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Saturday, 30 August 2014

The Foodie Tag

Hello and happy Saturday to you all!

I was tagged to do the Fooodie Tag by Becca over at Trinket Box, and I'm not going to lie, I was literally praying I'd be tagged as soon as I read the post. It was a lovely surprise once I'd finished reading to know that I'd been given the chance to talk about one of my favourite things in life. FOOD.

So let's get on with the TAG!

1.What is your favourite cuisine
I like all cuisines, why do I have to pick one? In my head I can see lots of chefs shouting "pick me, pick me" so I'm going to pick the Chinese chef and say Chinese cuisine, because you can't go wrong with hoisin duck can you?

2. What is your favourite fast food restaurant?
This is like asking which of your parents is your favourite! I just love McDonald's fatty, salty chips, but then I had a KFC yesterday and those chicken strips were amazing. And you get free salad at Pizza Hut. I'm sorry, I can't choose. I like the above 3 equally.

What's your Nando's order?
I feel bad saying this, but I never really got what all the hype about Nando's is about. It's basically like a posh KFC where you get to use a knife and fork. I've been once or twice and we just had one of those sharing platters, so I don't really have a specific order. Also its horrendously expensive and you can get nicer chicken next door at KFC for a third of the price.

What pizza toppings are your favourite?
I like pizza so much I'm not really fussy about what's on it. Except pineapple. I HATE PINEAPPLE ON PIZZA. My favourite though, would probably be meat feast so mince meat, sausage, chicken, pepperoni,  and any other meat they have, really.

What's your Starbucks order?
Double shot iced cafe latte with 3 sugars.

Do you prefer eating out or home cooking?
I love cooking at home, since my dad used to be a head chef and he can always point me in the right direction. I'd say I'm a pretty good cook, I can make lasagne, tortellini (from scratch the filling and the pasta, I know right?) rice, spring rolls and a number of different cakes.

What are your favourite breakfast foods?
I'm going to sound so boring when I say this, but toast. Toast with butter that is half melted in the morning is absolutely delicious in my opinion. Oh, it makes me want some toast now. And you can spread all sorts of different things on it: jam, peanut butter, marmite if you're feeling risky. Not to mention Nutella...

What is your favourite curry?
Not even kidding, I didn't even know there were different types of curry. I just asked my dad which one we have the most and he said Vindaloo, Korma and Biryani so I guess those are my favourites.

What's your favourite dessert?
Can I give you ny top ten?

1. Tiramisu
2. Lemon Meringue Pie
3. Chocolate fondant
4. Creme Brulee
5. Cheesecake of any variety
6. Rocky road
7. Chocolate brownies
8. Pavlova
10. Sticky toffe pudding.

And that is the end of the foodie tag, thank you for reading, I've really enjoyed doing this tag, let me know what you think of it in the comments.

Lots of love
Eva

Wednesday, 27 August 2014

Back to School: Organisation Tips

Hello guys!

So we're at this point of the summer holiday where we are all supposed to get ready for school, and a lot of people (including myself) have posted material ideas for example bags and stationary. Well today, I thought I'd do something a bit different and share with you a few organisational tips to help you really get the most out of school, especially if you are doing GCSE or A Level.

On September 3rd, I begin school and I will be going into year 10. At my school this is my first year of GCSE, but since I am taking maths early and science takes 3 years, its sort of my second in a way.

The subjects I'm taking are

Maths
Further Maths
Chemistry
Biology
Physics
English Language
English Literature
Art
Spanish
History
Religious Studies
And I'm also doing the Edexcel Extended Project Qualification which is worth half a GCSE.

Like I said though, I'm sitting the maths exam later on this year, so it is really important that I make sure I don't procrastinate during the year. Last year, I'm ashamed to say I didn't really try as hard as I could/should have, but this year I'm determined to follow my own advice and come out with good grades!

So on with the tips!

1. Make sure you have all the necessary equipment. Make a list of all the equipment you will need. If you are an art student, make a separate list so that you can have two separate pencil cases that don't get mixed up. You know the saying "failing to prepare is preparing to fail" so make sure you are prepared!

2. Write down your homework. I am proud to say that I always do this, and it has helped me greatly during the past few years. It's important to make sure that you are on top of all your homework, and for me, the easiest way to do that is to write it all down. Your school should give you a planner, but if not they sell them in any stationary shop or supermarket at this time of year.

