Current Playlist ~ January '15

I thought I would do something slightly different for this  cheeky midweek post and share some of my favourite songs which I have been listening to recently.

My most recent playlist is one I have created for my 18th Birthday, now this playlist has an extensive range of music. It ranges from 'who is this?' to 'oh my gosh, I love this song' to 'I haven't heard this in years.' Its pretty diverse!

You can listen to the whole playlist here if you like...

So, lets get on with the list...here are my current favourite songs on January 2015

1. Okay so firstly I wanted to mention a full album and that is American Beauty/American Psycho - Fall Out Boy, I can honestly say I love every single song on this album and I can't stop listening to it.

2. GDF - Flo Rida ft. Sage The Gemini and Lookas

3. Get Low - Dillon Francis, DJ Snake

4. Take Me to Church - Hozier

5. Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson, Bruno Mars

6. Addicted to You - Avicii

7. Love Me Like You Do - Ellie Goulding

8. The Hunter - Slaves

Let me know what songs you are all loving right now, including any comments and suggestions for future posts! Also leave me any links to your blogs or even your current playlists!

Love Beth x

Little Black Dress ~ January '15

And, I'm back. Once again with my favourite style of post! (Bet you didn't see that one coming)

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about a staple item in every girl's wardrobe ~ The Little Black Dress. But, I didn't want to do what I normally do and just post as an OOTN, instead I decided to share some of my black dresses, and personally how I style them.

Currently, I own three black dresses, all three having completely different cuts and styles. 

1. Black Body-Con Midi Dress
The first is one I wore at New Year, (back in 2014, so the most recent New Year, thought I should clear that up), this one is extremely plain. It has absolutely no detailing, it is sleeveless and has a higher neck than any of the other dresses I have worn, but it is also quite long compared to many of my dresses. (I am quite short, so it probably wouldn't be this long on most people)

So with this dress I wore a pair of tan and pink block heels which were a birthday present from a friend a couple of years ago and also my favourite necklace of the moment which I got for Christmas this year. I don't really do 'dressy' so for me this is a compromise as the dress is casual and comfy, but I think the necklace and shoes dress it up a bit more.

I also wanted to mention the outfit the lovely girl beside me is wearing, it leads on nicely to the next dress I currently own...

2. The Black Lace Dress

So, as I was saying. The lovely girl beside me is Jess from the Blog Indecisive Jess, (if that wasn't a big enough hint, then go and check out her blog!), she's one of my closest friends who I actually know in person rather than just being 'internet buddies.' I think that everyone here would agree that her dress is simply stunning and she looks lovely!

Myself as well as two of the other girls who also attended the 'party' on the evening, had been having a heated discussion/argument prior to the event about who should wear their black lace dress (we all have nearly identical ones) and we all wanted to wear them. It ended in the agreement that none of us would wear them, so when Jess turned up wearing this dress I had a little chuckle to myself.

So, I've had my black lace dress for quite a while now and it is SO handy and I have worn it on numerous occasions. I can't actually find any pictures of me wearing it, but I will insert a link to one which is extremely similar right here.

3. The Black Peplum

The third and final dress I wanted to talk about is a black peplum dress I bought two years ago for my friends 18th Birthday party, once again this dress has served me well and I've also managed to work out a second way of wearing it!

This second way is pretty nifty to be honest, I was proud when I discovered it! If I tuck the skirt part into a pair of jeans it looks like a peplum top and so two looks from one dress....Bonus!

The photo on the left was taken two years ago, hence why I look slightly different. The right is me wearing the dress as a top. See multi-purpose!

Thank you once again to everyone who reads my blog, let me know what you think of this post and please leave and suggestions and thoughts in the comments below.

Love Beth x

The Bare Essentials ~ New Year Edition

Hello, Good Morning, Good Evening, Good Afternoon

Slightly different post today, Its more 'cosmetics' related and I thought I would share some of the essentials I take when staying somewhere over night, when I don't have much room in my bag and only take the things I really need.

On this particular occasion, I was going to stay at a friends for New Years Eve this was one of these 'sleepovers' where sleep really isn't necessary and the main aim is to have a good time.

