FOTD-my parents come to visit!

So my parents came to visit me at uni this weekend. Here's the make up that i wore when i spent the day with them!

On face: Bourjour healthy mix serum, Bobbi brown corrector, Laura Mercier secret concealer, MAC mineralize skinfinish natural, MAC pink tea blush, MAC Blonde mineralize skinfinish. 

On eyes: MAC Bare study paintpot (base), Urban Decay eyeshadows in Verve (eyelid), YDK (crease/outer eyelid) and Blackout (outer 'v') from Naked 2 palette, MAC nylon eyeshadow (inner corner highlight), NYX superskinny eye marker, Max factor false lash effect mascara, Urban decay 24/7 eyeliner in Perversion.   

On lips: Balmi lipbalm, Revlon Mauve it over lipstick.

Hope you have a lovely weekend! 

Becky xoxo

Freshers as a third year

Oh god i'm a third year. When did this happen? I'm so old... 

Freshers as a first year was pretty incredible. I went out quite a lot despite 9am starts the next day. I met new people, i went to new clubs, i moved to a new city 3 1/2 hours away from home. Yes it was scary but it was so exciting. I never wanted to miss out on anything. 

Freshers as a second year was different. I had my friends, I moved into a student house, i went out a few times, i went back and forth between domino's stands at the freshers fair getting free pizza for lunch. Life was quite nice. 

Freshers as a third year.. God i'm fed up. I'm fed up of the people handing flyers out- JUST LET ME WALK DOWN THE ROAD IN PEACE!! I want a sign that says "i'm a third year. Go away." I never made it to the freshers fair- which only lasted 2 days this year. I've gone out once so far and really didn't like it. I've never seen a club more cramped. No matter how much i drank as soon as i stepped on the dance floor all my efforts went into avoiding being pushed over and staying upright that i sobered up so quickly. I've also got no time for people who go to clubs to get with other people. I've got no desire to ever be part of that part of clubbing culture (good job i'm not single really.) I've also been having a bout of insomnia, leaving me grumpy and quite frankly knackered. My room's a mess which makes me more grumpy but i don't seem to have the time or effort to tidy. I've had clashes with my course modules so can't do all the ones i want to, and the department choose today to email me and tell me that they've had to switch my third year project supervisor from someone i was really happy with to someone i have no clue on. I'm worried what this means for my project. On the plus side my days have been really busy due to talks from my own course and being a student coordinator, meaning i run the peer mentor scheme for my course and have spent a lot of time sorting out issues with that and helping the first years settle in. This is a job, well its unpaid but meh, its a job i really love. I do tend to thrive when i'm busy. It makes me productive. Its helped me not to die due to my insomnia because i'm too occupied to be tired. 

Apologies for my rant. Blame the insomnia. I just hope i sleep tonight. A third night of no sleep may well be the end of me. 

I promise to be happier next time! 
Becky xoxo 

How i organise my make up at uni!

Hi guys! I didn't think i'd be able to get this post up for you today. I've moved back to uni now and the internet broke on saturday, my landlord fixed it today though! Boy did i miss the internet! So today i thought i'd talk you through how i organise my make up at uni since i don't have a dressing table! 

So this is my "make shift vanity" set up on my chest of drawers. You can see all my make up, brushes, jewelry and everyday beauty products! 

The make up i use most often is kept in 8 tubs. These are actually take-away tubs i bought from a bargain store back home. I separate the make up according to product type. So in the back row from L-R are: Foundations, Primers and Concealers, Blushes, Powder and Highlighters. In the front row from L-R are: Mascaras and Eyeliners, Paint Pots and single Eyeshadows, Lipsticks, Lipglosses. My palettes i keep just to the right of these tubs. 

Behind my make up i keep my brushes in 2 little pots, organised by face and eye brushes. I also keep perfume, deoderant and hair products. 

At the back on the right hand side i have a jewelry stand i purchased from ebay. I use it to store all my earrings. Its great to have them all on display when picking which to wear! 

