August Favourites

Hello and welcome back to my monthly favourites! I missed out on doing this post last month due to illness and moving house, so as well as August favourites I'm also throwing in a few of my favourites from July too!

First up is the cult classic, Nuxe Reve de Miel. It's a super thick lip balm, packed with good stuff and it smells like oranges. I held off buying this for a while as it retails for around £9 in the UK depending on where you get it from...I thought that it was silly to spend that much on a lip balm, but honestly it's totally worth it. The glass jar also gives it an added luxe feel and it thoroughly hydrates the lips leaving them plump and chap free.

Next up is the Good to Glow liquid illuminator from Rimmel. I've really been in to highlighting over the past few months so I thought I'd give a liquid formula a go. You can either apply this under makeup, on top of it, or mix it in to your foundation for a really glowy finish. I like to take a small amount and tap it over my cheek bones once I've finished my based. It's subtle and leaves a really healthy glow on the skin.

Another complexion favourite this month is the MAC blush in Pink Cult. It's a cool toned matte pink blush that just goes with everything and it lasts for ages on the skin. As always with MAC check products it has a great texture to it and blends seamlessly.

Moving on to eyes...I'm a big lover of liquid liner, but I tend to stick to black- it's a bit of a staple in my makeup bag. However I thought I branch out into the world of colour and picked up the Collection Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Liner in Purple. I've used the Collection liner before in black so I knew the quality and staying power was good. The purple isn't immediately noticeable as it's a dark purple, but it just adds a little something to your everyday look. 

Another favourite for the eyes in an old favourite of mine..the Clinique High Impact Mascara. I havent had it in ages so it's really nice to use it again. It gives the perfect amount of lift and fullness to the lash, is really black and stays on all day.

L'Oreal have recently launched a new range of lip glosses to replace the old Glam Shine range (which I really loved), so I picked out a nude to check out the formula. I went for the cream formula in shade 103 Protest Queen. It's basically the perfect creamy nude gloss...great worn on it's own or layered over other products. It's not too sticky and actually lasts pretty well on the lips.

I have two nails favourites and they're both from Essie. Fiji is a summer staple as it's just so classic and instantly makes me feel tanned. A newer addition is Salt Water Happy, which has been released as part of the limited edition summer collection. It's the perfect pale cornflour blue and I absolutely love it. I've been looking for a cornflour blue for ages and Essie have got it just right.

My final favourite is a new fragrance...You'll have all seen that the Body Shop have been killing it recently with their new launches; the Spa of the World Collection and the new fragrance line. Well, everyones been going mad about the Fig fragrance so I popped into a store to give it a sniff. But it was actually the Indian Night Jasmine scent that got me. It's kind of difficult to describe, but it's a woody oriental fragrance with some serious depth to it. Honestly it just smells amazing & I've had many compliments when I've been wearing it, so i'd highly suggest that you go and check it out!!

And there we have my favourite from July/ August! What products have you been loving over the summer months?

My University Room- Year One

Leading on from my First Year Round Up and my Uni Essentials list, I thought I'd show you around my first year room. I lived in catered halls about a mile away from my university. You could walk in on a nice day, but we were all given free buses as the buses would go by every five minutes or so. There were around 198 (I think) rooms in my Hall, though not all of them were occupied, so it was a pretty small place. All of our meals were served in the dining hall which was opposite my room (I lived in a quad). Out of all of the accommodation options at my university this particular option was the most traditional style- housed in a beautiful country house with a lake, the old fashioned dining hall and our own library, there was also a junior and senior common room, a music room, tv room and a games room. We also had three different formals throughout the year. 

So on to the room itself, I was on a downstairs corridor (no stairs when coming home from a night out was ace). My room had a single bed, a desk, bookshelf, bedside table, large wardrobe with lockable cupboard up top, a sink and a mirror. This was classed as a medium room, though I actually found it to be far bigger than I was expecting. All in all it was the perfect place for my first year of uni and I really enjoyed living there!

