Winter TBR

As a little girl I loved reading. I was fascinated by alternate realities that I could escape to when I had my head engrossed in a book. But unfortunately as I got older I fell into the trap where I thought it wasn't 'cool' to read. Yes, I would pick up the odd book on occasion but never like before as I saw myself too 'busy' to do so. But now that I have reached the grand old age of 16 I am glad to say that I have fallen in love with reading again and even more so than before. I use it as my escapism from the world of social media and the stress of school life. After getting into the world of BookTube and Bookstagram, my bank account has not been so happy as all I want to do is explore the endless book shelves and purchase books to add to my reading list.

I thought I would share with you the books that are on my TBR for this winter. I am currently reading the 5th Wave by Rick Yancey and am trying to finish it before watching the upcoming film, I am so nearly done and I couldn't recommend it more if you love the sort of Sci-Fi novels. On to my TBR for winter,

Wolf By Wolf by Ryan Graudin
This book is highly acclaimed in the world of BookTube and that is mainly what made me want to pick it up. It is set in an alternate history of the war where the Nazi's win the war (that can only be bad right?). Wolf by Wolf follows an 18 year old girl named Yael in 1956 Germany on her mission to destroy Hitler. I love historic novels and this book first appealed to me from the setting of World War II. I have never read a book where history has been flipped and I cannot wait to read this one and discover what happens in Yael's mission.

Allegaint by Veronica Roth (Book 3, Divergent Triology)
This is the third and final, concluding book in the Divergent series. I'm not going to talk about the plot to save spoiling the series if you haven't already read the first two books. But Divergent is set in a dystopian world whereby you are split into factions that fit your virtues; Abnegation, Candor, Amity, Erudite, Dauntless. If you liked books like the Hunger Games or Maze Runner then this is a new series to get your teeth into. Although I am a massive fan of the Hunger Games and Maze Runner books, I will admit I am not the biggest fan of the Divergent Trilogy, however I feel like I didn't fully absorb the story line. I am determined to finish Allegiant before the movie comes out in March, which I will admit I am secretly excited for.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by JK Rowling
The huge Harry Potter fan that I am, you may find it easy to understand my excitement for the recent release of this movie trailer for the movie coming out in November. I am not quite sure why I am yet to read this book, but there is no time like the present. This book revisits the amazing, wizarding world. It's a reproduction of a text book which Harry owned in the Philosophers Stone,written by Newt Scamander that is a series of Magizoology, the study of magical creatures. I cannot wait to read this book.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
Another book I picked up thanks to endless excellent reviews on YouTube. Red Queen is the debut first book in a series written by Victoria Aveyard. It is a dystopian novel set in a world where everyone is divided by the colour of their blood. Red means you are a commoner ruled by the Silver's who are the elites and rulers. This novel follows Mare Barrow, a red who finds herself working in the Silver Palace. She is surrounded by the very bloodline she hates only to discover she possesses deadly powers of her own that changes everything. If that description didn't get you hooked I don't know what will. I think this novel will be a one sitting for me!

Mac Whirl Lipstick | Review

 

Another lipstick, another nude shade. If you haven't already gathered I am quite the fan of the dark 70's lip colours. I have been on the look out for 'whirl' lipstick ever since I set eyes on the lip liner. However, I do prefer the lipsticks to the lip liners as I can find them to be very drying on my lips.

 

I picked up 'Whirl' in the Mac store. On the first swatch it was exactly the colour I had been searching for. It is similar to 'Velvet Teddy' which is also by Mac, however 'Whirl' is more of a deep pink compared to the traditional brown toned nude of 'Velvet Teddy'. I saw it as the perfect nude to add to my collection. 'Whirl' is a matte shade, and usually the matte shades from other brands tend to be drying  on me but the ones from Mac are some of my favourite lip shades. I personally think that matte shades look best on my skin tone because they suit my complexion and don't attract attention to my oily skin.

