Tuesday 27 March 2012

Home again

So I'm back from university, the journey home was horrendous, missed trains, delayed trains and just generally crap trains meant it took me 2 more hours to get home... totaling at 7 hours. Ridiculous!

Anyway, I'm soaking up the sunshine and making the most of the weather down south in the UK. One thing have wanted to talk about is a book I recently read.

After being told about 'The Fault in our Stars' by a friend I just had to pick it up. After realising this book was in the young adult section, I'm not going to lie, I didn't have very high hopes for this novel. But, doing English Literature at university means I read a vast amount of old english poetry and novels which are all extremely challenging and take a lot of background research to totally grasp, so it was a breath of fresh air.

This book by John Green let me take a break from the heavy literature and actually enjoy a well written novel which ticks all the right boxes and provokes emotion throughout. Not many books can make me laugh out loud or cry, but this one did and my housemate quickly picked up on this and now wants to read it for herself. The story is inspirational, philosophical and makes you realise just how important the small things in life are. I don't want to give the story away too much but Hazel Grace and Gus are such individual and strong characters it is such a cute love story.

So, a short and quick post today. I'm now going to do a bit of online shopping whilst sunbathing and relaxing in the garden with my family.
What books would you recommend?


Kat xx

Wednesday 21 March 2012

Those bad days

Today was not great. I woke up feeling awful, looked in the mirror and my skin was gross and my glands were poking out of my neck like they wanted to shout ‘hey look at me, I’m here!!’. So, a trip to the doctors was in order. My last trip to the doctors was due to an on-going dizziness for 3 days in a row, which to me is kind of worrying. Her response was ‘well from my experience, students who live the distance that you do from home means that they don’t have their parents around to tell them that they’re being pathetic’and she sent me off with some anti-sickness tablets… Now I found that a bit insulting. So, yes, I asked for a new one.

And the verdict from the new doctor is… I have a virus. 

I’m grateful to have doctors on my university campus and everything but seriously, they are useless. I waited for 15 minutes and was in there with the doctor for literally 2 minutes. She shined a light at the back of my throat and just said oh yeah it’s a virus and told me to be on my way. She didn’t even tell me what would help/make it worse. I may be being over dramatic, but it would be fine if I had someone at home to tell me what to do - but due to living with 11 other university students I'm guessing alcohol (this time) will not be the cure.

I did, however mention my skin which I’ve never brought up at a doctors before. So she super quickly prescribed me a cream which I will write about once I’ve used it for a few weeks.

Rant over about doctors. One product that has made a difference to my skin in the last week are these...



Cetaphil products, i.e. the cleanser and moisturiser, are amazing. I use the cleanser once in the morning and twice at night to remove any makeup or dirt on my face, I then use the moisturiser to sort out my dry skin and it works wonders as a makeup base.  The moisturiser manages to get rid of redness over night.

Anyways, I hope everyone is feeling better than I am today… back to bed I go!

Kat xx

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Dreaming of a sunny holiday

Here is my current shopping list for this years summer holiday to France. Yes I may be eager as it is only March, and yes it is only France, but I cannot wait to get away from the UK for 2 weeks! I haven't been able to go abroad for 5 years now so I am as pale as a sheet and dying for a break.



Topshop burgundy maxi front split skirt - £40
ASOS white dress with frilled skirt - £25.99
Zara pink long skirt with pockets - £9.99
ASOS culottes in tribal print - £15.99
ASOS woven t-shirt with jungle mirror print - £30
ASOS ash cindy bis high woven heeled sandal - £159 

There's nothing particularly 'out there' in my selection, I like to stay feminine and pretty during the summer. However, I have tried to pick some patterns and colours that I wouldn't usually pick to spice it up a bit.

Ok, so maybe I'll find some alternative sandals... I did screech a little bit when I saw the price tag! What's the most you would pay for a pair of sandals?

Kat xx

Monday 19 March 2012

Casual work day

I have just had one lecture at university today so I threw on a very casual and comfortable outfit. I thought the patterned top is pretty and has a spring feel to it without being too over the top.







Top - New look
Trousers - Primark
Boots - Ebay
Watch - Sekonda Diamond from H Samuel
Nail Varnish - No 17 Lasting Fix Nail Polish in 'Sweet Kisses'
Lipstick - Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Coral with Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Coral Reef on top


Kat xx



Sunday 18 March 2012

The morning after the night before

So, with all of the antics of last night turning into huge gossip, I am still recovering from the stupid amount of alcohol I consumed last night. After having an extremely lazy day in pjs and watching films, I have decided to make myself feel a bit better by making myself look at least presentable to venture outside of the house and go buy me some food.

Foundation is something I struggle with all the time. My goal is to find the perfect foundation for me and it is proving to be difficult.
So, my skin... My skin is ridiculously sensitive, I mean like anything can set it off. I had a horrendous problem with my skin last year, I used bourjois healthy mix foundation everyday for months then one day my skin decided to reject it and I ended up at the doctors surgery with a giant forehead... It may sound funny, and yes I did laugh whilst typing this, but it was the worst time I've had with my face and I need something to control its unruliness.

Although Rimmel's wake me up foundation is not the perfect one for me, I slapped a tiny amount on this morning with my Vichy dermablend foundation as concealer and it has brightened my dull complexion so I no longer look like a complete zombie, so it definitely deserves some brownie points!
After trying out Revlon's photoready foundation and hating the shimmery particles, this was a bit of a 'I have money, so I'm going to buy it' purchase. It hasn't yet set my skin off, but that's simply because I only use it on the odd occassion if I feel like I seriously need some colour put back into my skin. I don't use it much simply because of the scent of it, don't get me wrong the scent is lovely and everything, but with sensitive skin it is not the greatest idea.

I've never bought a high end foundation purely because I can't justify, especially whilst being a student, spending £30 on a foundation that might just turn me into a puffy faced mess. I have been considering buying Clinique's superbalanced foundation though, as I do have acne prone, combination skin so I need something to calm it down slightly. But, as I say every year, I am going to gradually try and decrease the amount of product I use on my face then maybe I can gradually persuade myself that I don't look that bad without make up on. Makeup has seriously ruined my skin and it has got to the point where I cannot even leave my university bedroom to get some food without putting a bit of foundation on encase I happen to bump into one of my eleven housemates. Not good! Vanity is bad, I know, but it consumes most of our lives and it definitely consumes a considerable amount of mine too!

Kat xx

Saturday 17 March 2012

Products that remind you of home

As a university student, living 250 miles from home, it is the small and precious things that remind me of my family.
Perfumes are my one of my favourite posessions as they can say so much about a person, not always good things though! The one (heavenly - hence the picture) scent that reminds me of my mum is this beautiful Chanel Coco Mademoiselle perfume. As you can see there is the tiniest (discoloured, yum!) amount left in the bottom of the bottle and before you ask... No I have not used this whole thing. My mum kindly gave me the last of hers as she was bought a new bottle of it (costing £80 can I just add!). Although this fragrance is nothing I would choose to wear myself, as a girl often opting to put on a spray or two of D&G's 3, it is something that I keep close to hand when I'm having one of the down days to remind me that home isn't actually that far away.

So, my first blog and already you know I have discoloured perfume bottles sitting around my university bedroom, I wonder what the next secret will be. 
I am planning on doing daily blogs including my current favourites products, my healthy eating and exercise regime and maybe a few book reviews (as an English Literature student I have realised that I should have read so many more classics than I actually have!).


Kat x x