In the two other pots on the desk i keep my other jewelry (necklaces, rings etc) and all my hair bands and clips etc! You can also see my eyeshadow palettes better! I also have a few more perfumes, a hair brush, the products i use to remove my make up and my moisturisers (day and night.)

Hope you enjoyed my whistle stop tour of my make shift dressing table and maybe picked up some storage tips for if you don't have a dressing table!

Becky xoxo

What does it mean to be romantic?

The question is in the title. How do we define what it means to be romantic? What do we expect from a man when it comes to being romantic in a relationship and what do men think women want from them in terms of being romantic?

I personally think that, whilst i LOVE chick flicks and chick lit etc, all these things give us a jaded view of what is realistic in terms of relationship romance. But also i think it gives men a blurred idea of what it means to be romantic in a relationship.

I texted my boyfriend joking saying he should have romance on tap. He replied saying that he wasn't really a romantic kind of guy. Whilst on the surface i may have agreed with him, i don't get candle lit dinners or rose petals or any of that other crap, deep down i was quite shocked that he thought that of himself.

His definition of being romantic was "being good with words, candlelit dinners, roses and things like that." In what world do we live in where this is the norm in a relationship? To be honest if this was my life i would hate it. There is a very fine line between "soppy and disgusting" and "romantic whilst retaining your manliness." I personally think my boyfriend is the first guy i've dated that hasn't done romantic gestures that, rather than making me feel weak at the knees, just made me want to be sick.

He said he'd only bought me flowers 3 times in the nearly-2-years (eek) that we've been together. 3 times?! Does he seriously think this is bad? It makes when he does buy me flowers really really special. It means he's seen them and thought of me and decided to get me them. It means he's gone out of his way to do something that he thinks will make me happy. And to be honest this act alone makes me more happy than the flowers themselves! If i got flowers every week the novelty would wear off. Surely everyone else agrees with this?

When people say its the little things that count i really think that's true. I think all a girl wants is to feel loved and special everyday. The text 'good morning' and 'good night', the calling you 'beautiful', the hug that only he can give you, the being-happy-to-see-you. These are the things that should make romance in a relationship, not the huge gestures, and to me they do! I think its time we really appreciated the little things (cue this song playing here) and time any man thinking that being romantic consists of these huge gestures changes his tune.

Becky xoxo

5 Random things #1

So just a few random things that you may or may not find interesting! When i collect enough random little things together then this will become the first randoms post :D

-I'm really into the dubai 92 radio station. I quite like listening to the radio at uni sometimes cause it saves me getting to into what's playing and faffing about picking a song etc. I picked this station up when on holiday in dubai recently. Its an english station i assume aimed at english speakers living in dubai. It plays a great mix of chart and songs that come on and you go "wow i haven't heard this song in agesss." And if you're me you proceed to sing the songs badly at your boyfriend to have him half humour you, half have no clue what you're going on about. You then proceed to feel sorry that his childhood was deprived of Steal My Sunshine and other such classics (for example this one came on while i wrote this)   

-The jeans i just got from next have fake pockets! I'm so disappointed! Lesson learned to check for pockets before purchase next time! *Update* my mum just told me that some shops sew up the pockets on items so that people don't steal things in them! I just need to unpick them wohoo!!  

-i made the first 30 seconds of this song into a ringtone on my iphone using this tutorial. I have to say i'm pretty chuffed with myself :D I've always loved lisa mitchell since her song Neapolitan Dreams was used in a fabric softener advert forever ago! As soon as i heard the opening bars of Spiritus i knew i wanted it to be a ringtone! Go me for finally working out how! I now sit there willing my phone to ring so i can listen to my handiwork!

-I seem to be the only person in my family obsessed with the great british bake off! Even someone like my nan who i'd thought would love it didn't seem fussed.. am i sad or do i just have a strange family? The show reallyyy makes me want to bake! If only there were more hours in the day! 

-Lastly i went to the hairdressers last week for a cut. I also had my full fringe changed into a side fringe. I'm not sure how i like it yet- some days it goes well, others go badly! I know its all about getting used to it as i've had a full fringe all my 20 years of life! So i'm giving it a trial period and i might change it or keep it! Who knows! 

