A Collection of My Favorite WeHeatIt Pictures

Hey! It's been a very long time since I've written a blog post and I deeply apologise for that; unfortunately, blogging is not my career so I have to find time to fit it in amougst all of the other things I do! I have just come back from an amazing holiday in France, where I managed to get a beautiful tan which proves that I can be another colour than white!!
So, recently I have been searching WeHeartIt, and here is a collection of my recent favorite pictures...

      

So there they are! My favorite images at the moment- obviously zac will be staying there for a while haha!

-rachel louise xo

  

Trip To London Town

Ahola!

Around a month ago, I went to London with my family for a day trip, I haven't been to London since the Olympics was on last year, so I was very excited!

We got the tube from Epping right into the centre at Whitehall, where we visited the Imperial War Museum. This was a really valuable experience which educated me about how Winston Churchill lived in his underground bunker during the manic years of the war; it is amazing that such a big space was underground so near to the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace. Myself and my family are very interested in history so this seemed the ideal way to kick off our day.

Next came some sight-seeing around Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square and Covent Garden. We nipped into lunch at Pret a Manger on the stand and followed this by a bit of shopping in Covent Garden which was lovely in the summer heat.

We then walked down to Piccadilly Circus and went to a Hagan Daaz restaurant which we had previously been to in Paris several years before and had the most amazing ice cream meal. This was followed by more wandering around the city and going to the Shard which is massive! We then got back on the very very very busy tube (it was a bank holiday) and headed back home! Here are some snaps from the day:

Morning snack on the tube!

The tube

Excited with my cool tube card

The tube was very quite in the morning

Whitehall

The houses of parliament

10 Downing Street door

Horse guards parade

Horse guards parade

Horse guards parade

My amazing ice cream and brownie meal!

Piccadilly Circus

Millennium Bridge

The Shard and some random church haha

Rachel Louise xo

Perfection

I've been reading a few blogs this evening and one of my friends called Helena from Toothpaste Kisses did a post on perfection.I thought this was a really interesting topic and I thought I'd delve deeper.

Is there such thing as perfect? Can one single human being contain all the attributes to be a 'perfect' person? Yet that then raised the question of what makes a person perfect. Is it their looks; being a size 0 or having beautifully shaped eyebrows? Or is the word 'perfection' directed at what lie on the inside- is perfection a judgement on your personality, beliefs and morals? Ultimately, it is in the eye of the beholder.

Obviously these girls are: skinny, big boobed, leggy and big butted right? (This shouldn't be the way it is!)

Yet in the current world, we are constantly swarmed with images of supposedly 'perfect' celebrities. The likes of those so skinny they look like they may be about to snap. Does society just want us to aspire to be a pile of bones, suffering from being too thin? Why is it considered bad to be overweight? Excluding all of the obvious health problems, why is it considered better to be overly thin that overly big?

                                                     

Does this really look like perfection?

The scornful looks given when you revel your weight around so called friends when it is perhaps slightly more that the average girl. Now I know I'm not the thinnest person on the planet, but I wouldn't consider my self overweight. In fact, I'm not overweight- I have a healthy BMI, which is probably better than all of those skinny girls. I hate the ingrained opinion that a skinny girl is the definition of perfect.

Should society really promote images like this?

But in fact, skinny girls don't guarantee perfection. Perfection is a descriptive term for 'completeness'. Personally, I don't put weight in the checklist to perfection. Things such as being friendly, open-minded, approachable and possibly intelligence in that checklist. Big or small, I don't believe that contributes to how 'perfect' you are. 

Images like this deeply upset me.

That's why I am frustrated with society. They force-feed us with so-called images of perfection. They give us a distorted view which leads us to aspire to things that are physically not possible. I recently saw one of my favorite YouTube blogger Tanya Burr (if you haven't discovered her yet, search her NOW!) post a picture of her legs whilst on holiday in Greece. She was met with comments about how she needed to "tone up and shave her thighs". This is how distorted society has got. So now its unacceptable to have a bit of flab on your thighs or not to shave your thighs? I mean, come on. It's pathetic. Tanya has a gorgeous figure, much more flattering that anorexic models.

