Palma Nova - Mallorca Holiday!

Hi guys!

As I said in my last post, I went to Palma Nova, Mallorca a couple weeks ago, and it was awesome! We went to the beach, visited Palma aquarium (which, for the record, was the best aquarium I've ever been to) and even went on a glass bottom boat trip. We also came home with some little holiday souvenirs....

Palma Aquarium's friendly turtle

A drop in the ocean during our Glass Bottom Boat trip

Obligatory sea selfie

Cocktails on the last night!

A little holiday memento... Not henna

I hope you like my holiday photos!

Have any of you been on holiday? How was it? I bet you didn't lose your tan as quickly as I did (ha!)

 - Alice x x x

Holiday Packing!

Hey all!

So I'm off to Mallorca on Saturday, and I figured I'd share with you some of the stuff that's going in my suitcase. I'll be there for 7 days so I would imagine I'll add a few more essentials before I go, but these are the main items I will be needing. Hopefully this can inspire anyone who's also going on holiday soon!

So first off I pack my absolute essentials. I always like to start with the things I can't live without so that I know I'm not going to forget anything important.

Most importantly: my passport! I freak out at even the thought of forgetting my passport, so it was the first thing I laid out on my bed ready to pack. Mine has an 'A' drawn on it in biro, so my dad could tell mine and my brother's apart more quickly when we were younger (fun fact!)

The second most important things are suncream and sunglasses so that my skin and my eyes are protected. I'm extremely pale so I know that I'll burn really easily. I watched a Pixiwoo video a few days ago where Nic said that you should use 2 tablespoons per application - useful to know!
I also find that my eyes get sunburnt. Yes, my eyes. They feel dry and scratchy and go red in the whites, I'm not kidding. I've had these sunglasses for ages and I think I got them from New Look.

I also added in my swimming costumes, a cute top I got from the H&M Coachella collection and some hair ties. I always seem to forget hair ties and they're one of the most important things!

Next I got together my kimonos. I love kimonos, and they're just perfect for summer. You may remember the green one from my shopping haul the other day, and the grey one I've had for awhile now. I wear the grey one on nights out all the time and it's probably my favourite item of clothing. It fits in my little nightclub bag perfectly, which saves me on cloakroom fees!

Ok, apologies. I don't really iron my cotton clothes. The wrinkles come out when I wear them so I've never bothered, but now I realise how bad they look in this picture - ha!

These are just a couple of black essentials. A black t-shirt and a plain black dress. These are both super old but I consider them to be my core pieces in my wardrobe.

Last for clothing items was my shorts. I wear these Nike shorts a lot when I hang around the house. I did buy them for the gym but they're super super short and ride up my butt when I walk around a lot so I don't think they're all that practical for exercise. They're really comfy though and I think I'll use them as pyjama shorts when I'm away. The floral shorts were also from my summer haul.

I got the sparkly shorts from the kids section of TK Maxx. I think they're age 15 or something, but because they're quite stretchy they fit me just fine. These will be nice if I fancy a change from wearing black all day.

Lastly I got together my shoes. I bought the plimsoles and sandals only the other day because I don't really own summer shoes. I wore the heels on a night out last weekend and they were super comfortable. Like, surprisingly so.  You can see where my toes have shaped the sole a little, which shows just how pillowy they are.
I'm going to bring my Nike Air Force sneakers because they're the comfiest shoes I own and they'll be great for walking around all day sightseeing. They're also a bit of a statement, and they'll probably sparkle loads in the sun!


Are any of you going on holiday this year? Let me know in the comments!

 - Alice x x x

Life circa 2015

The only posts that I have done over the last year or so seems to be catch-up posts (lets get it overwith quickly: completed 4th semester at university, gotten a job and generally feel more grown up and put together by the minute - just kidding about the last part, I have no idea what I'm doing). And since it's summer and I have more time on my hands and Alice has seriously started blogging, I feel the need to post something.

