Escaping the Sleepy Zone (aka: PROCRASTINATION)

Hi!  So...I haven't written a blog post in ages, and for that, I apologise!  Since starting back at school, I've entered something I like to call the Sleepy Zone (original title, huh?).  The Sleepy Zone is basically when you come home, and feel like you can do NOTHING.  Nada.  Zilch.  Zero.  You just feel like you want to fall into bed and, well, go to sleep.

The thing is, when you are actually out doing something, or when you sit down and make yourself do something, the Sleepy Zone goes away.  Completely.  But the difficulty with the Sleepy Zone is that you don't want to do anything, therefore making yourself do it is very, very hard.  Take this blog post, for example: I feel good writing it, its something I love to do, yet its taken me from 4.00pm (when I got home) until 7.00pm (now) to actually start writing.  WHASUPWITHAT??!

So when I'm at school, or out with friends or something, working is very easy for me.  And don't get me wrong, there are people with much harder jobs, much harder lives, than me, so I feel like a whiny little bitch writing this.  Honestly.

But fear not!  If you can see what I'm talking about, if you can empathise (er, please say you can?), then I am here to tell you a way out of the Sleepy Zone!  And its not caffeine.  Promise.

The way out is your mindset.  See, what I've done is name the Sleepy Zone, which has helped me to figure out what it is.  The Sleepy Zone is, in fact, PROCRASTINATION.    Procrastination is a word which is often flung around on the Internet, as the Internet is mainly where we go to procrastinate.  Us Internet geeks almost take pride in our abilities to procrastinate.  Don't lie - I know that its the one thing we all have in common, its probably why you're reading this!  On the Internet, procrastination can make you fit in, and you can feel like part of some sort of group.  But in real life?  Well, lets just say that procrastination is possibly one of the worst things that you can encounter.  (well, maybe not the worst.  #firstworldproblems)

Now, I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm almost seventeen years old (Novemeber 15th, put it in your diary! That is, if people actually use diaries any more.  You kids probably just use your phones.), I'm in my last year of school,  I'm snowed under by coursework and university applications and 'extra-curricular' activities, and I JUST DON'T WANT TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.  Because, truth be told, I'm scared.  Bloody, frickin' terrified.  I'm scared I won't be accepted into university, I'm scared I'll fail my exams this year, I'm scared about almost everything in my future because I'veneverbeenawayfromhomeIdon'tknowexactlyhowmylifeisgoingtoturnoutandARGH!!!

So I'm procrastinating - I've entered the Sleepy Zone because my fear is making me tired, but mainly because I hope that everything will go away if I don't do it.  Which is freaking ridiculous.

Lets just look at my worries, one by one, and see what we can do about them:

1) Not being accepted into university.  Well, that's the worst that can happen, isn't it?  Not being accepted.  The worst comes to the worst and I don't I go to college, take a gap year, or get a job.  That's it. And if I quit procrastinating and actually fill out my application, do my personal statement, then the chances are that everything will be fine.  So why the big worry?

2) Failing my exams.  Its not the end of the world.  There's always a way outside the system, and even if there isn't, there's always something else you can do - you're life may not go excactly the way you planned, but so what?  All I have to do is put my all into the coursework, do the best that I can, and that's it.

3)  Being scared about the future.  Nobody know what the future holds.  You can't predict how your life will turn out.  So stop trying.  Every kid has to move away from home.  Everyone has to find out what they want to do with their lives - if you don't get it right the first time, there's always a second chance.  Or if you end up doing something you don't like and you feel that it really is inescapable, then find something on the side that just makes you that little bit happier.  A bit of happy is all you need to make your life feel just that little bit more OK, to make you hope a bit more.  As for no knowing what you want to do, I recently read a book where one of the characters says something like this:  Imagine now, when you're thirty, and someone brings this eighteen-year-old kid up to you and says 'Hey, this is Kevin, and he's going to make all your life decisions for you'.  Its not a direct quote, (from 'Girlfriend in a Coma' by Douglas Coupland) its just from memory, but you get the drift.  Little old teenage you can't decide your life for you.  You can always change it when you grow up.