So here they are the Bare Essentials of what I need when I stay over night somewhere with minimal sleep:

 1. Toothbrush & Toothpaste:
Do I really need to expand on this? No one wants smelly breath.

2. Make-Up Wipes
A beauty sin I know, but so much easier to remove make-up when you're out and about! These particular ones are Nivea Daily Essentials Gentle Facial Cleansing Wipes, nothing too fancy they do the job and are pretty inexpensive!

3. Cleansing Water
This isn't a complete necessity for everyone, but I use mine religiously every night and I love it! It is also pretty good at removing any of the makeup which the makeup wipes failed to remove. This is still the same Garnier one I've mentioned previously in my Basic Cleansing Routine 

4. Flannel
I'm not really sure what these are called in other countries but in England we call them a flannel, it is effectively a smaller version of a towel which is small enough to fit into my makeup bag and is extremely useful.

5. Cotton Buds
HOLY GRAIL these are my life, these simple little things literally save my life on a daily basis! Okay maybe a slight exaggeration but honestly they are so useful and I take them everywhere.

6. Moisturizer
Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion.This one is a new find for me, I've only been using it a few weeks and so far I really like it, in the past I've always used Simple moisturizer but I may have found a new one to purchase in the future! This is also a small size and so is perfect to to take somewhere overnight.

7. Deodorant 
Once again this is an obvious thing to pack for hygiene reasons, so never leave the house without it!

Thanks again for reading guys, I would love to hear what everyone else got up to over New Year and also any Bare Essentials you use or products you couldn't live without so leave me a comment and I will be sure to respond! 

Love Beth x

It's Okay To Move On ~ Lifestyle

Right, I have a slight issue to address here guys. An issue on my behalf at least, it's been bugging me for a few days and I feel I want to get it out in the open and physically write down exactly what I am feeling about a particular topic. Now, if this turns into a slight rant, apologies in advance, also these are my own personal views, I understand that some people may disagree with me and that is absolutely fine, I respect that.

So...Friendship.

So as you may or may not know, I will be turning 18 on the 22nd of January (I am aware I still look 14), so over my 18 years of life I have had many a friendship with various people. Some friends have come and gone, whilst others have stuck round for a long time. Each one of these friendships have obviously impacted on my life in positive ways and for that I am grateful. 

As time moves on, naturally people grow up, move on with their lives and do new things. New friendships are formed, this is what happens in life, it should be accepted and its basically just the Circle of Life.(I am listening to Disney as we speak, I have absolutely no shame!)

Over the past year I have been extremely fortunate to have formed some new friendships (which I wrote about in my 2014 Summary Post) with a group of people I am extremely thankful to have in my life, but as I have new moved on in my life and formed these new friendships, it has obviously been affecting some of my older friends. Maybe its a touch of jealously, or just not being able to accept the fact that people do move on. I don't know completely but unfortunately, I can feel there will become an issue in the near future between myself and a few of my friends. Can I just make it clear that I have in no way changed the way I act towards my old friends or pushed them away, it is solely just that now I have a new friendship group as well as my existing one.

My honest opinion on this is that, its completely okay to have different groups of friends, in fact its incredible to be blessed with many groups of friends and people that you know. To push it even further I would say it was unhealthy to be constantly surrounded by the same group of friends, even if these are your closest ever friends because eventually everyone will move on in their lives and if you haven't ever really spent time with other people you will suffer because of that when you move on. 

I have always lived by the principle that I see my 'school friends' every single day at school, I basically spend all day, five days a week with them. This is a lovely thing and I am blessed to have such a great group of school friends, but when it comes to a weekend and my own free time out of school I want to spend that time with my other friends. These are the people I don't spend every day with, these are the people I see less frequently, as much as a love my school friends, it would be suffocating to then spend my weekends with them too. Obviously I still enjoy seeing my school friends outside of school but um, I don't know. Do you understand where I'm coming from and what I'm saying?

Personally I see myself as a social butterfly, I love meeting new people, I never really shut up, I enjoy spending time around new people and in all honesty, I get on with most people I meet. You basically have to be a complete a***hole for me to not to like you, my dad is exactly like this too so that's where I get it from. 

