September Favourites ❤

Hi everyone! I hope you've all had a great month.

I certainly did as it was my 18th birthday on the 20th and I spent it in Greece!

(You can read about that here)

Anyway, here are my September favourites :)

Favourite Perfume - Gold Magic by Little Mix 

When I heard that one of my favourite girl groups, Little Mix, were going to be bringing out their own perfume, I was so excited. I would probably describe the smell as fruity, sweet and powerful. It has a scent that never stops surprising the senses and it opens with a burst of playful fruits including lemon, raspberry and apple. It has a captivating powdery velvet heart of pretty violet tones which is both refreshing and sophisticated.

Favourite Bath Products - Brightside bubble bar from Lush

Bubble bars are one of my favourite things to get from Lush as you only need to break a tiny piece off to get a bubble filled bath which means they last for ages. I got given this for my 18th birthday and I was so excited to try it. It didn't disappoint as it smells of citrus fruits, which is one of my favourite smells. It also turned my bath into a gorgeous orange colour. 

Favourite Radox Bath Soaks - 'Moisture Soak' and 'Feel Blissful'

If you've been reading my blog for a while then you'll know I love Radox's bath soaks. I love them because you only need to use a small drop to get a bubble-filled bath and they always smell amazing. Recently, I bought these two and they are amazing. They both have calendula flowers and roses in them which is why I think they smell beautiful. These are perfect if you want a relaxing bath filled with bubbles.

Favourite Body Lotion - Candy Cream Softening Body Lotion from Zoella Beauty

When I heard that one of my favourite YouTubers Zoella, also known as Zoe Sugg, was going to be bringing out a 'Tutti Fruity' range, I was so excited. I loved all the products in her previous Zoella Beauty ranges so I couldn't be happier that she was releasing more products. This is definitely my favourite from her 'Tutti Fruity' range, the Candy Cream softening body lotion. I loved the 'Creamy Madly Dream' body lotion from her first range so I knew this was going to be as good. When I tried it, I realised that it was better than her first one as it has such a beautiful fragrance that consists of different fruits like acai and blueberry. It also left my skin feeling smooth.

Favourite Film - Everest

For the past month I've been hearing lots about this film, I've seen countless trailers, billboards, cardboard cut-outs in my local cinema so I knew I had to see it. I watched it yesterday and I think I underestimated how dramatic and emotional it was going to be. This is based on the true story of New Zealander Rob Hall who climbed Mount Everest with several other climbers in 1996. I didn't know about this story as I wasn't even born back then so I didn't know what was going to happen. Throughout the film I was left breathless and taken aback by the extraordinary scenes and, by the time it finished, I was in tears. Definitely one of the best films of 2015. If you like dramatic films, then I would recommend you watch this.

Favourite Film - Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

Last year, I watched The Maze Runner and enjoyed it so I was very excited about watching the second film in the series, The Scorch Trials. Dylan O'Brien returns as Thomas where he and his fellow friends, known as 'Gladers', have finally escaped the Maze and must face the outside world for the first time. But Thomas soon learns that all is not what it seems and he and the Gladers must escape the safe house where they have been staying and find a cure for a disease known as the 'Flare' that has affected thousands of people. Before watching this film, I hadn't read the books so I didn't know what to expect. I definitely think that this is a step up from the first film as it has more tension and it was a lot more scary due to the zombies that are in this film. With great twists and plenty of scary moments, this is one of my favourite adventure films.

Favourite Book - The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

Speaking of The Scorch Trials, my Mum got me the second book for my birthday and I read it whilst I was on holiday and I was left feeling disappointed. Not with the book, though, as it was brilliant but with the film as it is nothing like the book. Throughout, almost the whole book, I kept thinking 'I don't remember this bit in the film'. One of the things that annoys me most in book-to-film adaptations is when they're not accurate to the book it's based on. In my opinion, the film adaptation is like a completely different story except with the same characters and names. I couldn't understand why the film couldn't have followed the book and made an accurate adaptation. So many things have been left out including Thomas telepathic communications to Teresa which they could have easily done in the film. If you've read the book and you want to see an accurate adaptation, I wouldn't recommend watching the film, you'll be left feeling disappointed. I would probably recommend choosing one or the other. If you love books then I would say read the book but if you're a film fanatic I would say watch the film.

So those were my September favourites.

Thank you so much for reading, I really appreciate it. 

❤

Celebrating my 18th Birthday in Greece ❤

Hi, sorry for not  posting for a while, I have been celebrating my 18th birthday in Greece (as you can obviously tell by the title). 

I had such an amazing time so this blogpost is going to be about my holiday.

I went to Corfu in Greece and it was so lovely. The hotel we stayed at was the Cavos and Daisy which was a really nice place and had small apartments instead of rooms, which I really liked. 

