egypt underwater camera disposables

Hello one and all! I am finally home for good after a summer of what seemed like constant travelling and I am not going anywhere for a long time! On Monday I got home from 5 days at Leeds festival and after a very wonderful bath I slept pretty much the whole afternoon, evening and night until 10 o'clock on Tuesday morning (except a brief time awake for a quick dinner which i nearly fell asleep in). So after the best sleep possible I spent Tuesday relaxing and doing absolutely nothing. I could've posted but I just couldn't be bothered (lazy, i know) plus I wasn't really in the mood anyway. I say nothing but I did actually unpack for the last time in a long time, sort my room out (i really hate it when it's messy, i feel so relaxed and organised when it's tidy), order a fancy dress costume for my friend's 60's themed birthday party on Friday (my costume's so funky that i'll be sure to post a picture of it on here - trust me, you'll want to see it) and bought a new Moleskine diary (it's the same one Emma bought so have a look at the picture on her instagram). Then yesterday was another day of doing what seemed like nothing but I did actually get started on my personal statement. For those who don't know what that is, it's basically a statement (more like a mini essay...) giving you the chance to 'sell yourself' to the university admissions tutors in order to get into university. It's your opportunity to convince them about your enthusiasm and suitability for the course you want to do. It's one of the most important parts of your application process and also possibly the hardest. It can only be 4000 characters and 47 lines long (not actually that much when you get started) so knowing what to include and what to leave out is hard. I've been reading through it and amending it properly today so hopefully by this evening I'll have my first draft fully done. My teachers have told me it can take up to 3 weeks to complete and there will be at least 3 drafts so I'm not expecting it to be quick or easy. On top of that, when I go back to school (next tuesday :(), I have a whole EPQ to do and a history project so I'm going to be so so so busy in the next year but blogging will definitely be a must!

Now on to the main topic of this post! I was going to do a haul of what I got from Egypt but couldn't really be bothered to take the pictures and there's no point trying to take them if you're not in the mood as they just won't turn out right. So, instead, I thought I'd show you my underwater camera disposables that I picked up when I got back from V festival. Some of the pictures weren't that great but I thought I'd show you the good ones. I'm a really keen photographer and I tried my best to get them in good quality but when you're holding your breath trying to take a photo of a moving animal, it can be a little hard.

these are pipe fish

there is a box fish in there, inbetween the two bits of purple coral

jellyfish!

rainbow fish

i must have moved as i was taking the picture, the fish is just there ^

this is a photo of a shipwreck in the middle of the sea, this was about as close as we could get but it was a really amazing view

this is in fact a photo of a tortoise. if you look to the right hand side of the photo and find a white spot, that is on the tortoise's shell. hope you can find him!

another dodgy picture but there is a stingray in there! it's near the middle of the photo and you can see it's tail (the curved line?)

Well I hope you enjoyed these pictures and managed to 'experience' the gorgeous views that I saw. The sea is genuinely one of my favourite places in the world and every year I go snorkelling in order to try to see new types of fish. I honestly believe that everyone, at least once in their life time, should get a chance to see what's under there. I've been swimming and snorkelling since I was about 7 and I don't think I'll ever stop. If you've never been before or would prefer scuba diving, do it!

Updates!

1. Not actually that many updates for you guys! In terms of beauty (finally, aha!), I'm going to get my hair done tomorrow and I can't wait. The last time I was at the hairdressers was about 2 and a half months ago and the whole bleaching, turning ginger, killing hair thing happened. The lady who coloured my hair said next time I could get more blonde highlights put in but I like where it's at now and I think I may try and grow out my natural colour (probably won't happen and come winter it'll probably be brunette). Anyway, tomorrow I'm getting the ends cut off and having a deep conditioning which will be lovely after a summer of travelling and festivals. I'll let you know the results in my next post!
2. As I mentioned earlier, tomorrow night I'm going to a friend's birthday party. It's a 60's themed BBQ and I feel that I am probably going to be completely over dressed as my costume is all out! Hopefully it'll be good though and I won't feel really stupid (unlikely...).
3. Also going back to school next Tuesday so on Sunday I'm going sixth form shopping for more clothes and hopefully some new stationary (my favourite type of shopping!). Yesterday, my mum also ordered me a new school bag and I cannot wait for it to arrive! It's a Cambridge Satchel and I'll be sure to take some pictures for you when I finally get it.
4. Working all day Saturday but hoping to have some effort to post in the evening. Very excited for the next episode of the X Factor as well! Caught up with the first two episodes, that I'd missed, today and it's got me all in the X Factor mood. On a little side note, how crazy was the Pink impersonator?! I was literally gob smacked!
5. In terms of TV, Celebrity Juice returns tonight and I am thoroughly looking forward to it. Anyone with me?

