I have been discussing booking a last minute holiday for ages now and have even booked time off for it, but seem no closer to actually booking one. We've found a couple we like only to find negative reviews or it's out of our price range etc. I'd love to travel all over the world. So far I've been to: Paris, Le Havre, Lisbon, Bilbao, Aiya Napa, Magaluf, Saint Peters Port, Amsterdam and Guernsey. But there's still so many places I'd love to go: Crete, Rhodes, Venice, Rome, Vatican City, Athens and so many more. All this holiday talk and we're yet to find the one. Put this on top of the fact I'm now learning to drive and trying to study for my theory test, I am busy all day everyday.

It;s not all doom and gloom though, I am happy and very grateful that I even have a job. Just the other day I received my first pay check and splurged on a 3DS and a copy of Animal Crossing New Leaf so I have felt the rewards of working hard. I think sometimes, we need to realize that things aren't always as bad as we think and there's always something we can do fix it. For me, it's going to be better time management from now on!

In other news, I finally got to catch up with some my friends the other day. With us all working and coming  home for university at different times, it's been difficult to find the time to meet. But we had a lovely drink down the pub and a natter. So much so when I left my throat hurt from babbling so much. I really appreciate the friends I have, I don't know what I'd do without them! So my lovely buddies, if you're reading this I love you all to bits! I will stop there so you can catch a breath, I hope my first monthly diary isn't too much rambling and interesting to you somewhat.

 How are my lovely readers lately, can you relate to this post? Let me know in the comments below, love you all!

Mac Creme Cup

Hello all, sorry for being so crappy with my blogging. I've been working every day. It's nice getting into a good routine and a good work ethic. I've actually just treated myself to a new pink 3DS so I can play Animal Crossing (geek) so I'm feeling the benefits. I'm actually about to go to work so just a quick review today!

Mac is my favourite lipstick brand, period. And in my last haul post I showed you this little beauty that I picked up. It's the perfect everyday pink and looks really natural and cute. One thing I did notice is that this lipstick seems more moisturising than others, such as Russian Red. Overall, it's a really creamy finish and highly pigmented. It's definitely my new it colour!

Image Source: http://xpinkswoonx.blogspot.co.uk/

Anywho, I've got to dash, I'm doing the dinner shift and then coming home to a lovely Sunday roast at the boyfriends house. I'm so busy lately but the happiest I've been in a long time. Now I just need to make more time for my friends when they're all back from university! Have you bought any lipsticks lately? Let me know in the comments below! 

Haul: River Island, H&M and New Look

I know, I know. I mentioned a few posts ago that I'd go myself a job and I'm sure nobody is surprised that a Haul post was quick to follow. This time, it's mostly holiday related and I'm chuffed with my purchases. I'd been wearing a pair of shoes to work that after long shifts had played havoc with my feet, so I'd set my sights on picking up a pair of more comfortable ones. Needless to say, it quickly turned into a holiday shop. Without any more of my usual jibber jabber, here's what I picked up...

Mac Cream Cup
I probably don't need to tell you my love for Mac, and picking up a Mac lipstick on a shopping trip is an occupational hazard. I bought Cream Cup for my sister on her birthday and had some difficulty parting with it. Needless to say I was drawn to the lipsticks and found myself buying this. I'm only thankful I didn't end up splashing out on more.

New Look Tan Flip Flops
I wear tan flip flops pretty much constantly during summer because they can be thrown on with everything. After all, summer fashion is pretty and easy. These cuties, with my student discount, only came to around £7 so I really couldn't walk away from them and they fit a treat.

Primark Pumps
As fore mentioned, my work shoes were so uncomfortable so I saw these with the thick rubber bottoms and knew they would be better suited. As always, I wasn't disappointed with the price as these beauties we're only £6!

Primark White False Nails
I fell in love with these whilst waiting to pay for my other items. White nails are just so summery, and with my holiday (hopefully) coming up soon, I thought I'd test drive these first and will buy another pair for my holidays. For just £1, how can you turn it down?!

River Island Wrap Over Crop Top
I have been searching for a top like this, forever! I just happened to be looking on the website a few days ago and spotted one, but they were all out of my size. So when I went in store to find it, I was thrilled when I came across this one, and the black version. I left with just the white but will be returning to buy the black version soon because they fit so perfectly, I love them!

H&M Floral Bikini Top & Bottoms
I am a little obsessed with bikinis this summer and a few weeks

ago I found myself trying this one on and falling in love with it. I couldn't afford to splash out on it at the time so when I revisited, I had to pick it up. I think it's the cutest little pattern and the frilly bottoms are just too cute. I cannot wait to wear this poolside or on the beach!

H&M Black Kaftan
I've wanted a plain black kaftan for ages and haven't been able to find a plain one anywhere. When I saw this one, I was so chuffed, especially since it was only £9.99. They also do a mint version which is just oh so cute! I figured since black is quite plain it will go with everything.

So those are my recent purchases. When you've not gone on a spree in a while like I have, you'd be surprised at how many things can lure you in. I'm just happy that I didn't go absolutely mad because the summer things in store atm are far too cute for my bank account. Anywho, after all that shopping, I'm having a well earned cup of tea. Until next time!