So, this is how to get out of the Sleepy Zone:  take your problems, however small, and just look at them, do they really need that much to sort them out?  I'm not going to pretend that I'm still not totally scared and confused, but I am a little bit calmer, and in the midst of all the drama, I'm really excited for my future, I hope that I can do everything that I want to, or even just one, little thing that will make me happy.  Once you know that your problems aren't so big, you can see past them to the future, and maybe get a little bit excited about stepping into the unknown.  And this isn't just for kids like me, just try it, wherever you are in your life if you ever feel a little bit lost.

Sorry for the long, rambling post today - I'm sorry it wasn't a fashion one, but more soon!!
Have a fantabulous day!

  xxxx

PS - gold star for you if you read this far down!  xx

PPS - I changed the font, as the old one was a little hard to read. Thoughts?! ;) xx

Stole My Hearts

Hi! I'm back with another outfit post - this time its for an evening out that I went to, for the local Youth Awards (I even ended up getting a couple of awards myself!).  As always, I hadn't planned what I was going to wear, so freaked out at last minute and ended up borrowing a dress from my sister!  Everything worked out though, because the dress looked gorgeous and matched my other stuff perfectly - phew!

(I've included two photos here - I know that I'm not looking at the camera in the second one, but I think that the picture is slightly clearer!)

My dress is from New Look - and my sister! - and is a really pretty skater style which looks good on most figures - I actually really like this dress because the material is nice and thick and the dress is tailored really nicely to flatter your figure, there's an almost belt-like panel of material around the waist which really pulls in the whole dress.  I also like the neckline, as I'm definitely not a fan of low-cut dresses, they just don't look right on me!  This dress is also perfect for dancing, its not too long to move about in, and not too short either (but I am only about 5 ft 3", so this might not be accurate for everyone, haha!).

From a distance the dress might look like its covered in polka-dots - but they're really tiny hearts!  How cute is that?! And if that wasn't adorable enough, there's actually heart-shaped cut-out on the back, at around shoulder-blade height (cut-outs at this height will usually look good on everybody, whereas cut-outs lower down on the back will just accentuate any love-handles on curvier girls!).  Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph the back of the dress because I'm a total ditz, and now its in the wash - sorry!

I wore my pinkish-nude Miss-Selfridge ribbon-tie heels - which you can see in my 5 top shoes post! - and they complemented the dress perfectly; nude, black and white will always work!

I'm not into wearing loads of accessories, so I kept it minimal with two pale-pink bracelets (as seen in my Hot Summer Jewellery post) which matched my shoes.

On my nails is Barry M's nail paint in Shocking Pink, which is my favourite pink nail polish ever!  I also teamed it with a new nail polish form Avon: Opal Top Coat, which adds fragments of holographic glitter over your regular nail colour. (pink and sparkly - basically me, in nail polish!).

I did a brown and gold smokey eye for my makeup, which shows up a lot less on camera, but was actually quite dramatic!  Since my eyes were rather heavy, I just chose to add a slick of clear lipbalm onto my lips, as I would also be eating and chatting later!

Thanks for reading - have a fantabulous day! Leave any comments down below, I would love to hear from you, it means a lot! <3

  Bexx xx

P.S. check out my Youtube channel - maybe even like or subscribe while you're there?  It would make my day :)

Quick Update!

Hi! sorry I haven't posted in a little while - new outfit post coming tomorrow!
Also, I just got Instagram - check it out, my username is rebekharhia, same as my blog!

Here's a pic of me and my twin sister (I'm the one on the left!), my dress is from a shop called Swish in Edinburgh, but I bought it years ago, and I wear it all the time - I think that a go-to dress is an essential in your wardrobe, one that's easy to dress up and down!

have a fantabulous day!

Bexx xx

London Shopping Haul: Video!

Hi! For my post today, I have a surprise - I made a Youtube video!  I've never done this before, but it was a lot of fun to make, so hopefully there'll be more in the future!  Since this was my first try, its not perfect, but I hope you like it anyway, and any feedback would be appreciated!

I recently went shopping in London on my summer holiday, and decided to make a haul video of what I bought there (check Youtube video description for a list of where I bought everything, and how much it was).