And finally, hope you all have a good rest of the week and for those working, it's nearly the weekend!

april 2012 glossybox

Now I know it is August. And I know this is 5 months late. But who doesn't like a reminder of previous glossyboxes and who isn't used to my always late glossybox posts? Plus I really do enjoy sharing the products I got and my own thoughts on what I received. I just hope you guys enjoy reading my posts.

I got back from V festival yesterday afternoon and after the most amazing bath, I just lounged around and watched Gossip Girl. I wasn't in the mood at all to do any blogging. However this morning I was really up for doing a blogpost. So before work I took all the pictures then I was planning on doing the post as soon as I got home but time flies eh? Therefore, this post is a little later than expected but at least it is a post! My mum picked up my underwater camera disposables from Egypt at the weekend so they're ready for another post. Also I'll upload my disposables from V festival when I get them done, if they're good and if anybody is interested.

However, on to the post!

(blogger loves me and turns my photos the wrong way...)

Caudalie is a brand I have heard of before but I can't actually remember if they were raved about or not. However I remember that I have been interested in trying out one of their products so this mini was a good chance to test them out. The fact it has 'S.O.S' in it's name kind of makes me think that it really is a good product and actually works for those with disaster areas (i.e. dry places on their face). Unfortunately, I am someone who suffers from oily skin, sometimes extremely oily skin, so something that adds moisture to my skin, other than moisturisers, is something I would avoid. Although the instructions say to apply it to the face and neck, I'm thinking of trying it out on my elbows (which are unbelievably dry) and feet (which are also dry) so that should mean I can give you guys a review at least.

(and again, the wrong way)

Lip liners are not products I have a lot of or use a lot of and the fact I've never heard of Inika before means it won't be a biased review of the product. The colour is also lovely and very natural. I constantly struggle with lipstick moving out of the line of my lips and looking like I have just decided to rub my hand over my mouth for fun so I'm hoping a lip liner will help with this problem. I just tried it a bit on my hand as well and I've just fallen slightly in love. The consistency is so creamy and it's slightly metallic. I cannot wait to do a full review on it.

Monu Spa, like Caudalie, is a brand I've heard of but unsure as to whether it is good or bad. I am such a slacker on hand and nail cream but surprisingly my hands don't suffer that badly. My nails, on the other hand, go through phases of looking absolutely dead and then looking brilliantly healthy. At the moment, it's the dry and disgusting phase. It's surprising that I don't use hand cream that much as my mum uses it religiously, applying it at least 3 times a day. I think that if this cream is good and I like it, I may start trying to add it into my daily routine. I'm hoping it will revive my nails and make them stronger so they don't constantly break. I think the fact they are so thin and brittle is because I wear nail varnish a lot and don't treat them that well. Here's to hoping this hand and nail cream saves them!

I think this is my least favourite product of April's glossybox. I have a feeling that I've smelt it before and I didn't like the smell then. I also know that I strongly dislike the scent of roses so I'm not expecting good things. I will try it though and will give a review - just don't expect it to be too positive. To be honest though, I have so many lip balms that this one isn't really necessary for my collection.

Another new brand to be introduced too and it's a hair product! Treatments for your hair are not something I venture into. I simply get my hair cut (and coloured sometimes) a few times a year and shampoo and conditioner the rest of the time. I rarely blow dry it and I think I've only straightened it once in my life (crazy huh?) and curled it once earlier this year. I know your hair needs looking after and mine is, at the moment, so dry and dead, it upsets me. For some reason (a good one!), I don't seem to have any split ends but it just doesn't feel healthy. Just last year my hair used to be wavy with curls/full on ringlets at the end but now it's barely wavy with a lot of frizzy-ness. Therefore I really need to invest in some products to hydrate my hair. Unfortunately this Philip B item is a styling gel (which i feel i won't have a use for) but I'll definitely have a go with it!

Hope this post informed you of my views on these products and you look forward to the full reviews in the future :)

Just to let you know, I leave for Leeds festival at 9:30 tomorrow morning which means an early 7am start (i want to cry, i don't understand why my friends insist on starting that early) and therefore cannot post tomorrow. I return on Monday afternoon so, depending on whether or not I am in the mood, I may post then or the next day. After I get back from Leeds, I am free! I am not going anywhere, I can fully unpack for the first time all summer and I can't wait. I then have 6 days (including one i assume to be spent at work unfortunately, but i'm thinking of the money!) to do whatever I want (mainly lounging about doing absolutely nothing) before I go back to school for year 13! This is last year of secondary school/sixth form before off to university! It's kind of scary and whilst I can't wait for university, I'm not ready to leave home or my friends or the routine of school just yet. But ah well, I'm sure I'll be ready when the time comes! For now though, I wish you a nice rest of the week and a wonderful weekend! 

home (again...)