3. Do your homework on the night you get it. This is a good tip to follow, because it means that that piece of homework is out of the way and forgotten. This way you won't have to do anything last minute and you can really stay on top of your work without feeling stressed.

4. Set up a study area. It is important to have a place where you can sit quietly and do your work without being distracted, so clear out a corner of your room, stick a desk there and call that area your 'Studying Sanctuary'! Have all your books nearby so that you always have them to hand and add a little pencil pot so that you won't have to keep digging in your pencil case.

5. Get a folder for every subject to keep things separate and organised. This should be neatly labelled and split into different sections for all the individual units, e.g for chemistry use one folder divider for C1, one for C2 and one for C3. To make it even more organised, you could even have a folder for each unit!

So those were a few of my organisation rules I follow, but the most important tip to doing well and getting the most out of school is to enjoy it!

Thanks for reading and I'll be back with another post soon!

Lots of love
Eva

Saturday, 23 August 2014

Back to School: New School Bag


Its finally time to accept that Back to School season is now finally upon us. With just over a week to go until school, I frequently find myself thinking where the holidays have gone! So, its official, so we might as well just deal with it and buy new school things!

Now, Im that person who has a 50kg school bag in September only to find that sometime around April all I have left in my pencil case is a black biro and a rubber. However this year, I vow to change, so i shall adopt a new organised attitude. Which means that buying the perfect school supplies is a must. 

Last year for school I carried a black River Island handbag, then a French Connection backpack and then a Cath Kidston. They were all really nice bags and I still have them, but tbis year I really want to shake things up a little and carry something that is a bit more fun.

So, last week I went to the shoppung centre and was set on buying a River Island satchel since I had seen them online. But when I saw it instore it was much smaller than I had expected so I was a bit dissapointed. Also , the colours were a little boring, so I decided to leave the bag.

After about 6 hours and still no bag, I decided to call it a day and head home. On my way out I stopped in WHSmith to get a magazine and LOOK WHAT I FOUND! 

A LARGE BRIGHT PINK SATCHEL !!!

It was pretty much love at first sight. And only £20! I was surprised that the quality was reakly good, almost as good as a Cambridge satchel, and the colour is incredible!

So, that is my bew school bag for the upcoming year, and I have a feeling I wont get bored! Tell me what you think in the comments!

Lots of love

Eva


Tuesday, 22 July 2014

13 Personal Questions TAG

Hiya!

Today I thought I'd do the 13 Personal Questions TAG because I read that the lovely Becca of The Trinket Box did it the other day and it seemed like a really good tag. There were some great questions on there, and even though I wasn't tagged by Bec herself, I guess I'm sort of tagging myself (hope you don't mind Becca!) If you are unfamiliar with The Trinket Box, it's one of my favourite blogs on here to read, there's always fresh content about fashion and beauty, and if you like this blog, you will definitely love The Trinket Box.

Anyway, on with the TAG!

What do you order at Starbucks?
I'm one of those bghhb
oring people who always orders the exact same thing when I go to Starbucks- a double shot iced cafe latte and then I add about four sugars. I went yesterday and got just that! In the Winter though I do change it up a bit- I have a non iced latte! Only kidding, I have the Eggnog latte, which is amazing, and then occasionally I have hot chocolate. I never really go for the fruity stuff or the frappuchinos, but I did try a mocha one once and it was really nice.

What is the one thing in your closet that you can't live without?
I can't live without the majority of the items in my wardrobe! I'd proabaly say jeans becuase I own many pairs of high waisted, low waisted, skinny, straight leg, dark wash, light wash jeans, and getting rid of my jeans would basically be getting rid of half of my wardrobe. Also, even on a lazy day when you haven't washed your hair and are wearing no makeup, if you put on a pair of jeans you can look half decent!

What is one thing most people don't know about you?
I don't really have any secrets, so I will just tell you one random fact: I love watching trashy American reality TV. Dance Mom, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Honey Boo Boo. Anything on E!, Lifetime or TLC.

What's the one thing you want to do before you die?
Before I die I'd love to go over to Africa and help out in a school there. It's something a lot of people want to do, but I am pretty serious about it, and since my Dad was born there and I have family over there its a lot easier for me. I think I will go just before university for a bit, maybe teach some children English and make a difference n their lives.