That's all for know! Hope you enjoyed my 5 random things! 

Becky xoxo 

Productivity and then some...

Now as much as i love beauty and make up etc, at the end of the day i am a student. Its the biggest way in which i identify myself, next to gender, age and relationship status. Being a student is a big part of my life, its all i've ever known. I think i'm going to feel lost without my student status next year when i graduate (if i make it to graduation alive!)

In general terms I'm not the greatest worker, i'm not the most motivated, i'm a pro at procrastination and the amount of time i just spend faffing around could win me a gold medal (Rio 2016 anyone?) But get to exam time and i transform. Give me some pressure and i flourish. I'm not a morning worker really, it takes me a while to get going- like i dont start til half 10 or 11 depending on if i have to wash my hair. But i can work solidly (except a lunch break) from then until half 11. I used to finish earlier but as my courses get more demanding i have to keep going to get as much as i can done in a day! I could easily carry on in my zone but i have it in my head about needing to go to bed. I also have a boyfriend who i live with (along with 5 other housemates) who won't go to bed until i do- i suppose this could be due to the fact that we sleep in my room- the same one i study in so i have these things to put the brakes on! At home away from uni i suck so badly at working. I associate home now with not working and my brain switches off. Theres something about the atmosphere in my house that makes productivity very hard!

Ok.. i've really digressed from what i wanted to write about! Every now and then i get in a realllyyy productive mood! Normally this is a week night and normally in the evening after dinner. I just feel this buzz and know i have to do things and do them NOW! Its a really weird feeling, i feel like i'm separate from this mood. Like a dream where you know you're dreaming but you're living it anyway! I just know that i have to 'ride out' this mood of productivity and take full advantage of it while its around. At uni theres always plenty of work to do, but work things combined with my general everyday activities like tidying, washing or organising myself for lectures the next day will also help my productivity need be satisfied.

But its currently tuesday evening (i write my posts as and when but schedule them for tuesdays and fridays!) its about 10.35pm.. and its summer but i have one of my productive moods!!! There's absolutely NOTHING i can think of to do here thats going to satisfy my mood. I move back to university in 3 days but packing i know will not do it! It needs to be things that i can rush around doing, feel the buzz... argh its so infuriating!! what a waste of a productive mood!!! It it were only 2 weeks later i might have things to do!

So instead i sit here and bore you guys with my weird mood! Does anyone else ever get it or anything like it? Maybe its my mind being ready to go back to uni and be in that environment and frame of mind again. If thats the case i really hope so as i've not been wanting to go back really.

Anyways if you've got to the end of this post congratulations. Have another virtual cookie and a pat on the head :D

Becky xoxo

Beauty vs Brains TAG!

This is a tag i've seen go around on youtube a little so i thought thats what i'd do since i'm missing fridays more chatty post! Sorry for the lateness! 

Favourite book?

Erm.. oh i love jodi picoult books! I think my favourite one is called nineteen minutes but i also really loved change of heart and picture perfect! I also love books by Sophie Kinsella and Sara Manning!

Favourite quotations?

I've never really had a favourite quote..I suppose i'll have a little think and might update this.

English or maths?

Well i struggled my way through English GCSES- i came out with an A* and an A but I put it all down to having an amazing but scary teacher! I liked maths GCSE but to say i was shite at A level maths is an understatement. So i don't really like either but i suppose i'd pick maths.

Science or art?

Science science science!!! Except physics.. or chemistry...so biology biology biology!! Half of my degree is neuroscience, but i've done a lot of more general biology within that. I do like it a lot! I've done a lot of fun things in the name of science, like take laughing gas and being in a room with dead bodies and looking at human and rat brain slices and all that fun stuff!

Name 5 albums or musical artists that changed your life.

Well no-one's really changed my life but they've given me relatable lyrics or fun gigs or i just really like them...

-Taylor Swift
-Plans by Death Cab for Cutie
-Colbie Caillat
-Michelle Branch
-Superchick
-Ocean Eyes-Owl city
-A fine frenzy

Yeh i cant pick 5...But if you want to know my favourite song, i have 2! Soul meets body-Death cab for cutie and Sweet Disposition- Temper Trap.