Tanya Burr is hardly 'obese' is she? 

Society has disgusted me. I would love to promote the fact that you don't have to be skinny to be perfect. Girls need to stop believing that until they reach a size 0, they are not worthy for society. When in fact, you are worth it. It's personality that makes a person, not what they look like. Fact. All I'm trying to do is turn on the light switch so society can see the end of the tunnel. This tunnel contains self-confidence, self-belief and appreciation for what you have got, and not what you want to have.

This perfectly sums up what society is like today.

*All pictures credit to www.weheartit,com

-Rachel Louise xo

My Everyday Makeup Routine

Today I'm going to do a step-by-step routine of everything I wear on a daily basis. I wear a substantial amount but not too much and I have bought all of the products myself or they were a gift. I will let you know where they were all from and prices! *Sorry for the bad photo quality!

So I start off by tying back my hair to get it out of the way. I then use the Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen Wow Foundation (£24.50) with a Real Techniques foundation brush. This brush was part of the core collection from Real Techniques.

I put a few pumps onto my hand and use my fingers to distribute the foundation around my face. I then use the brush to blend it all over my face, making sure I get right into my hairline and jawline to prevent any harsh lines where my foundation ends. This foundation gives a light coverage and doesn't really last all day so I will be investing in a higher coverage foundation soon! However, it gives a natural finish which I like and doesn't feel heavy or cakey.

I then apply my Rimmel Stay Matte Power (£3.99) with a Real Techniques (also part of the core collection) buffing brush to set my foundation. I only use a small amount and concentrate on putting it on the oily areas of my face (forehead, nose, chin) and then dust off the excess on my cheeks.

I then use the Benefit Lemonaid (£16.50) which is an eyelid primer that is colour-correcting. I use it under my eyelids to help my dark circles and on my eyelids to even them out before I apply eyeshadow. If I have any other red areas of my face (often around the nose and chin), I also use this product as it lasts all day.

 I then move onto eyes. I start off with the Dainty Doll eyeshadow in 'Are You Experienced' (£11.25), which is a gorgeous matte brown. I apply this with a normal eyeshadow brush.





I then use my Avon 8 in 1 neutrals palette which has a wide range of light to dark neutrals and is perfect for everyday use. I take the 2 shades on the right which are the darkest and blend them into the Dainty Doll shadow. The Avon shades are shiny so they add a nice contrast.

 Then I use the Benefit Badgal mascara which was £16.50. This mascara is in the shade 'black' and is fantastic at providing thick, non-clumpy lashes. I usually apply 2 coats, waiting a couple of minutes between each application.

 Next I take my MUA bronzer in 'Shade 1', which has a slight shimmer to that I'm not all that keen on, but it was only £1 so who can complain?! I use the Real Techniques contour brush to contour my cheekbones and use the brush to properly blend to prevent harsh lines.

Next, I use the same contour brush for blusher because I currently don't own a blusher brush! I use the Models Own blusher in the shade 'Warm Glow' which was £6 from Boots. I apply this to the apples of my cheeks and sweep up my cheekbones with the excess. I don't usually apply much blusher because I am naturally very red.

Then I take my Collection lipstick in the shade 'Plum Perfection' and apply that over my lips which have been previously buffed using the Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub (£5). This lipstick was a snip at £2.99 and I got it in the 3 for 2 offer at Boots a while ago. It adds a really nice sheen and stays put for ages! Depending on the days, I will mix up my lipstick!

So here is the finished look, this is my everyday makeup! If it looks like I have a lazy eye, I promise I don't!

Rachel Louise xo

Thoughtful Post

So May is finally here and I'm failing to understand what even happened to the Blogathon. Life has its devious little ways of creeping up on you and making you have no time to do absolutely anything. Weeks have flown by and my goodness, what a heck of a lots has happened in those few weeks.