What's one food you can't live without?
Cheese! I think this is a really intelligent and logical answer because cheese is so versatile. Just imagine cheese toasties without cheese. Pizzas without mozzarella. Spag bol without parmesan. The world would be bare without cheese.

What's one quote that you live by?
"It always seems impossible until it's done" by Nelson Mandela is my little motto. It tells me to keep on trying challenges and to never give up, and then once they're done I can look back on myself and feel proud. I particularly used that quote when I first started blogging. It told me to keep going, because when I am older I can look back and say "Yes, I did something with my life as a teenager", which I don't think many people can say.

What do you like and dislike about the YouTube/ Blogging community?
I love the fact that people are so open and friendly. Literally a week after I started blogging, I found I wasn't talking to myslef anymore and that people had reached out to me, which I really appreciated. I have amde so many lovely friends in this little community, and I never wan to stop blogging ever. To be honest, I don't actually have any negatives to say at all, because I haven't ever encountered anything bad and hopefully that won't change!

What kind of style would you describe yourself as having?
I wear what I want to wear, sometimes it's on trend, sometimes it's not. I mean, it's hard to have an individual style whilst shopping at H&M and TopShop, but I definitely try to stick out a little bit by shopping at vintage shops and charity shops as well. I can't really put myself into a specific style, because it changes every day. Like yesterday my OOTD was ripped jeans and converse, and today it's a little flowery dress from Oasis! I tend to wear clothes that make me happy, no matter what style or brand.

What's your number one song on your iPod?
Well that's tricky! I checked on my iTunes and my top 5 most played are

  1. Sun Is Shining Bob Marley
  2. Don't Stop 5 Seconds of Summer
  3. Gecko Oliver Heldens
  4. All That She Wants Ace of Base
  5. West Coast Lana Del Rey
So yeah, as you can see, a pretty diverse mix. I also love a bit of R&B too!

Favourite number?
9

Two hobbies?
Blogging and DIY

Two pet peeves?
Chipped nail polish. I'm not even kidding, it gives me nightmares. Also I hate it when people scrape their feet on carpet and astroturf! The sound that it makes makes me feel really ill!

Your guilty pleasure?
I have loads! I'm going to have to say 90's dance music because I think it's ace and I have all he compilation albums. Also Miley Cyrus, because even with all the VMA antics etc, I actually really like her music, especially Wrecking Ball and SMS (Bangerz)

So that was the 13 Personal Questions tag, I am actually posting this a day after I wrote it because I had some WiFi problems last night, but I hope you guys don't mind!

See you in my next pot!

Lots of Love
Eva

Sunday, 20 July 2014

Summer Journal #10 What's In My Handbag

Hiya!

It's a little bit early today with this post, but I thought I'd get it out of the way because I think I'm going out to Starbucks with my friends. We're going to the one in town, and usually I'd do some shopping and write a little haul, but I'm practically penniless so it would have probably been a very tiny haul. However, I didn't want to just take pictures of my double shot iced cafe latte (yum) and I was about to sort out my handbag when it suddenly hit me.

Do a What's In My Handbag.

Now I've seen these done on YouTube and on blogs about  a million times before, but I've never done this before, so I though I'd give it a go!



My handbag is from Accessorize and cost around £45. I really love the floral design as I can use it year round (not that I do, obviously, I have an obsession with handbags). It's also rather large and roomy, so I can fit my whole house into it easily. There is a big main area, then two small phone/iPod pockets and also a larger zip pocket.

As you can see there is a lot of space in this bag. 






The first thing I like to keep in my bag is an umbrella. Living in England you never know when it will rain so an umbrella is an essential. Mine was £2.99 from B&M bargains and is a lovely pink colour and has a pretty welly boots design. I always carry a compact umbrella like this because it fits in any bag I'm carrying unlike a traditional long one.



The next thing in my bag is my bus pass wallet. I've taken my bus pass out for privacy or whatever, but this is what it looks like. It's from Primark and I bough it a few weeks ago for £1. The London bus print is really cute, and the wallet easily holds my bus pass and my weekly ticket if I'm getting the bus that week. I like to buy a weekly ticket instead of one every journey, because where I live it's only £5 for under 18's and you get unlimited travel which is so much cheaper. Also, I don't need to faff around with my purse and find coins, I can just whip out my little wallet. Chances are, I'm standing at the bus stop at 7;15 am in the pouring rain, carrying an umbrella, a handbag and an A2 art folder, so I really don't want a faff.