Favourite and least favourite subject at school

Favourite= Biology and psychology and business studies
Least favourite= Physics or geography

Favourite celebrity with a brain.
Richard Osman-though technically everyone has a brain... 

If you could study anything anywhere, what would it be? 

I'd like to try a few different things! Sometimes i really regret not persuing business- specifically HR so i might apply for a masters in that! I'd also love a go at studying make up artistry or cosmetic science would be fun! Umm..  i'd love to study in the US but i'm happy in England to be honest! 

What is your 'nerdy little secret'? 

I don't really have one... probably that a lot of the time i don't actually know that much.. A lot of the time i learn for exams and forget all the little details straight after.

Favourite beauty gurus who you admire for more than their love for beauty/fashion 

Viviannadoesmakeup because she had the initiative and drive to go after her dream job and eventually got it! 
Sprinkleofglitter because i think shes an amazing mum, did a similar degree to me and is a happy and positive influence! 

If your channel/blog couldn't focus on beauty or fashion, what would it be? 

Probably some rambles about life and maybe science or psychology. Probably tales of getting let out by faculties when you do a joint degree. Eg in freshers week of my first year we were given the wrong timetable and ended up sat very scared in a 2nd year nursing talk, not a first year psychology one. 

Name some things that you're obsessed with that other people would find strange or geeky.

I'm fussy with which foods can touch and what can't. Umm i love to "clear things out." At my old job as a counter assistant in a pharmacy there was nothing better than the get the mr sheen and get the dust off of all the shelves! I also actually reallyyyy enjoy paperwork! 

Name 5 people (excluding friends or family) who inspire you. 

-Anyone who's brave enough to blog- no matter how many followers you have!  
-The olympics and paraolympics are really inspiring! Anyone involved in that is amazing! 
- I'm actually really interested in weddings/ wedding planning so i like the bridedeforce blog and youtube channel. If you pinterest weddings or updos for hair.. i could look at them for hours! 
-People i watch on youtube who help fuel my love for beauty and give me endless entertainment! 
- Anyone who reads my blog :D 

Who is your intellectual soul mate? 

I have no clue... thats a little creepy.. I'll skip this one :P 

Well thats the tag! Feel free to do it yourself :D New beauty post tomorrow! Yay!
Becky xoxo

To tell or not to tell...

That is the question. Who to tell about your blog?

At the current moment in time my boyfriend knows i'm writing a blog and we're having a text conversation where he's trying to convince me to let him read my blog but i'm not sure...If someone in my life finds my blog on their own terms then fair enough but i'm not sure i want to advertise it. I'm certainly not going to be to my friends "read my blog read my blog."

I'm actually quite a private person (Not the ideal quality trait in a blogger ey?) I was once in a relationship with a person who was the opposite to this. I really didn't like it when he told everyone things i'd rather be kept private, just things i'd said to him in texts etc. It didn't end the relationship but it taught me that I value my privacy in all aspects of my life. I know who i wouldn't want to know certain things etc.

I worry what people will think. People who know me know i have a large make up collection but may not understand why blogging about beauty is something i'm enjoying. Having a twitter and a facebook is pretty standard now but having a blog is still quite taboo. On twitter i might say i found £1.40 in the washing machine earlier and was wondering whether to keep it. On facebook i might put up pictures of me with my friends. But to put up pictures of my eyeshadow on a blog, or to write a post containing my thoughts on the honeymoon period in a relationship is something very different that you don't get anywhere else except your blog.

I also think that the person you are when you write may well be different to who you are to others in real life. For example I found a blog of someone i know who writes poetry- something i never knew about them, or i know that someone else i know is a lot more depressed than she lets on. Would she post these things if she knew i was reading them? I don't want to feel like i have to restrict what i say because people i know will be reading. I used to be pretty deep. Only listening to songs whose lyrics related to my life etc. Back then i was an awkward teenager and probably not genuinely happy. Now i don't do that anymore because i'm happy with who i am and i'm happy in my life. I don't have the huge lows where all i want to do is listen to songs to make me cry. Moving to university and being in my first serious, happy relationship has definitely changed me!