I'm now house sharing with three other girls, so will do a post sometime soon about my accommodation for my second year of uni.

I hope you've enjoyed this insight into my first year room & please feel free to ask any questions!

Product Rave: Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub

Welcome back to my second instalment of my Product Rave series. Today I'm talking about the wonderous little product that is the Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub. Everyone that has tried it loves it, because it works so well and is so easy to use. 

The lip scrub comes in a few different flavours including Mint Juleps and Popcorn, but I decided to go for the Bubblegum flavour. I scoop out a little bit of the scrub, pop it on to my lips, rub my lips together and then use my finger to really scrub the product into my lips. I finish up my rinsing my mouth area with cool water to wash it off. 

My lips are left super smooth and ready for any lip product, no matter how drying. I'll definitely be continuing to use this! 

Product Rave: Liz Earle Eye Bright Soothing Eye Lotion

I had this product in my stash for a while before I actually used it. I found the name to be a little confusing..What was this actually for? A few times after a long day at uni or after a bit too much laptop time I'd soak a few cotton pads in the stuff and let that sit over closed eyes for a few minutes and that felt great, but I was sure there was a better use for the product. So I tried it as an eye make up remover. And that's when I really fell in love.

The scent is uber soothing as it's so herby and fresh and I'm not sure why, but this liquid always seems to be really cold, no matter where I keep it in the house, so it's super refreshing on the eyes. I just soak a cotton pad and leave it on my eye for a few seconds and that pretty much gets everything off. Another quick few swipes around the lashes and my eyes are totally clear.

What I especially love about this product is that it gets everything off without leaving an oil behind. My lids feel totally clean and I don't wake up with eyeliner or mascara still on my eyes in the morning!

Have you tried Eye Bright? What's your favourite eye makeup remover?

I'm baaaaack (Again)

So yes I know, recently I've been on and off a little with the blog, but I have good reasons I assure you! In the last few weeks I've been as sick as a dog AND moving out, so it's all be tres stressful and mad. But now all is calm and settled and I finally have time to sit at my new desk, in my new room, in my new house (how fancy!) to catch up with you lovely bunch and fill you in on the beauty/fashion/lifestyle bits that I've been loving whilst I've been MIA.

Speak soon.....

Product Rave: Model Co Eye Liner

I'm back with another product rave! Today the product I'm telling you about it the Model Co Black Eye Pencil- a classic black pencil eye liner. It's really pigmented, super easy to apply and doesn't smudge. It also still has that slightly creamy powder texture to it, rather than the even creamier gel formulations such as the Rimmel Scandal Eyes liners, which can get a bit too smudgey if you arent careful.

I've been enjoying using this as an altervative to liquid liner. I use the pencil to tight line my upper lash line which makes them look thicker and darker than they actually are. I then draw the tiniest wing at the end of my lash line, which gives a subtle but defined effect. Great if you aren't very confident with liquid liner or find that is is too harsh for you!

The eye liner itself retails as £14, so it is more of a premium product, but I think it's great value for money. 

University. Year One: The Round Up

If you've been reading my blog for a while, last summer around this time I talked to you about my A Levels and how I'd be moving on to university to study Law. Well, a year on I'm at the end of my first year of uni, having achieved a 2:1, so I thought I'd give you a bit a round up of the last year (similarly to my A Level Experience post, which you can find here.)

Law is an extremely popular subject to study in the UK, as I'm sure it is across the rest of the globe. It's challenging and difficult, but also extremely interesting and rewarding. Overall, I really enjoyed my first year. Some of it was really easy, and some of it I thought I'd never understand, but I got there in the end! It's the kind of thing that you really need to be passionate about...This passion will make the fun things more fun and the boring things bearable!