What's the point I'm trying to make here...well. Just because I'm not spending 24/7 with you, just because we don't speak as much as we used to, just because I have new friends that I enjoy spending with, does not mean I won't be there for you. It doesn't mean we aren't friends anymore. It doesn't mean I've moved on and forgotten about you. Because I will be there for absolutely every single one of my friends if they ever need me, some people need to understand that and respect the fact that people are allowed to have more than one friend. 

Hope you enjoyed this slightly different post, I'm happy to write other posts like this on a number of different topics. So please leave me a comment to let me know what I could write about next, once again these thoughts are my own and are not designed to offend people who may read this. Everyone has different views and opinions.

Love Beth x

2014 ~ Let's Summarize

Currently sat, on my sofa. Watching the UK Top 40 Music hits, suffering severely from (a quite frankly disgusting) cold. Lets hope that everyone reading this is having a better time than me right now! Not that I'm feeling sorry for myself or anything....

Okay, enough with the complaints now, this is going to be a super heartfelt post as I reflect on some of my highlights of 2014. I made a super cute video of some of my photo highlights

It's been said a million times and hopefully if all my plans go right, I will be saying the same next year. But 2014 for me has honestly been such a step forward for me and I've had some incredible and completely life changing moments, which will be intended into my memory for years to come.

Sierra Leone Charity Work ~ April '14

I think for me, the most obvious and incredible experience of 2014, was back in April when I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel over to Sierra Leone (West African Country) to carry out charity work with a charity called Project 3580. I have wrote a blog post around the whole trip which contains some of my favourite photos, which you can read here if you haven't already. 

As well as the obvious impacts of this on my life, I also formed the most incredible friendships with not only those people living out there (who I am still in regular contact with) but also with those people from this country who also went over there. I can honestly say, I don't know where I would be without this group of people and its ridiculous how well we've all bonded as a group and how close we are as friends especially seen as we've only known each other for eight months. I am truly blessed to have made such incredible friendships over the past year, with a group of people who I hope to stay in touch with for many years to come.

 

General Sixth Form Life

Sixth form is one of those things that everyone complains about (including me), I think that is a general thing experienced across the country. One letter, two words, A Levels. Yes, they are incredibly stressful. But being in sixth form for me has opened up so many opportunities and allowed me once again to do things I would not have done previously.

Four Thousand Pounds
In 2014, myself and three other members of my school raised £4 thousand through various fundraising events over a period of months. This was a huge achievement for me and I was lucky enough to see this money being put to good use, redeveloping the church (not only a place of worship, but a communal area and building within the centre of the community) within the refugee camp in Sierra Leone when visiting in April.

Charity Fashion Show...You What? 
Following on from the £4 thousand raised, in December of 2014 I organised a Charity Fashion Show at my school to raise money once again to send out to Sierra Leone. This was one of the most difficult things I did within 2014, but the end result of the show was incredible, and once again on my part was a huge achievement and actually looking back was great fun! I would encourage anyone who has a 'crazy idea' to go ahead with it and do it!

Hello, Holy Man
So, on Friday 19th December, I got one of those surreal oppertunities to meet someone who is remotely famous. This was a man called The Archbishop Of Canterbury, I don't know how many of you will actually know who he is because from what I gather he is more famous within the English church. But for those of you who don't know..here is the Wiki page to give you a bit more of an idea (If you even care, I don't know.) In all honesty, I am not particularly religious, I don't really know what I believe about the whole God thing, which I think is quite funny as I am actually Head Girl of a Cathedral School and attend Cathedral services at least twice every week. But I was still incredibly grateful that I got the chance to meet him and actually have a chat with him.

Integration Of The Upper and Lower Sixth
So the final thing with regards to general sixth form life that I wanted to talk about was the introduction of the Lower Sixth back in September 2014. My sixth form has always been incredibly small, to be precise we have 28 members currently, that is both the Upper and Lower combined. So a Sixth Form is generally made up of 17 and 18 year old's, in our school we have a sixth form building and so the 28 of us spend almost all day, every day with each other. I will make a confession, I really wasn't looking forward to the new Lower Sixth coming into the Sixth Form and there is always the worry that personalities will clash and people won't get on. But this did not happen, obviously there have been small clashes between people over the past few months but on the whole, everyone has got on really well and I've loved being within the sixth form. We really are like one big if not slightly weird family, sounds really cringe but once again I've made some amazing friends and when I leave school in the Summer I know it's going to be emotional and difficult to leave such an amazing group
of people.