Thanks for reading, and have a fantabulous day!
 Bexx xx

Hot Summer Jewellery

Hi!  So recently I've been rediscovering my jewellery collection; I don't normally wear a lot of jewellery - usually only one or two key pieces - but in summer, jewellery is a pretty easy way to spice up outfits like shorts and t-shirts.  So here are two looks which I've been wearing: one pink, one blue!

 Pretty in Pink

This first look is very pink and girly!  I'm wearing two bracelets which are quite similar - the one with the dragonfly was from Accessorize, and the one with the flower was from an art gallery shop when I was much younger (it was reduced to a couple of pounds because of a tiny scratch!).  I've also been loving these little knuckle rings, especially the quite delicate ones - mine isn't actually a knuckle ring, its just a ring that I had when I was little that doesn't fit, so when it comes to jewellery, just utilise what you have!  This bigger ring is from New Look, and since I got it a while ago, the gold colour of the metal has faded to a more bronze tone, but I actually quite like this with the pink of the stone in the ring!

 Baby Blue

As well as being blue, this look will go with a lot of things because of the colours in the bracelets.  I found my large ring in the sale at Accessorize, and the knuckle ring is (again!) one which used to fit around my whole finger when I was little!  The dolphin bracelet was gift from a friend just the other day - my sister and I bought her a similar one years ago when we went on holiday, and she found ones with dolphin beads almost the exact same on her holiday to Cornwall! My other multi-coloured bracelet is from a shop called Joe, in Edinburgh, and I think it's really beautiful (and it didn't cost much either!).

I'm wearing a mixture of two Barry M nail polishes on my nails in these pictures: #337 Pink Silver Glitter (which is a solid fine-glitter polish) as a base, and #352 Pink Sapphire Glitter (which is a pink holographic chunky-glitter polish) over the top.  

Thanks for reading, and have a fantabulous day!  Leave me a comment - I really appreciate them and will probably reply!

  Bexx xx

Drugstore Products for Oily Skin

Garnier Moisture Match Shine Be Gone, Lush Aqua Marina, The Body Shop Tea Tree Facial Wash Reviews

Hi!  So, instead of a fashion-related post today, I have a beauty one instead, simply because there are some products that I have been using which I really like and which have been helping with my oily/spot-prone skin - so if this post can help anyone else out, then I'll be happy!  All of these are 'drugstore' or highstreet products, and all of them come in at under £7, so won't break the bank any time soon! I'm not expert on skincare, and these are just my opinions, obviously if you have problem skin, I would advise speaking to a proffessional.  But if you want to try something new, these are some products that I'd recommend!

Lush - Aqua Marina

The firs product is Lush's Aqua Marina, a cleanser which claims to 'smooth and calm' your skin, and is also mattifying, as I was told by the shop assistant.  It comes in at just over £6.

I think it's quite cute how there's a little yellow sticker on each product telling you who made it - plus the expiration date, which is 3 months, as Lush products don't tend to have preservatives.

The product looks like this - it is a pale pink squishy paste with green seaweed-type stuff running through it, which you either love or hate the look of!  The smell is also quite distinctive, very salty, the best that I can describe it it like the beach, so I'd recommend smelling it before you buy to see if you like it!

You are meant to use the product by putting a pea-sized amount in your hand and mixing it with water to a 'milk or paste' consistency - although this works, if I'm in a rush I find it easier to dot the product on my face and then rub water over it, as it is a little fiddly to do it the other way!

Overall the ingredients seem good, as with most Lush products they are natural, but I do wonder about the 'perfume' at the end of the list, as they don't say what it actually is!  As for how this worked on my skin, I can say that my face freaked out when I first used it, but don't worry if this happens, as your skin will usually change or break out if you change your routine.   It definitely mattifies my skin, but also leaves it very soft, which is great!  The only thing I would say is that after using this you must ensure to rinse your face very well, as - although none of the ingredients are bad for you - it isn't good to have a thick product like this clogging up your skin!  I do like it though, and it is quite a refreshing change from most of the harsh cleansers which are usually for oily skin.

 The Body Shop's Tea Tree Skin Cleansing Facial Wash

Our second product is from The Body Shop, and claims to be a 'daily-use for blemished skin facial wash' that will give 'clearer-looking skin when used as part of a regular regime', which costs £5.

It is of regular face-wash consistency: a runny clear green gel, with a pleasant sharp tea-tree smell.