My birthday. Yep, I finally turned 15 (about time) and in all honestly it added nothing to my life apart from a stash of beautiful presents from my friends and family. Having a birthday really makes me put my life into focus and make me realize how near I am to everything... GCSE's, A-Levels, Uni. It's all suddenly happening an I have no idea how to cope. My stress levels are sky high- I've always been a worrier but now I feel like there is no escape. This period in my life seems to have a constant rain cloud over it- frequently becoming worse and worse.

Mock exams. You may thing these are a load of bullshit, but believe me, it really makes you understand just how much you need to do. Now I'm not saying I've done absolutely terribly and in all fairness I haven't got anything below and A, but I feel like I'm failing. Letting myself down. Worrying myself. Everybody just expects so much from me and predicts me unbelievably high targets that I'm unsure I would physically be able to meet even when I am 30. I need a break from it all- but there is no opportunity  There is no easy way out. Go hard or end up working in McDonald's.

So now the time is 18.37 and I'm mid way through this blog post. I'm trying to distract myself by lighting my new candle and flicking through my Company magazine and getting my nose into Checkmate by Malorie Blackman which I highly advise you read because it is amazing. I'm trying to take my mind away from all of the hard things in life by taking pictures. Is it working? No. Will it ever? I doubt it.

To top everything off, today I've been really ill and had to come home from school. Not good. Being ill puts you in a very shitty mood so that is probably why this post is very unlike me. Actually, is it unlike me? Because I feeling like I am constantly putting up a happy facade when in reality I'm not happy at all. And no- I'm not depressed, I'm just going through a low point and I will probably be out of it soon.

These images sum it up perfectly:
                                         
                                    
                                        


Rachel Louise x

Barry M Nail Paint Collection

Blogathon- Day 4 (Blogging every day of the Easter holidays)

Barry M is by far my favorite brand of nail polish; I'm not a big fan of the rest of their makeup, but their nail polishes are fantastic! I thought I'd share my collection with you today!

I store all of my 15 nail polishes in this gorgeous Ted Baker box, which was originally used to store a miniature Ted Baker body set I got for Christmas 2 years ago. The nail paints fit nicely in this box and it is very easy to open and store.

From left to right:

1. 54 "Clear"- This is a top coat, base coat and nail hardener all in one. It is really good at adding shine to my nails.

2. 47 "Black"- This is a staple colour and looks great on toe nails, I try to veer away from fingers as it has a tenancy to stain and linger.

3. 292 "Navy"-This colour looks really nice in Autumn/Winter.

4. 324 "Silvery Lilac- This is one of my favorite colours as it has a shimmery undertone.

5. 317 "Blue Moon"- This is lovely for summer but needs several coats for defined colour.

6. 273 "Raspberry"- My all time favorite nail polish. Wow, you need to try this yourself.

7. 303 "Bright Purple"- This was my first ever Barry M polish so hold a special place in my heart!

8. 308 "Berry Ice Cream"- This is part of the ice cream pastel collection and I love having this on my nails in summer!

9. 272 "Shocking Pink"- This colour is really vibrant and great for making a statement.

10. 279 "Bright Pink"- This colour is softer than the previous and looks beautiful in spring.

11.  337 "Pink Silver Glitter"- I love this colour but it is a nightmare to get off!!

12. Gelly Nail Paint 10 "Lychee"- My latest nail polish is part of the high shine gelly range and this is amazing!

13. 307 "Lemon Ice Cream"- I've actually never tried this colour and am looking forward to trying it out this summer!

14. 321 "Nail Effects in Gold"- This crackle top coat is fab once on, but is very thick and gloopy.

15. 244 "Hologram"- This polish is fab over another one but tricky to apply!

Barry M is mainly stocked in Boots and Superdrug but you can find it online too!

See you tomorrow for another blogathon post!

Rachel x