I'll try and talk about this in some kind of order, so we'll start with Semester 1, then move on to Semester 2, then briefly talk about Semester 3 (the exam period). So, during each teaching semester (1&2) I studied 4 modules, I believe this is the same at most English universities. For Semester 1 I studied Criminal Law, Contract Law, Legal Systems & Method and finally, Skills for Law. Both Criminal and Legal Systems were “short-fat” modules, meaning that they are taught just for one semester, whilst Contract and Skills were “long-thin” modules, meaning that they were taught over the period of two semesters.

For me, Criminal law was by far the most interesting module I studied in this last year. Perhaps because it was related to the things that people usually think of when someone talks about the law, such as theft, abuse and even murder. Whilst there is a lot of detail to be covered in Criminal law, once you get it, it's actually pretty straight forward, and simple to apply. At my university, Criminal Law was assessed with a 3 hour exam at the end of semester 1 which included multiple choice questions, problem questions (where you are faced with a scenario) and an essay question, where you are asked to debate or explain a point of law.

Legal Systems and Method was far more theory based and looked at the evolution of law and how it fits into society. It predominantly focused on Karl Llewellyn's theory of law jobs, so if you're looking to go and study law at some point in the future I'd grab a book on Llewellyn as his name always pops up! This module was assessed by a written piece which was around 5000 words long- I know that sounds mammoth, but it's split between two questions, and you'd be surprised at how much you have to say!

Moving on to Contract Law and Skills for Law. Contract, as you can imagine was hugely detailed. You look at everything from the formation of a contract to dissolving a contract and damages. Definitely extremely interesting if you allow yourself to be motivated by the subject matter, but it's easy to fall behind if you don't keep up, so make sure you do! Contract law was predominantly taught in S1, with around 4 weeks of teaching in S2, with the rest of the semester being allocated to completing the written assignment, which was a 5000 word piece, collected at the end of S2.

Skills focused on the research skills necessary for studying law- the practical things such as how to find relevant cases and how to cite them in academic papers. Not very interesting at all but completely crucial! 20% of the module mark came from an online quiz which tested your ability to use your legal skills whilst the remaining 80% came from a written assignment on an abstract matter, which focused on highlighting your legal research skills. Both of these were at the end of Semester 2.

Semester 1 over and done with, now on to Semester 2! As I previously mentioned two of my Semester 1 modules ran through to Semester 2, but I also picked up 2 new modules. Those being Public Law and the Constitution and Values and Law.

Public Law focused on the creation of law, why we need it and how the Constitution was created and is relevant to the law. It covers a lot of ground, is extremely fast paced, and honestly, is pretty difficult. What I would say is that if you have a sound humanities base from your A Levels, such as Politics or History, this will help a lot! Do not underestimate this module, it is tricky, highly detailed and is merely a taster of what is to come in your second year, so beware! 30% of this module mark came from an assignment, which was around 2500 words, whilst the other 70% came from a 2 hour exam at the end of S2.

And finally...Values and Law. As far as I am aware, this was an abstract module developed at my university which allowed us to focus on how the law really works in society in matters such as equality between genders and crime and punishment, it also looks at philosophical approaches as to why people are treated in certain ways. This enabled you to challenge what you thought was right and wrong with existing law and helped to understand why it is so. This was also entirely assessed by a 5000 word assignment at the end of S2.

So all in all, my first year consisted of 2 examinations, 4 written assignments and 1 online quiz.

It was tough. I really think it's important for prospective law students to understand that your first year is by no means a practice year that doesn't matter. It is extremely important as it lays the foundations for future years of academic study, and a lot of the core material that you're taught in your first year is absolutely essential for understanding future material!

Now that I've scared you all to death can I just say good luck to everyone that is waiting on A Level results (or any other exam results across the globe). University is one of the best experiences you can have and I wouldn't change my first year at all!

I know this post has been very  focused on the academic side of things, but I will be doing another Round Up post, focusing more on the social side of uni, which is probably what you're really excited/nervous/scared of!

Speak soon....