So, I think its fair to say that 2014 for me was an incredible year and one I will look back on and be proud of. I wanted to write this post for two reasons: firstly as possible inspiration for anyone who may be reading this, I hope that at least one of you will be inspired to make 2015 your best year and do things that you possibly have thought about but never had the guts to do. Secondly, I have enjoyed writing this post and looking back on all the things I've done recently. It means in the future I can look back, read this post and personally be grateful for everything I have achieved.

I wanted to end this post today by thanking each and everyone one of you for reading my blog, whether that be the once or if you are a regular visitor. I haven't been writing for very long, less than 3 months infact but already this blog has achieved more than I thought it would. I've had over 900 views since I started and that in my opinion is incredible for a (nearly) 18 year old girl who wanted to share her thoughts and opinions with strangers on the internet!

I know I say this every time but your opinions and comments are always welcome and please if you read this leave a link to your blog below and I will be sure to check it out!

I hope that 2015 is a great year for all of you. x

Love Beth x

Outfit Of The Night ~ Put On Your War Paint ~ Alternative Styles

To anyone who got the Fall Out Boy reference within the title..I salute you. To anyone who has no idea what I am on about, go and type in Fall Out Boy into You Tube. 

They are incredible...just saying.

Has anyone else ever thought of shaving one side of their head? Demi Lovato rocks it..so why can't I? Well I would never be brave enough to actually shave my head, so instead I decided to replicate the look in the best way I could....

This was done by french plaiting down the one side of my head and behind my back and then pinning it at the very back of my head. 

Top ~ New Look ~ £9.99 

Jeans ~ New Look ~ £22.99

Boots ~ New Look ~ £29.99

Lets just pretend I'm cool..okay? 

So if you didn't already know, I am a lover of modern Rock Bands, this type of music was a discovery in 2014 for me and I am now obsessed. Here are a few of my favourite bands: The Pretty Reckless, You Me At Six, Fall Out Boy, Lower Than Atlantis & Don Broco. I would LOVE to know if anyone reading this blog listens to any of these bands so please leave me a comment!

Love Beth x

Outfit Of The Night ~ Festive Period ~ Boxing Day Attire

As Promised here is the first of my 'Festive Period' Looks,

Nice photo bomb there from my sister!

As i'm sure I've mentioned before, when I go out I prefer to wear jeans rather than a dress or skirt, unless its a super special occasion. In my previous post I wrote about how I spent Boxing Day in Bournemouth with family and this outfit is the one I wore on my first evening staying there, we weren't doing anything too special on the evening and so a dress didn't really seem appropriate anyway!

The jeans you see in the photos aren't actually  meant to be ripped, I did them myself as they had start to wear around the knees anyway! They were from New Look and I've had them for a good few years so it was an experimental thing really and didn't matter too much if it didn't work out, but luckily it did and now I wear them quite frequently. Up-cycling at its best!

The top I am wearing is a plain black vest top, which was once again from New Look. These tops are really inexpensive and extremely versatile. In fact i've just realised all of the clothes I am wearing in these photos are from New Look, who doesn't love that shop?!? I know I do!

Accessories wise, I wore this necklace (once again New Look, £5 in the sale!) and also this skull print scarf which was also £5 from Primark a few years ago.

Okay so lets talk about the boots, I saved the best for last and I honestly cannot describe my love for them. These were one of the Christmas presents I picked out with my mum a few weeks ago, but obviously I couldn't have them until Christmas Day itself! But now I can wear them all day everyday, which is very close to the truth as I have been wearing them non stop since I got them!

Now I am fairly short just under 5 foot 4 inches to be precise and so any shoe with a heel is a huge bonus to me! These boots are one of the most comfortable pair of heels I have ever worn, the heel height isn't too high but still enough to make me taller and the platform makes them much easier to walk in. I am in love. 

I also forgot to say HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone who reads this blog, I hope 2015 is a great year for all of you, but until next time. Please leave me any comments or suggestions as I will read and respond to them all. 

Love Beth x