Managing Priorities | Lifestyle

Hi guys,
I know - it's been almost a full two months since I've been typing something out here on the internet, scandalous really! And not only that, but recently the idea of posting product review after makeover look after make-up haul has just been a little off-putting! Not that I don't enjoy the beauty aspect of my blog, but something that my good friend Crecy said to me recently made me think about how the lifetsyle side of things is severely lacking. Writing posts where I get to talk about myself, reminisce about past times, reveal inner thoughts and share the comedic things which seem to happen on a regular basis to me is the reason this blog started (to be specific, with a mega rant about my experiences of close platonic friendships with the opposite sex) - so I'm going to go back to my roots a bit - and why not, it's my blog.

Prioritising. Something we all have to juggle every day, over and over and over again. Some people do it really well, the rest of us - well we remain in our procrastinating, self-satisfying, short-term pleasure seeking frame of minds. Oops. 
It feels great when you manage to prioritise something important successfully and gain your blessed result! Everyone knows this, so why don't we do this all the time? I'm going to say that its a big mixed bag here - laziness, lack of motivation, lack of self-belief, finding adequacy in things below your potential, not knowing your own potential, and confusion behind what it is you really want. I've had some success recently in priority managing - with some blunders along the way, so I'm going to share these with you:

1 ♥ My boyfriend was coming to stay with me for a week in February around Valentine's Day, and unfortunately this coincided with the deadline for two of my main subject's essays. Bummer. Anyone who knows my work routine is largely aware of my tendency to live on the wild side when it comes to deadlines, and leave it all till last minute, then spend five days in the library at all waking hours, stumbling home at 2am every night after breathing only artificially regulated air, in too-brightly lit rooms, sneaking food when the security guards aren't looking  - but this wouldn't work this time. My boyfriend basically lives at the other end of the UK from me - which sucks! So I don't get to see him nearly as much as I want to (and anyone else going long-distance will know that that is an understatement!) 

Image from weheartit.com

So I had my motivation: a week of un-stressful, essay-completed bliss with my boyfriend was in my grasp. And I did it. Both essays were finished the weekend before he arrived; though unfortunately this didn't extend to handing in the essays, which happened two minutes before the deadline .. nobody's perfect!
So what did I have to sacrifice? Well, my friends. I've always found my social life and close friends very important to me, but at uni living away from home this is mega emphasised! For one and a half weeks I basically didn't see my friends at all, having to decline pubcrawl after party after cinema trip. It sucked! But it was only one and a half weeks. A few missed events for me wasn't nearly as terrible as it would have been not to have been able to spend so much time with my other half.


2 ♥ Summer is finally coming round the corner (thank the lord! - this is Scotland we're talking about) and meanwhile I and my uni friends have been sat inside staring at screens, trawling the internet, and making awkward phonecalls to estate agents - one of which went like this:
"Hi, I'm interested in the five person flat at (says number and street name)"
"That's actually the address of our office.."
"Oh, um, well okaythankyoubye."
.. 

Image from weheartit.com

Luckily for us, this forced ignoral of SUMMERY FUN has paid off. Yesterday morning we viewed the most PERFECT flat in the world. It literally embodies our friendship group in a physical building. Bellissamo! Not only that, but we were the first to view it, and no one else has made a booking for a viewing. THIS SHALL BE OUR NEW HOME <3 A whole year of joy in a beautiful flat shall be much more worth it than a few days of missed sunshine now (Although lets face it, Scotland does only have a few days of blessed sunshine to share *sheds tears*)


3 ♥ I've taken up a new obsession - let me repeat - obsession, in juggling. Infact, I don't think that 'juggling priorities' comes any more literal than this. I physically have to stop myself from juggling just to get some work done. However, as a massive procrastinator, it's great to be learning a new skill in these moments of boredom. It's taken me just a week to get from being unable to juggle once (and I define a 'juggle' as when you do the three ball rotation once, and 'juggling' as 4+ ) to being pro and teaching all my friends the theory. It's amaze balls. Literally (snigger). 

Image from weheartit.com

I arrived at my friend Kerry's kitchen the other night - the home base of our friendship group, so to speak, and brought two sets of juggling balls. And then everyone stopped working (I'm such a bad influence, apologies guys!) and learnt how to juggle. It is beautiful when someone you're coaching manages to do it for the first time. It's the same reaction every time too: they do it, you both look at eachother shocked, the happiness begins to radiate from their face, and you both run at eachother screaming and hug. Priorities jackpot really - now if I drop out of uni I can start a juggling school, and all my dreams will come true. (They have unicorns at juggling schools, right?)


Okay so I'm glad to have gotten through this post! It took me a while today to work out what I could blog about (to the inamusement of my growing workload..oh the irony) and, more importantly, I sat through this whole hour or whatever of typing whilst THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE dvd is sat right next to me. Priorities, eh! 

Rachael XX

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MAC Girl About Town | Review

Hello Lovelies!

I recently acquired a multitude of lipsticks as late Christmas presents (my friends know me well!) so here is the first in a series of reviews. Girl About Town, one of MAC's permanent collection of 'Amplified' lipsticks, is one of the most commonly talked-about MAC products I see on blogspot. Its popularity as a shade inspired both a lip glass and a nail polish to be made to add to the colour collection.

Girl About Town is described by MAC as a "bright blue fuchsia" and the product itself is certainly that: a darkened intense fuchsia with blue undertones (great for making teeth look whiter!). As it is an amplified creme lipstick it is incredibly moisturising (this doesn't stop after the initial period of wearing it) and it glides on very smoothly! The lipstick is vanilla scented - although not strongly, more of a gentle sweet aroma. It is also great for being opaque - I find that one coat gives a highly pigmented and beautifully shiny coat to my lips! The wear for me is around four hours - but it's one I'd definitely reapply to keep my big bold lip! 