(i actually wrote this on the 16th but it was posted just after midnight today)

So I have returned from my family holiday and don't actually have that much to report about it. We didn't do much apart from stay at the hotel everyday, getting a tan and relaxing.

We stayed at the Sharks Bay Hilton Resort in Sharm El Sheikh and it was lovely! There are 2 sides to the hotel and we stayed at the newer side which I felt was much nicer. I'm not promoting the hotel because I've been asked to, I genuinely recommend it to anyone who's planning on heading to Sharm El Sheikh.

On the first Saturday we were there we went on a boat trip that allowed us to do some snorkelling (my favourite!) and my mum and I did an introductory scuba dive which was amazing! On one of the evenings we also visited a place called Na'ama Bay which had little Egyptian market stalls in back alleys and, in contrast, big modern clubs and restaurants on the main street. It was a strange experience and I probably wouldn't go again but it was worth going just to eat at Hard Rock Cafe (nom, so good!). Another night we walked down the main road near our hotel to go and look at the shops in a place called Soho Square. It was sort of like a city centre but on a smaller scale. They had the typical souvenir shops and then the high end shops. It was pretty busy and too hot so we didn't really stay for long but I managed to pick up some presents for my friends.

I don't have much else to say so I'll upload a few pictures from my trip. I also took two underwater digital cameras but they haven't been developed yet so I'll upload those at a later date.

 #

So they're just a selection of photos from my trip. The reason why the first few pictures are in the dark is because we landed pretty late but I still wanted to get some pictures taken. I also thought I'd also include some outfit photos of what I wore at night time.

On another night I also wore my black maxi dress with a zebra print vest but I think I was too tired to take a picture.

Updates!

1. I did actually get back at half past 2 on Tuesday morning but I couldn't post that day due to picking my cat up from the cattery (then having to take him to the vets due to him limping with a swollen paw :(), then having to go and pick up a parcel (which was actually my Leeds festival tickets, eeek!), check when my next shifts were, unpack from my holiday in order to start packing for V festival this weekend (!) and various other bits and pieces. Basically it was a busy day on Tuesday...
2. Then on Wednesday I was working from 11:00 until 4:00 (not that bad a shift) and afterwards I went to the Trafford Centre to buy last minute bits and pieces for this weekend. I actually bought a jumper that I'm not taking to the festival with me but want to do a separate post on as it is that gorgeous! Therefore by the time I got home I was not in the mood to blog at all but instead caught up with Mariannan's and Laura's blogs. 
3. Then today I had to work again due to having to cover someone's shift and it was so long and hard (12:00 until 7:30 - not fun!). Before that however I did actually go and pick up my AS level results. I don't really want to share them on here but it's not that their awful, they're just lower than I was expecting. I think I'm more disappointed than upset as I put in so much hard work for them. But it's given me more motivation to work really hard when I go back to school in order to boost my grades up. After work I then had to go to Tesco's to pick up even more final bits and pieces for V before going to my friend's house for a late birthday celebration and a bit of a celebration for results.
4. As I mentioned earlier I'm going to V festival this weekend with my two best friends and 3 other girls from my school. I've never been before so I'm not entirely sure what it's like (somehow i think it'll be a bit different to Leeds...). I'm really looking forward to the music as the line up is great and the fact I'm seeing The Killers on Sunday is incredible. But anyway, it basically means that I won't be posting again until I get back on Monday. I'm hoping to get a post in then (it'll either be my underwater camera pictures or an Egypt haul) so look out for that. Then on Tuesday I'm working again (but will try and do another post then) before heading off to Leeds festival on Wednesday for about 5 and a half days (i really feel like i've been living out of a suitcase and rucksack this summer!). But after that I am home for at least a month which means more blog posts, fingers crossed!
5. In other news, I got my nose pierced about 3 weeks ago and I love it! I don't know if I've mentioned it on here before but I'm a big piercing fan. I currently have 5 ear piercings (it was 6 but i had to take on out as it rejected) and my nose but I'm hoping to get more. I thought I'd just let you know as it is an update in my life and you may see it in future posts.
6. I also just wanted to mention that the ALEXY boots from TopShop that I posted about here are an absolute dream! They slightly crushed my toes to begin with but after I'd worn them in they were lovely. I felt extremely tall when I wore them which wasn't too great as I received a lot of stares but they are really lovely to wear. Therefore I think everyone should go out and treat themselves to a pair! 

I don't think I have anything else to update you on so I'll leave the blog post here and wish you all a happy weekend! To anyone going to V, have a great time! :)