Uni life and Deadline Day ...

I'm currently still in bed at 4:27pm... Today I opted for a day to finally chill out and relax with the occasional thought of maybe cleaning and doing laundry... so far not successful, however the reason for my complete none movement today which I think I deserve the luxury of chilling out and not doing anything is the following...

These last few days have been seriously hectic, not with going out and partying like the stereotypical student I should be! No I actually have been doing uni work non stop for the last 5 days and a lot of it to be precise, as deadline days approach the stress levels rise, and this being my first uni assignment to hand in I think adds added pressure, deadline day is just over a week away so i've still got plenty of time to do things however I don't want to be seriously stressing out, thinking about how much work I have to do so I have decided to plan out my days and write down what I have to do on each day... much more successful than cramping everything in last minute than I usually tend to do. Although I will find myself stressing in the last few days I will hopefully be less stressed!

As these days approach I think we have to tell ourselves to chill out, and that everything will be okay so stop stressing as long as we have tried our best then stop beating ourselves up about it (mentally not physically). I am a strong believer of 'Everything happens for a reason' and so far in life this has been the case for me! But we are all human and we do tend to stress much more than necessary. So here is a a few thing to do and take into consideration as deadline days or exam days approach.

1) Plan your days leading up to your deadline or exam, make a list and note down things you need to do for each day, this way you have set goals and know what you need to achieve on the day 'for example yesterday I decided I had to have my final design completed' which I did manage to achieve.

2) Switch up what you are doing throughout the day for example as I am doing a creative course things can get repetitive and boring if you are constantly doing the same thing so I tend to do something creative and then do an hour of research for example, in other cases maybe change the topic you are revising.

3) Take regular breaks that way you are more committed in doing the work you have set yourself for example grab a tea or coffee or maybe go out for lunch with a friend and then tell yourself what time you have to be back by to continue with your work.

4) Have a playlist that you enjoy listening to or a TV show on in the background that way I personally feel I am more motivated to do work if something I enjoy is on in the background.

5) Finally have something to look forward to when deadline day or exams are over, mine is going home to see my family for christmas and doing some much deserved shopping!


                                                       Ellie x

MAC 'Hang-Up' Lipstick & 'Vino' Lip Pencil Review

After trying to find the shade 'Rebel' for weeks, numerous trips to my nearest MAC store and no success on purchasing it as it was unfortunately sold out on each occasion! I gave up and just got a similar shade, not quite 'Rebel' but it will do, I decided on 'Hang-Up' and lip Pencil 'Vino' as a MAC Makeup Artist who I follow did a swatch on the product a few weeks ago and I instantly fell in love and realised that it's as close to 'Rebel' as i'm going to get at the moment! I was also desperately in need of a deep colour for the weekend and just decided to go for it! 

What a great choice that was! I'm absolutely in love with this colour, the finish is rather glossy than more of a matte finish that i'm used to. In order to achieve the true shade you do need to apply quite a few coats to build up the colour, like all my MAC lipsticks the colour did last all night and did not need reapplying, however i'm quite paranoid when it comes to my lipstick looking perfect so I do tend to reapply when it's not exactly necessary. Moving on the 'Vino' lip pencil I do think it was rather a good match for this lipstick, also as this was my first buy of a MAC lip pencil, safe to say I was impressed and I will be buying more in the future, especially as I now have a gift card for MAC what better excuse!

I can't wait to wear this shade again! However I do feel it's more of an evening or occasion colour than an everyday shade, as the winter days are upon us, you may have seen in my previous post that I was trying to go back to my daring ways of wearing a statement lip on a daily basis but with constant early mornings at university I do find myself reaching for my trusty 'Velvet Teddy' so I think my next MAC purchase will more than likely be another neutral colour for my everyday look.


MAC 'Hang-UP' Lipstick - £15.50
MAC 'Vino' Lip Pencil - £12.50

What shades do you guys recommend?


                                                           Ellie x

MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation Review

So after using MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation for roughly a month now, I don't think i'll be changing anytime soon! The coverage is to die for and is nowhere near as heavy as the studio fix fluid I was using for so long. Recently i've enjoyed contouring too add more structure to my face and highlighting across my cheekbones and nose as of my long inherited asian nose! So I needed to ensure I had a foundation that would blend easy with the products I currently use to contour and highlight.  The shade I use in Studio Sculpt is NC30 which compliments my tan nicely! Previously mentioning the price, in a previous post I do think it is affordable retailing at £25.50 and you don't need to apply much to get a full coverage finish which I am constantly looking for, also comparing it back to the Studio Fix Fluid, I do think you get less waste with this product as the packaging you can squeeze it out rather than having to get it out of a bottle! Which is another con of the Studio Fix Fluid you have to buy a pump to use with the foundation as you will find you will waste a lot without one! So overall I have definitely been converted to the Studio Sculpt Foundation!

What are your thoughts on this foundation?


                                                          Ellie x

3 cities, one weekend...

So this weekend has been an extremely busy one... from Bristol to Birmingham to London twice,back 

to Birmingham and then finishing off in Bristol for a busy week of work! Safe to say I don't think I know what sleep is anymore.

Birmingham enabled me to catch up with some of the most amazing friends, and to finally be pampered i.e having my lashes and nails done and actually being able to have a bath! Thats one of the things I miss with living in uni accom, so having a bath is actually a privilege now. Going back to Birmingham is always a blast recently as not living there anymore has made me realise how much of a good city it actually is! I think sometimes you do take your city for granted when you're there 24/7! 

This weekend also allowed me to check out the new look for the Mailbox which I thought was quite disappointing considering how long they've spent redoing it! I was expecting better things from it personally and do feel its quite 'plain' to what I was expecting, however the added bonus is they now actually have a roof on the mailbox, so no more dodging the rain! I do hope that as more retail outlets open within the Mailbox I will grow to like it, although I did go quite late on the evening so I suppose its rather bias...moving on I also checked out Malmaison which also has a new look that I'm loving! The cocktails are always good there, so a few cheeky mojitos did go down quite nicely!

London! Two visits in one weekend, London is always amazing I spent my time in Kensington which is lush, the houses in Central London are to die for! One day.. fingers crossed one will be mine! (keep dreaming) Driving through Central London I couldn't help notice the magnificent Harvey Nichols window display! I do feel London do spend more effort on their window displays to other cities! Probably as its the Capital..but I was memorised by all of the window displays especially by night! London certainly doesn't sleep 1am and it was still so busy which is lovely to see, I do however think the more prestige shops should stay open 24 hours in London, as everything is much nicer on the night! 2016 i'll be visiting London a lot more as studying Interior Design  London does offer some amazing interiors... which I'm excited to explore in the next coming months.

My weekend finished off back in Bristol for a busy week of uni as deadline days get closer! It's nice to see that Harvey Nichols have launched their Window Display for Christmas.. not quite as flamboyant as the London Harvey Nics! But still amazing, also Bristols German Market has opened this week which looks rather nice, so I'm sure i'll be checking that out in the next few weeks! Although i'm going to the Birmingham German Market this weekend... who knows my next post might be a comparison of the two!

                                                                  Ellie x