Songs of July!

If you've enjoyed these blog posts in the past, then I'm sure you'll love this one! I have found so much new music this month that I can't wait to share with you!

I stupidly deleted the note on my iPad that contained the songs, so I'll have to try and remember them.

First up is Happy Little Pill by Troye Sivan. I love this song a lot! I'm not just saying this because Troye is a great YouTuber, but the song is right up my street and I love it! 

Next, is Good Girls & Amnesia by 5 Seconds Of Summer. Amnesia is currently playing it's so nice. Good Girls is much more upbeat than Amnesia and also sounds quite 90's-ish, but after hearing a few songs from the album, these are the two I listen to.

I listened to Arctic Monkeys a little last month and two new songs by them have made their way to my playlist. Do I Wanna Know? and R U Mine? are great songs. R U Mine? is probably my favourite of the very few songs that I've heard, but I'd like to gradually listen to more songs. I find gradually listening is less overwhelming and makes me enjoy the songs more.

I'm confused as to how I still manage to find more of The 1975's music that I haven't heard or that I've been loving. My current favourite of their songs changes all the time and at the minute it's M.O.N.E.Y. However, I've found 3 covers, a remix and old songs by them that I love. The covers are all from Radio 1's Live Lounge. They covered What Makes You Beautiful, So Good To Me and Rather Be, all of which they made their own. They all sound great and I love them.

 

The remix is Girls (The Knocks remix.) It sounds the best through good speakers/headphones and it's so catchy and upbeat and fun. 

Finally, I've found old versions of Robbers, Chocolate and Sex that are so funny to listen to because they sound so different. There's also songs like 'Ghosts' which I really like that they wrote years ago. It's funny how much Matty's voice and the band's style has changed so it makes them really funny to listen to. (The Sex one is live, because I think it's better than the other.)

Next is Rude by Magic! It's such a catchy song and never fails to be stuck in my head.

Ed Sheeran released a new album called 'X' and there's a songs that's really great called Thinking Out Loud. I've not listened to the full album (which everyone says is amazing) but this song is really good.

Y.O.U & Circa Waves are the two bands supporting The 1975 in September, so I wanted to prepare myself by becoming familiar with a couple of their songs and there's a few I actually enjoyed! Stuck In My Teeth & Volvic are my faves.

Finally, is Pompeii by Bastille. I'm very late to the party with this song, because it was popular last year, but I never hopped on the bandwagon with Bastille. I haven't listened to the full album but I will possibly listen to their next one (whenever it is released.)

Thanks for reading this very long post about my favourite music but hopefully you found some new songs that you can enjoy listening to!

Check out my July Favourites here: http://youtu.be/BKUSWWYOS2k

Question of the blog: What songs have you been loving this month?

Quote: Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened.

-Shona x

Lazy Sundays

Sunday's are the days where I like to relax. Even if I'm doing something mildly productive, I'm more than likely doing it tucked up in bed or sat comfortably with some chocolate. 

Here's a list of things I like to do on Sundays:

1) Edit: It might not sound like the most enjoyable task, but it's a pretty simple task and Sundays are perfect, because I like to get it all done in one sitting!

2) Pamper Evening: I have a pamper most Sundays. It's so relaxing and it's a nice thing to look forward to and it's a great end to the week! Whether you do a full-on skincare or just have a nice bath, it's always great to treat yourself.

3) Manicure: Sundays are usually the days where I paint my nails. Having nice bright colours on my nails makes me happy and I love it! Painting them is not the most enjoyable experience, but I whack on some music and try and ignore the fact that it makes my eyes sore... (Is that bad :S)

4) Netflix: I love a good film, so Netflix is awesome for a lazy Sunday. There's something for everyone. If you live in America and you have Netflix you are incredibly lucky! In England we don't get American films until about a year after their release :( There's also TV shows on there if you fancy something different.

 5) Music: I'd be lying if I said I wasn't addicted to music. I love music, so it's on everyday so of course it's playing on a Sunday too! Currently playing is 'Left Outside Alone' by Anastacia (old but good!) If you enjoy my 'Songs of' series then you'll love this months! I have so much music to share :D

So those are a few things that I get up to on my Sundays. Roll on next Sunday!

Question of the blog: How do you spend your Sundays?

Quote: 'Music is what feelings sound like'.'

-Shona x

Avon Ideal Flawless BB Cream Review

When it comes to Summer time, It's time push all of your medium-high coverage foundations out of the way and break out the sheer coverage stuff. BB creams are the way to go if you want this, because they are light on the skin which means they are great for Summer.

The BB cream I've been using for a while now is the Avon Ideal Flawless BB Cream. It claims to do 10 in 1: Minimise redness, moisturise, blur imperfection etc. 

The packaging is plain black and quite simple looking. The product comes in a squeezy tube, which allows you to control exactly how much product you want and It's really simple and not too messy.

I have very fair skin, so I opted for the lightest shade 'Ivory'. This shade is great for me and it doesn't look orange or somewhat too dark. 

This contains SPF 15, which is great but seeing as temperatures often exceed that in the Summer, sun cream would be a safe option to go along with this! 

The product itself is what I'd consider a 'normal' consistency, which makes it easy to apply. There are obviously different ways it can be applied. Personally, I've tried with a brush and my fingers and I think I prefer the brush, especially in the Summer. Using your fingers gives a fuller coverage and a bit more colour to the face, whereas a brush gives a much lighter coverage, but still covers up imperfections.