I went with my Mum and my auntie, Liz, and we didn't arrive in Corfu until around 4:00am (in Greece) as our flight was at 9:50pm (UK time), so I was shattered by the time I arrived in my room and literally fell asleep in my top and leggings. 

I woke up on the Saturday at around 1:30pm and was still tired from the plane journey so I wasn't in the best of moods. We spent the afternoon walking to the shops, which were across the road from the C&D and the staff were so friendly. We bought some food and drinks from the market, including some Cheetos which are my favourite crisps to eat on holiday as you can't get them in the UK, unfortunately. 

 As you can see in the left picture above, I was very excited to get my hands on some cheetos. And yes, they really did have pizza flavoured Cheetos which were actually quite nice. 
Unfortunately, the evening didn't start off well. I soon realised I had lost my purse, which had my bank card in, and I was so upset. We still went out for a walk and found a restaurant to eat at but I could barely eat as I was so annoyed about my purse and was still feeling tired from last night's journey. I did eventually eat a pizza though which was really nice and cheered me up a lot. I didn't really have to worry about my bank card because, when I tried buying some things the next day, it all worked so that convinced me that no one could've spent any money on my bank account, apart from me.
After our meal, we went back to our apartment and played a game of cards out on the balcony. It wasn't a bad first day, apart from me losing my purse and bank card.

The next day was Sunday, the 20th of September and my 18th birthday. I woke up to Mum laying out presents on the balcony and making me breakfast which was, one of my favourites, Rice Krispies! The presents I received from my Mum were:

• The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
• Girl Online by Zoe Sugg
• A box of three Simple face products
• An iPad Mini case
• Parfum body spray and lipbalm
• Two lipsticks
• Two mascaras
• A bar of Galaxy honeycomb chocolate
• 50 Euros

I spent the afternoon of my birthday reading The Scorch Trials and watching YouTube videos on my iPad. I would definitely describe this as the 'calm before the storm' as, when we went out to a restaurant by the beach for my birthday meal, there was a terrible thunderstorm. The lightning occured every few minutes and the wind felt like it was flying at 50 mph. This caused me to become very panicky and I was unable to eat my plate of spaghetti.
I didn't think I was that scared of lightning and thunder until I was out in it. Normally, at home, the thunderstorms aren't that bad but here they really were so scary. I had never seen anything like it. After my Mum and Liz had finished their meal, we went straight home and I spent the last few hours of my birthday in bed trying to calm myself down. What makes me laugh is that most people celebrating their 18th would've gone out for their first drinks at a club but I spent mine having a panic attack over thunder and lightning.
Anyway, when I woke up the next morning, the weather was a lot better and there was some sun so we decided to relax by the beach for a bit. I think I'm the only person who doesn't go on holiday to tan so I spent my time on the beach reading The Scorch Trials.

After the beach, me and my auntie went swimming which I really enjoyed and then relaxed on the sunbeds.

The next day was Tuesday and we decided to go into town but it was really hot, almost 30 degrees, so we just walked around for a bit and looked at the sights. Whilst we were walking, I saw a small Ben & Jerry's ice cream scoop shop so I got myself one scoop of Cookie Dough and one scoop of Chocolate Fudge Brownie, which are two of my favourite flavours.

On the Wednesday, we decided to go back to the beach again and I went swimming in the sea for about an hour with my auntie. The two above pictures were taken just before we walked to the beach.

After the beach, we went back to our room and had a shower each and went out for a meal at another restaurant by the beach. 

I had this pizza, which was so amazing, I had to take a picture of it. 

After the meal, we went back and spent the rest of the evening relaxing as the next day was Thursday and was going to be spent packing our suitcases.

On our last day, Friday, we spent our day shopping for souvenirs for our friends and family back home. Our flight from Corfu to Manchester wasn't until 4:20am so we didn't need to leave the hotel until 12am. We decided to spend our last evening in Corfu playing a few card games and then I watched some videos on YouTube and listened to music for a bit before taking our luggage down to the hotel lobby where we would wait for our coach to take us back to the hotel.

We arrived at the airport at around 12:50am and had to spend about two hours waiting to board the plane but it wasn't so bad, I spent it reading a few chapters of All That Glitters by Vicky Pattison and eating some chocolate. 

Eventually, at 3:50am, we started to board the plane and by 4:20am, we had taken off. The flight went really quickly and I spent most of it listening to music on my iPad and almost dozing off whilst listening to The Black Eyed Peas. I was awake for most of my flight because I had mistakenly drunk a can of Pepsi, which contains caffeine. I couldn't get back to sleep so I just spent the rest of my flight listening to music and watching out of the window. 

The plane landed, half an hour early at 5:10am but, due to the time it took to get our luggage, I didn't arrive back at home until 6:30am this morning. I was still on a high from the caffeine so I spent this morning collecting some things I had ordered from Amazon. I did eventually fall asleep at around 7:30am and woke up at 11:30am so I think I've only had a total of 4 hours sleep. 