This is my blogging notebook! Isn't it lovely with its lovely leather cover and it's beautiful spiral binding... I carry this book of inspiration everywhere, on the bus, on the train, in bed, wherever... I use it to jot down ideas of new blog posts to do, I write down tag questions and I plan DIYs. It helps me to stay organised with my blog and I don;t know what I'd do without it!If you are a fellow blogger YOU MUST GET ONE OF THESE! They will help you so much ,just somewhere to write down what's in your head!

These pencils aren't really supposed to be here. I think I left them in my bag the other day when I bought them.



These are my sunglasses. I got them from Specsavers last year, and they were my fist pair of Prescription sunglasses! I'm short sighted so I usually just fumbled around wearing normal sunglasses from Claire's which made my eyesight worse, but then my Mum finally let me get these. They are Tommy Hilfiger and usually retail at around £150, but I love the frames because they are not too big or too little. Also I know that they will keep my eyes safe from the sun becasue they came with added UVA and UVB protection.



Another thing I like to keep in my bag are some spare glasses, just in case the ones I have on break or get scratched or whatever. These are from Firetrap and cost about £130, however at my opticians they had a buy one get one half price thing going on, so I got them for half price. I love the tortoiseshell frames, and I do think that this style of glasses looks good on anyone.


My purse is by Fiorelli at Debenhams and cost £25. At the time of purchase, I was really pleased as I thought that the quality would reflect the otherwise quite expensive price, but now I can say that I do regret paying so much. As you can see, the colour from the corners is rubbing off, which makes me sad. To be honest, the quality isn't any better than a purse from say, Primark, which could cost so much less. It is a nice purse though, in one of my favourite colours and it has lots of space for cash and cards.


I always like to carry an Impulse spray in my bag, just so that I can freshen up throughout the day. The one I've got currently is Tease, which smells so fresh and fruity. I don't tend to wear really heavy scents, especially not in the Summer, so a nice light floral perfume is great. You can pick these up anywhere for between £1-£2.



Hand cream is an essential for me, because my hands get dry so often! Also I paint my nails a lot, soon those rare days when I'm nailpolishless, a handcream really is a must for nourishing my nailbeds. The one I've got today is by Boots Botanics, and is inspired by Kew gardens. It comes in a handy 50ml size so I can fit it in the tiniest of bags and retails at a reasonable price of about £2.50.


A pen is essential to life. If you don't have a pen in your bag, you need to have a serious word with yourself, because there is something wrong with you. What if you need to write down a phone number, scribble a shopping list, or WRITE IN YOUR BLOGGING NOTEBOOK! Seriously though, I always have a pen in my bag, nothing fancy, but just an ordinary black biro (I can't write in blue).


This is my teeny tiny pouch with a few beauty things that I like to take with me. It's from Istanbul hence the name, and I think that it's really pretty.



The first thing in ma pouch is a lip, because you always need a lipbalm in your life. This one is the Nivea Pure and Natural and it tastes of milk and honey, which is an added bonus.


If you wear or have ever worn braces like me, you will know what a tedious thing they are. How much work must I do to get perfect teeth! This is an interdental brush that I use when I'm eating out, just to make sure I don't have anything stuck in my teeth, because that would be embarrassing.


Again, another piece of dental equipment, braces wax. Whenever you get a sore gum you can just stick a piece of this over your brace, and voila, you're all good! I can't wait till next year when I can put all this stuff in the bin! Yay!


Another lipbalm. I keep this in my little bag in case I want to spice up my look with a little bit of colour on my lips. I did a review on the BabyLips balms, and you can find that here


I always have a concealer in my bag because you never know when you will break out. I like this concealer because it blends in well and is quite light. Also it was only £2 from Boots, and you guys know how much I love a bargain! I never carry the full make up kit i.e foundation, mascara, blush, bronzer etc. but I do tend to have concaler and sometimes a powder, but I usually only bring powder when I'm at school.


This is the last little pocket!

I have my earphones because I'm constantly listening to music! I get the bus a lot, so I definitely need something to keep me occupied. I don't actually have an iPod because all my music is on my phone, which is the iPhone 4S, nut in the future I will definitely invest in an iPod because my phone doesn't have much storage. Its the 16GB, which sound like a lot, but I have about 800 photos, and 600 songs, and I don't think I will be able to fit much more on it! I've been thinking about doing a Music Favourites post so let me know if you guys would like that!