I'm not sure whether it would be classed as a foaming cleanser - you can see in the picture though that it does lather up well, and I can definitely feel it cleaning my skin.

This is a full list of the ingredients:

 Aqua (Solvent/Diluent), Glycerin (Humectant), Sodium Laureth Sulfate (Surfactant), Cocamidopropyl Betaine (Surfactant), PEG-120 Methyl Glucose Dioleate (Viscosity Modifier), PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil (Emulsifier), PEG-7 Glyceryl Cocoate (Emulsifier), Polysorbate 20 (Emulsifier), Alcohol Denat. (Solvent/Diluent), Panthenol (Skin/Hair Conditioning Agent), Melaleuca Alternifolia Leaf Oil (Natural Additive), Calophyllum Inophyllum Seed Oil (Skin Conditioning Agent), Allantoin (Skin Soothing Agent), Citric Acid (pH Adjuster), p-Anisic Acid (pH Modifier), Benzophenone-4 (Sunscreen agent, Ultraviolet Light Absorber), Menthol (Cooling Agent), Sodium Hydroxide (pH Adjuster), Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane (Sunscreen), Limonene (Natural Additive), Leptospermum Petersonii Oil (Natural Additive), t-Butyl Alcohol (Denaturant), Denatonium Benzoate (Denaturant), Tocopherol (Antioxidant), Caramel (Colour), CI 19140 (Colour), CI 42090 (Colour).

Now, in comparision with the Lush cleanser, the ingredients are definitely not as good or as natural, so perhaps is your skin is very sensitive I would recommend the other product.  Sometimes I think hat The Body Shop pretends to be a lot more natural than it is - a simple rule that I have is: the more ingredients there are, and the less understandable their names are, the less natural the product is!  That said, it isn't overloaded with as many horrible things as some drugstore cleansers are!  I really bought this product when I was just at my wits end for skincare, and needed something that helped with my spots - I didn't want to keep on wasting my cash on stuff that didn't work!  And thankfully, this worked.  By no means does it completely clear up your skin or make it perfect.  But it does keep breakouts at bay, and helps to minimize oiliness, which is good enough for me!  It is great in summertime too, but in winter, if you get patchy or dry skin, I maybe wouldn't recommend it, as it is quite drying, however it can still work if you use a good moisturizer, as I can't always afford to switch up my skincare every season!

Garnier Moisture Match Shine Be Gone

This moisturizer claims to give a long-lasting mattifying effect, and to moisturize for up to 24 hours (it also says a bunch of other fancy stuff on the packaging, which all basically means the same thing!), and sells for around £4 (in Boots), although when I got mine it was on offer for about £2!

This is what the product itself looks like - in the picture it appears white, but it does have a slightly green colour.

If you look closely here, you can see that the texture of the moisturizer isn't your typical cream - I think they called its a gel-cream or mousse, the texture is really hard to describe because when you rub it in you can feel it separating into pieces then into a kind of almost grainy-velvety texture - its just really weird! I like that this product isn't scented, because nothing annoys me more than scented moisturizer.

These are the ingredients:

Aqua/Water, Glycerin, Isononyl Isononanoate, Alcohol Denat, Acer Saccharinum Extract/ Sugar Maple Extract, Ammonium Polyacryldimethyltauramide/ Ammonium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate, Behenyl Alcohol, Benzyl Alcohol, Benzyl Salicylate, Biosaccharide Gum-1, Camellia Sinesis Leaf Extract, Caprylyl Glycol, C1 42090/ Blue 1, C1 47005/ Acid Yellow 3, Citronellol, Disodium Ethylene Dicocamide Peg -15 Disulfate, Glyceryl Stearate, Glyceryl Stearate Citrate, Limonene, Linalool, Mannose, Phenoxyethanol, Pyrus Malus Water/ Apple Fruit Water, Silica, Sodium Acrylates Crosspolymer-2, Sodium Hydroxide, Tetrasodium EDTA, Xanthan Gum, Parfum/Fragrance.