The only problem is that the kind of posts that I like the most are the wordy lengthy posts. They're not exactly the most blogish. When it comes to blogs, I do tend to like the ones where the writing is kept short and to the point. Which is exactly what I'm bad at. Just look at this. Is there a purpose to my rambling right now? The answer to that question would have to be no. Writing for me tends to be a dictate of what I'm thinking at that moment. Along with a strong dislike towards re-writes and re-readings, my writing isn't exactly what you would call concrete, short and precise.

I started blogging when I was 13. That means that I've been doing it on-and-off for 8 years. I find that as I've grown more comfortable in the field, that my posts have also gotten a certain ease and therefor length. I guess you can say that I've discovered a personal writing style along the way. For me, it's crucial that what you read has a sense of personality. I'm a very private person and there's a true conflict for me with writing personal things online, so I always unconsciously try to make up for the personality lost topic wise in my writing style.

A personal voice makes a writer, and even though I'd never call myself an actual writer, and it could be argued that my voice is still in development (to which I would agree), I take pride in knowing that you can read this post, and get a sense of me. Of who I am. If you ever want to start a blog, what matters for me the most is not what you blog about but how you do it. The voice you instill in the writing makes and breaks it all.

Someone who truly does that for me, who has a true sense of personality in whatever she chooses to write about (although it doesn't hurt that her favorite topic happens to be the same as mine: fashion), is someone called Leandra Medine, also known as the Man Repeller.

Leandra writes about fashion in a serious, insider kind of way, but somehow she still manages to keep things fun. For me, it's not her huge knowledge about fashion that makes me love her blog, but the way that her writing portrays her goofy personality. She has inspired me to be less serious in more ways than one. Letting your personality utterly shine through in whatever you choose to do in life (not just in writing), is one of the best things you can ever do for yourself. 

Consider this post an ode to personality, yours as much as my own - oh, and Leandra Medine's. 

My Summer Faves 2015

Hey all!

Happy July! This year is going so quickly. Today I thought I'd share with you a few of my favourite makeup products at the moment as the weather gets warmer.

I've had this BB cream for awhile now, and this is the second kind I've bought from Skin 79. I originally had their Hot Pink version, which I really liked as well as this one. This is a genuine BB cream, so unlike a lot of the creams you find in drugstores in the UK this BB cream isn't just a tinted moisturiser. This has SPF25 in it which is great for summer, and the coverage is very buildable. I like to use it as sort of a primer for my makeup when I want my skin to look really glowy, because this product is so moisturising and rich that my skin feels super super soft after every time I use it.

I also quite recently got this Nivea day cream. It was on sale at Tesco for something silly like £1.50, so I figured why not. It's a nice, rich moisturiser and doesn't feel too heavy on my skin. There's also a little SPF in it (15, I believe) and that's a nice bonus, particularly for when I go to the gym when I don't wear my foundation or BB cream with SPF.

Even more recently I picked up this Real Techniques Beauty Blender. I've not owned any kind of makeup sponge like this before, so it was a totally new experience for me. I actually love it, the finish on the skin is so natural and dewy (especially as I wet the sponge before use) and the shape is really good for getting in all the cracks. Obviously my foundation has stained the sponge, and it's shown up a lot more in the photograph but I guess it's not there to look pretty. It's to make me look pretty! And I sure think it does. It's definitely worth the money, as £5.99 really isn't bad at all.

And these are my favourite eye products. I love Maybelline Great Lash, it has a super firm wand and it's not too oversized either making for much more precise application. I always buy waterproof mascara because the rain in England is unreal on mascara, and I find that in general waterproof flakes less and lasts longer. I've also got Maybelline's gel liner, which is seriously good for the price. I've had this awhile and it lasts ages. It's so creamy and thick. I think it makes the perfect cat eye.

I have a massive obsession with brows at the moment, and I used eyebrow pencil for ages to do my brows. But since I dyed my hair black I've needed something a little different. I've had this elf eyebrow kit for years, and never really gone near it. And I'm so pleased I now have. The brow gel is the perfect colour for me, it's a nice, ashy, buildable brown and it applies perfectly with this Real Techniques concealer brush. The fine tip on the brush allows for me to create some little eyebrow hair strokes and gives a really natural finish.


So what are your favourite products for summer? Let me know in the comments!

 - Alice x x x