Speaking of coverage, for a BB cream the coverage is amazing! Most BB creams are pretty much invisible on the skin, but this manages to give a medium coverage whilst still feeling lightweight on the skin.

My skin is very dry and on my extra dry patches this doesn't fare too well. It tends to settle in to them which is quite annoying, but I'm still on the hunt for an amazing moisturiser that can help this! However, it is also quite a glowy BB cream, so if you have oily skin either use a primer/powder or give this product a miss. My final negative is that this has tiny specks of glitter. Yep, glitter. This is not noticeable in normal light nor from a reasonable distance away, but if you look closely or if you are in bright sunlight, it is visible. 

Overall, this is a great makeup product and I would recommend it if you bear in mind all of the above.

Question of the blog: What BB creams do you love/hate?

Quote: Every minute you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.

- Shona x

The Summer Journal

If you can't tell by the fact that this is a mid-week blog post, I'm feeling quite motivated and inspired towards my blog lately. I put more effort into my previous post and hopefully it showed and I loved being able to put a post that I genuinely really enjoyed making. 

The Summer Journal. Will this be a seasonal thing? I don't know, but I wanted to share some things that will happen in the Summer. I think it'll for me to look back to remind me what to do in terms of my blog and YouTube but also it will keep me motivated.

With Summer comes, fun, happiness and bright colours and I want that to show through my posts and videos. I'd really like to make videos and posts that YOU want to see. I want to take a different approach and put even more effort in than I already do to my content online. Recently, uploading three videos a week, one blog post and still worrying about my second channel in the back of my mind has been stressful, especially with school creeping in. It might not sound like hard work but it really is! During Summer, I'll much more time so hopefully, Summer 2014 will be awesome in terms of what I put online!

I'd like to introduce a more beauty/fashion/lifestyle element to my channel/blog. I still will put up the occasional vlog or random post here and there, because they're great, but at the moment I feel like things are a little confusing. 

I know people say not to compare yourself to other people and I completely agree, but I think it's great to have other bloggers and vloggers to look up to and help to motivate you to work hard. For example, Lily Pebbles & ViviannaDoesMakeup, write a blog daily and upload fairly often. Zoella is the number one YouTuber that I look up to and seeing her more motivated to her blog and seeing the posts helps me feel motivated too.  

Anyway, back to actual content. I'd like to do more baking, because I think they're a great, simple place to start with creativity. It's easy to film and photograph those types of things.

Hauls, tutorials and other creative kinds of videos are stuff that I LOVE to film so hopefully that will be something I can try and do more. 

Also, my blog is an excuse for more photography and my camera is just one of my favourite things ever! 

As for my second channel, game suggestions would be very helpful! Also, any songs you'd like to see on the keyboard I could try and learn (Although, I'm not the best.) I'd also like my second channel to be a place for more chatty videos so I don't have to throw those out completely!

This post was a bit of a mish-mash which is a bit hypo-critical, but hopefully somewhere within this bucket of words, you understood where I'm coming from! 

If I ever do a 'The Autumn Journal' I promise it'll be WAY more organised than this one!

Question of the blog: What would you like to see as part of 'The Summer Journal'?

Quote: 'Big things often have small beginnings.'

-Shona x

Mini Pamper Evening

Every so often, it's good to treat yourself. Today was one of those days where I wanted to relax and, as I never usually get much time to pamper myself, (even just a basic skincare routine) I decided to give it a go today. It's nothing extravagant, there's no fancy face masks or miracle workers, just simple, easy-to-use products.

I know this is a pamper evening, but earlier in the day, I used the Witch Gentle Exfoliating Face Wash. I use this 2-3 times a week and it helps to keep my skin smooth and clear.

Now onto the actual evening. I first removed my makeup with the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water. This is a recent purchase and it works really well. It's light and non-existent on the skin. There's no residue and you don't feel a thing. I use this on a cotton pad all over my face. It's really inexpensive for the amount and is an apparent dupe for the Bioderma cleansing water.

To make sure there are no makeup traces left, I use my Simple Facial Wipes to get any leftover mascara/BB cream etc off. If I don't have much makeup on or I'm feeling lazy, I'll use these on their own.

Then I hopped in the shower and when I got out I was ready for... erm, more skincare. 

I first moisturised my body with my The Body Shop Passion Fruit Body Butter (ooh, fancy.) This smells really good and is really moisturising. (Again, another recent purchase AND it was on sale for £5 from £13. Bargain :P)

I then exfoliated my lips with the Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub. This is awesome and I have a feeling I'll own the same tub for years, because you get sooo much product.

This photo sucks... (WHY DIDN'T I JUST ZOOM IN?-.-)

Next, I cleansed with my Simple Pore Minimising Toning Cleanser. This is really refreshing and helps to clean my skin further and remove even more excess makeup.

After cleansing comes moisturising and I used the Simple Hydrating Light Moisturiser. If you have any recommendations for SUPER good moisturisers let me know. My skin is incredibly dry and I need a stronger one asap :S This one is ok, but I need something much richer.

I love a good hand cream and the Hand Food by Soap & Glory is awesome! I bought the mini to go in my bag, but I should probably get the full size for at home, haha.

My nail polish of choice is the Models Own HyperGel in 'Coral Glaze'.

I'm finishing off my evening in my cosy ladybird socks (how cute) and a Galaxy Ripple...

...and nothing beats some awesome music! 

Speaking of music, I'm LOVING this cover atm. Check it out!

So that's my pamper evening! 

Question of the blog: Which products do you use on a pamper evening?

Quote: 'Sometimes those who have less, give more.'

-Shona x