Lastly, along similar lines of writing about what i want, there are ways i know i want to use this blog. So for example if i want to talk about my own relationship i can. What i don't want to happen is to say certain things because i know my boyfriend is reading, or this housemate knows about my blog etc. I don't want to post making subtle hints or jabs towards my boyfriend in the hope that he might read it. Kind of like back in my msn days putting song lyrics in the personal message box to send hints to people. (Just me? Oh well...)

If you've got to the end of this ramble congratulations! Have a virtual cookie...

Do people in your real life know about/ read your blog?
Becky xoxo

I'm going on summer holiday!

Hi all!

My boyfriends been here for the past few days and I'm off on holiday today with him and my parents! I have some scheduled posts going up so blog won't be neglected! But I thought i'd let you know the reason why i havent been replying to comments and commenting on your lovely posts!

Becky xoxo

My brain is turning to mush...

I think the title sums it all up really. And i think my brain is turning to mush for 2 different reasons...
1.) British schooling
2.) Summer holidays

Back when i was in senior school, what i would give to be that carefree again, like most i studied many subjects years 7-9, then 10 subjects in years 10-11 for GCSEs. This got cut down to 4 subjects for A levels, Biology, Psychology, Maths and History. Now i study 2 subjects at university, Neuroscience and Psychology. I remember a week during my AS mocks where i had an exam in a different subject each day; biology one day, psychology the next etc. I remember being sat in my history exam beavering away at my essay on Henry VIII and being so "in the zone" for history that i thought 'how am i ever going to be able to do a maths exam tomorrow?' and sure enough the next day i sat there in what i thought of as my "maths frame of mind." I was amazed at my brain's ability to think in different ways- though given my degree subject i think its safe to say i am a bit partial to brains! :P

But now i don't know if i could do trigonometry (it took me 2 attempts and a lot of sounding out to even spell it!) I think the specificity of degree courses and the dropping of maths after As level (maths and i weren't meant to be!) closes off an ability that i once had. I know its impossible to be great at everything but it amazes me how one of my best friends since we were 5 who lives in America studies chemistry, french, psychology and probably lots more.. I do like British schooling. Its got me where i am today and it allows you to specialise quickly and to drop the subjects you hate, like physics (as a biologist i am scared of physics, proven by a module i took this year where they tried to teach us about seeing membranes as a circuit and my brain shut down because it has a physics phobia.) But I can't help but worry about my possible declining mathematic ability, or my uneasiness of writing a timed essay because only 2 of my modules so far in my degree have required an essay. In third year nearly all modules require an essay, which is the sign of in depth knowledge and is how final year modules should be examined. But i worry about my ability to show my knowledge within a time constraint and how to plan it all effectively. I suppose i will be taking advice from my boyfriend who does history and can bang out essays like there's no tomorrow.

Secondly i went from exam hell and revising solidly for about 13 hours a day to nothing. I can't imagine being back in lectures having to learn. I'm spending my free time reading blogs and watching videos about beauty, something which i love and enjoy don't get me wrong, but i feel my academic mind fading fast. I feel my motivation slipping. I don't want to go back to deadlines and trying to prove to staff and myself that i'm clever and deserve a good mark. I have intelligence but i really have to work for it to come across in an exam.

So i said to a lovely coursemate of mine about my mind turning to mush and she told me about TED (not the film as i first thought) but TED :
  http://www.ted.com/talks/tags/science
It looks amazing and i cant wait to explore more... as soon as their isn't an episode of Pretty Little Liars or The Glee Project to watch. Oh deary me, what is this madness!

That's all for now, apologies for the ramble. I can't shut up sometimes when i type!
Becky xoxo  

Introduction and blog schedule

Welcome to my little world! I'm currently a university student but will soon be out into the big wide world! Come with me as I blog about relationships and beauty! 

SCHEDULE! 
Beauty Tuesdays- A new beauty post every Tuesday including everything from favourites to hauls. 
Saturday thoughts- A new post every Saturday covering any topic to do with life

Enjoy,
Becky XOXO