The second to last thing I keep in my bag is a nail file. I don't think I even need to explain myself because as you probably know I'm a nailoholic! I showed this nail file in a haul last week, so click here to see the post and get the details! 


Last but not least I have my USB stick. It is the 32GB model and holds all my photos, my school work and some blogging stuff. I like to keep it by me at all times, just in case! I definitely wouldn't like to loose it!

So that was a long post, I hope you enjoyed seeing what exactly is inside my handbag. I'm going to head out now, and I will see you guys later!

Lots of Love
Eva

Saturday, 19 July 2014

Budget Beauty Review: Pretty™ Blueberry Pie Nail Polish

Second post of the day today, hope you aren't getting too annoyed!

I've been meaning to test out this new nail polish that I acquired whilst shopping in Poundland the other week. It was quite exciting because I've never tried out this brand before and I am a lover of bargains so a large 13ml bottle of nail polish for only £1 made me very happy. However, it's all well and good buying the product, cheaply but does it do what it's meant to do? Well that's what I tried out today.

I decided to do a simple sparkle French manicure using the polish and these were my results:


  1. Brush The brush is of a good size, similar to the Barry M brush, but maybe a little larger. It is not as wide as the OPI brush that the bottle resembles. I found that I could coat my nails evenly with 2-3 strokes, which I think is very positive as many other higher end nail polishes do not do that.
  2. Coverage No streaks! I was pleasantly surprised as I could achieve almost opaque results with only one coat. There are very few nail polishes on the market that offer this type of flawless coverage, but none for only £1. To make the nail completely flawless, I would probably do 2 coats, but seriously, one is enough. 
  3. Drying Amazingly, this polish didn't take a lot of time to dry either. It took around five minutes to dry completely, although I would be careful as it smudges very easily during this drying process. 
  4.  Smell The smell of the varnish is pretty nasty at first so make sure to do this in a well ventilated area. The packaging claims to have a Blueberry Pie smell, which apparent maybe 3 minutes into the drying process. The smell is really nice, and actually smells of blueberry pie, but unfortunately the smell does fade throughout the day. 
Overall verdict 
I would give this product 4 out of 5 stars because you definitely get what you paid for with this product. One thing I would have lived would be a wider brush, but I know that for the price I paid, what it came with was sufficient!



What Bargain Beauty product should I review next?
Lots of Love
Eva


Summer Journal #9 WHERE HAVE I BEEN and Jam Tarts

Long time, no see you guys! And I have to say I have missed you all tremendously. I've been itching to blog for days now, but I was quite ill, so unfortunately that wasn't possible. I am really sorry though, so I will fill you in about what happened these pat few days. To be honest, even if I did blog, you would have been bored to death, because practically all I did was lay in bed feeling sorry for myself, and take ill SnapChat selfies. However, I'm back in the game now, the holidays are in full swing and today I actually changed out of by black jogging bottoms (Ok, well I'm wearing grey ones today, but still). I got busy in the kitchen and made myself a yummy snack of Jam Tarts!

Mmmn doesn't this just look fabulous!


My Jam Tarts tasted amazing (I say tasted because they are all gone!). They were super easy to make and I managed to conjure up these beauties in less than half an hour.

I did cheat a little bit in that I used frozen short crust pastry, which I defrosted in less than ten minutes using the defrost function on my microwave. 

I then rolled out the pastry with a little flour before cutting out circles using a scalloped biscuit cutter. These pastry circles were then placed in a bun tin that was lightly greased with butter, and blindly baked for ten minuted on a temperature of 180 degrees C.

After ten minutes I took out the pastries and spooned a nice healthy dollop of jam in the centres. I used a variation of two different jams : some Hartley's 'bitless' jam, and then some fresh traditional strawberry jam from a nice farm shop. 

The heat was turned up on the oven a bit to 200 degrees C and then the tartlets were baked for a further 7 minutes. 

Yay! 

They're done! 

I left them to cool a little before eating because that jam was sooo hot! But once they are a little colder they taste absolutely fantastic!

The final three. Look at those crumbs!

Close up of the lovely nutririous jam
I hope you enjoyed this post and do let me know if you want to see more baking posts.

See you soon! 
Lots of Love
Eva