I couldn't help but try it out immediately I received it.. and then a little more thereafter (but shh!) so apologies for the used look in the photos!

As its such a popular colour you will find soooo many beauty bloggers/gurus rave about it on the internet! And I'd say that it's most definitely worth the hype! However with such a lip-popping colour as this you need to wear it! hehe. So go forth and be bold and beautiful! You can pick this up at your local MAC counter or online here, for just £14.

Rachael XX

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The Body Shop New Winter Trend Makeup | Get The Look

Hello Lovelies!

Yesterday I blogged about The Body Shop's New Winter Trend Makeup which I had the opportunity to try out and create a unique makeup look with for their facebook page using the products. The first post which you can view HERE gave you a sense of the products that I was using, so if you haven't seen it yet please check it out! In this post I'm going to share with you the makeup look I came up with :)

First thing's first, here is a link to the album on The Body Shop UK's facebook page: Rachael's Party Make-up: Get the Look. I'm lucky now to in fact feature in two of their photo albums - having also allowed them to use my blog photos from my post Revisted: The Body Shop Lip and Cheek Stain Review for their Lovely Lips album. 

The makeup look I went for diverted from the traditional smokey eye look which the Smokey Eye Palette: Smokey Copper which I used is best attributed with. Instead I explored the iconic 1960's makeup of Edie Sedgwick, an American actress, socialite, fashion model and heiress, who unfortunately came to a very sad end. I really love how bold her illustrious makeup style is, so infiltrated some of her attitude into a more classic smokey eye look to create this. 

Guide to Get The Look

 1. Apply your favourite foundation or BB cream, buffing it into your skin with a stippling brush

2. Over your eyelids apply a thin layer of eyeshadow primer, being sure to blend in fully at the edges of your eye:

3. Using the eyeshadow brush provided, sweep shade 1 (from the Smoky Copper palette http://bit.ly/TkOP2m) across your lid:

4. With the same brush, blend shade 3 over the outer third of your lid, working it into the lighter colour:

5. Sharpen the Golden Brown Eye Definer (http://bit.ly/RTLnh2), and carefully draw a thin line along the top edge of your socket line, going quite far into your inner corner

6. At the outer third of this line, increase the thickness, working in small quick strokes to get the shape, and wing out:

7. Using the angled eyeshadow brush loaded with shade 4, press the eyeshadow onto the pencil line, to set the pencil

8. Take a larger eyeshadow brush or blending brush, and work in the colour to your socketline, blending out and softening the line:

9. At the outer edge of your eye, blend the colour down to the bottom lashline, to create a more smoky effect:

10. Using the angled brush, sweep some colour under the lashes on the bottom outer corner of your eye:

11. Taking shade 2 on the blending brush, lightly blend it above the dark socketline area, 

and use shade 1 as a highlight above this

12. Using a gel or liquid liner, line your top lashes with a thin black line, winging the end:

13. Apply a volumising mascara to the top lashes and outer two thirds of your bottom lashes:

14. Now apply concealer, making sure to cover the area under your eyes to brighten the look

15. Taking the Dazzling Rocks - Golden Copper (http://bit.ly/TkPfWK) bronzer on a kabuki or blush brush, sweep above your cheekbones

16. Work the colour onto your temples and jawline, centring the colour on your cheekbone; beware of creating shine down the centre of your face!:

17. Add a pink cream or powder blush to the apples of your cheeks, and buff the colour on your cheeks into your foundation

18. Use a setting powder across your face, focusing on your T-zone and under your eyes

19. Fill in your eyebrows, to balance the heaviness of the make-up look

20. Finish the look with The Body Shop Cheek and Lip Stain in 'Bronze Glimmer'  on your lips:

This is definitely a party makeup look rather than a 'throw-on-your-face-before-work' type thing (As one woman commented on the fb photo... (!)) Haha. But I hope you like it, or at least try something new with your makeup and maybe get inspired by Edie Sedgewick's celebrated style :)

...And yes, I'm wearing a primark owl onesie in these photos ;)
Rachael XX

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The Body Shop New Winter Trend Makeup | Review

Hello Lovelies!
I've been incredibly off blogger radar of late, but intend to get back into the swing of thing with a couple of Body Shop posts.
Over December I was fortunate enough to get to sample some of The Body Shop's Winter Trend Makeup range, after a twitter call-out for willing volunteers (who wouldn't want to!?) In return I had to create a unique winter trend makeup look for their facebook page. My next post will be a 'Get the Look' guide, but in this one I thought I'd introduce you to the products:

All-In-One BB cream: 02 Medium Skin Tones

Cost: £12

Highlights: Light to medium coverage, colour-adapt technology

Disclaimer: The shade I was sent, 02, is a bit too dark for my very pale skintone! 

However I'm keeping it for summer when I get on the tanning bandwagon ;)

Metallic Eye Definer Pencil: Golden Brown

Cost: £8

Highlights: Smooth water-resistant eyeliner, doesn't budge during the day, lovely metallic shimmer

Dazzling Rocks: Golden Copper Limited Edition Face and Body Shimmer

Cost: £16

Highlights: Delicate shimmery bronzer, great even on pale skin, brightens your makeup look, lasts forever!

Smokey Eye Palette Limited Edition: Smokey Copper

Cost: £14

Highlights: Highly pigmented, wonderful highlighter shade, create warm smokey eye, very shimmery! 

Rachael XX

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