While I did enjoy my holiday in Greece, it does feel good to be back at home.

Thank you so much for reading my blogpost, 

I hope you enjoyed it.

❤

Stop Body Shaming & Start Body Accepting!

This is a topic that's been bothering me a lot lately and something I know

we all struggle with so I thought I'd do a blogpost on 'Body Shaming / Acceptance'. 

You've probably seen, by now, the massive criticism over Cheryl Fernandez-Versini's weight in the media. The picture above was taken on the first day of The X Factor auditions in Manchester on the 8th of July. I saw her on this day and she was perfectly fine. She was a great judge, telling contestants if they were good or not. She was very happy, as you can see in the above pictures. Unfortunately, the day after this picture was taken, media went into a frenzy over her size. Everyone was saying that she's 'too skinny' and is a 'bag of bones'. Some people even had the nerve to call her 'anorexic'! 

It's saddens me to think that, as a society, we are obsessed with weight. In magazines such as OK! and New!, journalists are constantly asking celebrities about their 'exercise' and 'diet' regime, which is none of their business. Why should celebrities be telling journalists what they eat and what exercise they do? It makes no sense to me. Most celebrities are like 'Oh I go to the gym every single day' and 'I only eat salads, I hate junk food'. Okay, well, good for you. As long as you are happy with your lifestyle, then keep doing what you're doing. If you're not happy and you're desperate to eat a piece of cake but can't because you've just told the media that you're on a diet and if you get caught eating anything unhealthy you'll be criticised, then, change that. Put a middle finger up to the diet and say 'Screw you! I want a piece of cake and I'm going to eat it!' We put too much pressure on ourselves and our bodies to look a certain way. We shouldn't be doing this to ourselves because we could end up being at risk of an eating disorder. 

When I was between the ages of 12 and 14, I was very chubby. I didn't care though, I was happy and had great friends and, to me, that's all that mattered. I was never under any pressure to be skinny but, when I turned 14, my depression kicked in and I lost quite a bit of weight. Fortunately, I never had an eating disorder as I love my food too much but it still makes me sad when I think how my body will never fit into society's standards.Then again, I think, why should my body fit into society's standards? Who is to say whether I have a good body or not? Me and me alone. You don't like my body? Whatever. I couldn't care less as your opinion of me doesn't matter because you have no right to discuss another person's body.

I'm a feminist and I'm not afraid to say that I am. I will stand up for everyone and make sure that we all get equal rights. This is why it angers me when people say Cheryl is 'too skinny'. If you pick up a magazine, I guarantee you that most of the articles will be about a female's weight. I say a female because the majority of magazines I've read in the past couple of weeks have included articles about a woman's weight gain or loss. 

And I'm not saying that men don't get pressurised to be a certain body shape. They do. I see a lot of articles saying how a man with muscles is 'attractive' and 'hot'. What about slimmer men or, in this case, men who are fat? Are they not attractive? Of course they are. 

What I'm trying to say in this blogpost is that we are all beautiful. No matter our weight, our clothes size, our sexuality, our gender, our race or whatever. 

I think the reason why there is so much criticism in the world is because we are so unhappy in our own skin. The only way we can get rid of this negativity is by being happy with ourselves first! I know it's hard but, deep down, you know you have a great body. Once we are positive within ourselves, we can spread that positivity by saying to another person 'Hey! You look beautiful today! That dress really suits you!' or 'Those jeans look great on you! Are they new?'. I think, once we start learning to accept ourselves, the world really can be a much more positive place.

I've also seen so many people, on Instagram for instance, struggle with an eating disorder. This is why we shouldn't be saying if someone is 'too thin' or 'too fat' because you never know who might hear it. Someone may be struggling and hearing that comment could put them off eating that apple they were going eat. If we used positive affirmations instead of negative comments, then you could be saving someone's life. Seriously. If someone, with an eating disorder, was to read something positive about a person's body image, they may feel good within themselves. 

In conclusion, we should all stop body shaming and start body accepting. Next time you see someone, who you may think is on the skinny side, try thinking 'Hey! She looks really good today and so do I!' instead of bringing that person down. We are more than our weight and what size our bodies are. Who cares if you're a size 6 or 14? Not me, that's for sure. 

Stop comparing your bodies to others. We are all different. We need to stop striving for the 'perfect' body and just accept that it doesn't exist and never will!

Sorry, this was more of a rant, I didn't mean for it to be!

Seriously, though, if you are struggling with body acceptance, then please

tell someone, your parents, friends, or your doctor. 

Nobody deserves to feel like they're not worth society's standard of beauty.

We are all beautiful, including you and including me.

Thank you so much for reading my blog post, it means a lot.

❤