 

When 'Whirl' is first applied it can be quite a 'your lips but better' shade, but you can build it up to be a deep nude. The shade is a beautiful colour that would complement any neutral eye look, as well as being the perfect party nude shade complete with a smokey eye. Compared to most nudes 'Whirl' is more dramatic, over an everyday shade and that is why I love it! I'm the kind of person who doesn't wear bold lip colours, so shades like 'Whirl' are perfect for me when I want a slightly more bold look.

 

If you are on the search for a new lipstick to add to your collection then I highly recommend 'Whirl'. It is such a unique shade I think would suit any complexion in its own way, whether you have darker skin or pale. For the price, I would say this is worth the spend.



2016 Goals

Hello everyone! I'm aware I'm a little late to the bandwagon of doing a blogpost on my 2016 goals, but it's better late than never, right? 2016 is one of the biggest years in my life so far and so much is going to be happening. Firstly I will be sitting my GCSE's starting in April, then I will leaving secondary school, and moving to a new sixth form, all in the space of a few months. So I thought it would be appropriate to set aside some goals for this very busy year.

1. Do the best I can in my GCSE's
I feel that this is very appropriate to the coming exam season. I've recently had my mock results back and I was very pleased with the results I got, so if I can archive them when I open the brown envelope in August I will be more than happy. But what I want to do is the best I can, if I know I have done that and that I couldn't have done any better then the mark is irrelevant.

2. Make the most of my time left in school
I've got a little less than 6 months left in secondary school, and I don't want to have to face moving without knowing I made the most of my experience there.

3. Make the most of my friends
This year is the time when me and my friends will be parting ways, even though I hope we stay as close as we are now I know it will feel weird not seeing them everyday like I do now.

4. Have the best summer
It's an extended summer this year for me, so I want to make the most of it. Spending time with my friends and family as much as I can and not care about much else.

5. Experience things I've never experienced
I want to do more things I have never done before. Whether that be to visit new places or try new activities. Whatever it be I want to try something new.

6. Travel more
I feel that I make this a goal of mine every year, but again I want to travel more. Tying in to number 5, I want to travel to places I've never been before, either abroad or in the UK itself and find new little gems I love.

7. Blog
Finally, I want to blog my year for all of you. I want my blogposts to be more about my life and travels. Things that I can look back on in the future and be like 'I did that'.

What are your 2016 goals?

A Catch up

Hello everyone! Happy New Year! You may have noticed that I took an unannounced break from blogging. It wasn't intentional but every time I came to write a post I felt unmotivated, and that the posts I was writing weren't what I wanted. I guess in a nutshell my feelings were that I was writing posts for the sake of getting them up for you, when in reality that is not what blogging is about. I created my blog as a place to share my thoughts and feelings for my readers, but also for myself. So I thought taking a break from it all would empower me to get back into it all and that I would come back with a clear head full of ideas.

Also, the weeks leading up to Christmas and after have been a little hectic, as I had my mock exams and also I have sat one GCSE and have another this coming week. So all of my spare time this past month and a half has been going to revising, leaving little time to blog. But now I have more time to plough into my blogging as the exam period has calmed down for the moment.

I want to talk about the whole a 'new year, new me' shenanigans, so expect a blog post coming soon on my 2016 goals. But although a new year is seen as a fresh start, I think that you can make you a better you any time of the year and it doesn't have to be defined as a set of new years resolutions that you may only stick to for the best part of a month.

As for the topic of what content I am going to be posting on my blog. The posts will very much be similar to before but with the difference that I want to make them more personal to me. I only want to post what I want to write, otherwise I know I will find myself falling out of love with blogging. I will be focussing more on the fashion and lifestyle side of my content over the beauty, because I have a comfortable amount of beauty bits and when I find products I like I tend to stick to them, so I would only be repeating them over and over. Let me know the kinds of posts you want to see aswell! I hope to be posting as I was before, every Wednesday and Sunday. But, I'm not going to set myself that as a goal, because I know that there will be weeks when I don't have the time to post that much because of either revision or homework, but I will try my best.

I think that I all I wanted to say in this post. I hope you don't mind that I took a break, and I will speak to you in my next post.