One thing that annoys me about the ingredients is that the fourth one in is an alcohol (ingredients are listed according to quantity, the most first) which can be drying for your skin (which isn't good even when you want to mattify).  On the whole, I quite like this moisturizer as it is quite light and oil-free, however it doesn't have an spf, so if you are going to be outside, layer it up with other products.   Unfortunately, I didn't really notice the mattifying effect and I don't believe the 24-hour-hydration claim (I'd apply it every 12 hours).  But it is a nice, non-greasy moisturiser, that doesn't impact on my oily skin in a bad way, so its fifty fifty.

Thanks for reading!  As I said, I have no expert opinion on these products, this is just what they did for me.  I do use them all together - first the tea tree cleanser, then Aqua Marina, then the moisturizer (I used two cleansers because I prefer the tea tree one after I've taken off my makeup to get rid of any left over bits, and I like the calming effects of the other cleanser afterwards, so I feel that together, they both do a better job than apart).

Have a fantabulous day!  Bexx xx

(disclaimer: products bought by me, opinions are my own, not sponsored or associated with any of these brands)

My Top 5 Shoes!

Hi! So, for today's post I was going to do a summer outfit post, but I woke up and it was pouring with rain (seriously, its been tipping it down since at least 8am!), so my plan was scuppered.  So instead, here are my five favourite and most worn pairs of shoes - I am definitely a shoes girl, but I tend not to buy them very often as once I have a pair that I love, I wear them to death! (so excuse any little marks on the shoes in the pictures - they're very well-loved!)

#5

OK, so I know that they're not the most exciting, but my Reebok trainers had to make the list!  I used to wear them all the time, and have recently rediscovered them, and I can tell you that they are the most comfortable shoes in the world. Possibly.  After all the year that I have had them, I think its a miracle that they are still white, and I love white trainers, especially clean new ones that are really bright!  In the summer, I love to wear these with shorts and t-shirts, or even skirts and little ankle-socks,and when its colder they look really good with simple jeans, or you can dress them us with black disco-pants (which I think gives a slightly 80s vibe, which I love!).

#4

This next pair of shoes I bought in Deichmann over a year ago, and despite being very affordable, they are lasting well!  They're high-heeled brogues, and I have to admit that, until I saw these, I wasn't particularly fond of the trend.  However these were the shoes that made me love brogues (or oxfords as I know they can be called outside of the UK), I just love the muted brown colour of them, and I think that the delicate little designs are adorable! I recently wore these with a yellow collared dress to my friend's birthday dinner, and overall the look was very vintage and cute.

#3

Without a doubt, these gorgeous sandals have got to be my favourite summer shoes - they were a recent buy from Primark for only £5 (and now are in the sale for £3!!! That's insane!), and I've worn them almost every day since buying them.  They are made of plastic (the best that I can describe them is grown-up jelly shoes!), but it seems doesn't seen to have worn at all, and they haven't given me any blisters on sore feet at all as you might expect with plastic.  They are also black, so go with almost any outfit, but my favourite thing about them is the tiny gold bumble bee on the front, I just thought that they were an especially unique and incredibly fun detail!

#2

These shoes have been through a lot - I originally bought them for my cousin's wedding last summer, and they were also my prom shoes at Christmas time, as well as being worn to many other parties and occasions!  (they also featured in my last London outfit post - here they are in close-up now!) What really attracted me to them was the rose-gold shiny detailing at the front, along with the ribbon tie - when buying them I was at my wit'send trying to find a pair of shoes in this colour, and then these just stood out to me from the shelf in Miss Selfridge! (luckily they were in my size, because they were the only pair left!) They make it onto this list because, although they have sentimental value too, I just think that they are really gorgeous!

#1

Last on my list are these boots, my number one top pair of shoes.  They have appeared in a couple of other blog posts, so obviously, I love them very much!  They were a birthday present around three years ago, and I'd count them as my first pair of actual heels (what could be considered my first pair of heels might be a pair of black shoes with a teeny-tiny minute heel which I wore to my first junior prom.  But I didn't really like them, so I'm not counting them!).  They're really super-comfy, probably because I've worn them so often, and they're pretty much weather-proof - I've even worn them in snow!  You can also wear them with the tops turned down to show the lining, so two looks in one, and I wear them with almost anything: jeans, leggings, dresses, skirts, shorts, you name it!  If you couldn't tell, these are my favourite pair of shoes ever!

xxx Bexx

(Psssst!  follow me on twitter: @xB3ccA )