Back to School: Tips & Advice

1. Start work early - Although you may not have a lot of homework to do or information to study at the beginning of the year, start making revision notes and re-reading over information from the very first day. Not only will it save you time writing notes come April/May time when exams are just around the corner, but it will also help get the information in your head more efficiently.

2. Utilise the weekend - I know that we all look forward to the weekend to get a nice break from school and all the stress that comes with it. However, start taking an hour on Saturday morning to do schoolwork and to get the majority of your homework done so that you're not stressing at 10PM on Sunday night, and also this will allow you to allocate a few hours on Sunday for revision.

3. Focus on school - Now, I know there are people out there who just can't afford not to have a part time job and that's okay. However, my advice would be to limit it to weekend work. If you are at school until 4, then have to go and work until 9 and then go home and do a load of homework for the next day, it's just not healthy for you. My advice would be to scratch a part time job altogether, but if you absolutely have to, try and get a job where weekday hours are very limited.

4. Get a planner - If your school doesn't provide you with one, buy one, it will save your life. Keep it on your desk in class as teachers often throw homework at you in the middle of teaching like 'oh look this up/get a definition for this' and if you don't immediately write this down, you will forget it. On Friday afternoon, revise your planner and thus, plan out your weekend study timetable according to what you absolutely have to do.

5. Ask for help - If you don't understand something, ask your teachers. Honestly, they're there to get you an education and teach you the material you need to know. They want to see you do well so if you need extra help, don't be afraid to ask for it.

These are just some tips to help you out in the beginning of the year. I have more detailed posts on revision which I'll put up later in the year, but I hope this one helped you out a bit for now! Have a great first day at school and I hope this yea goes great for you. :)

xo, Lauren

Today's Make-Up

Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer // Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara // Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder // M.A.C Cremesheen Lipstick in Sunny Seoul // Urban Decay Naked 1 & 3 Palettes 


Eye Look: Buck in crease // Sidecar all over lid // Strange in inner corner and browbone // Creep on top and lower lashlines


I have absolutely been loving this make-up look recently as I feel it is quite natural but the shimmery shadow adds a nice glow to the look and I also love the softness that a shadow gives in place of a pencil/liquid liner. Let me know what looks you have been loving recently. 
xo, Lauren

Let's Go to the Beach

Well... we didn't actually go to the beach BUT my friend Shauna threw a beach themed party which was absolutely amazing. It was so great to get to catch up with all my friends as I haven't seen them since we finished school. Here's a few pics :)













xo, Lauren

How To: Make Iced Coffee

I've been debating making this post for a while, just because there are already so many posts about this. However, when I started making Iced coffee at home it took me a long time to perfect my method and I thought that by sharing mine with you, it may save you a few cups of watery lukewarm coffee :)

Not my pic, credits to whowhatchic.tumblr.com

Step One: Set everything up as if you were making your regular cup of hot coffee. Then, add an extra portion or two of coffee (depending on how many people you're making for). Adding an extra portion of coffee will help counteract the watery taste that you will inevitably get from the icecubes.

Step Two: Once coffee is brewed, pour it into a cup (or more, again depending on how many people) so that it will cool down. I usually brew my coffee as soon as I wake up so that it will be cooled down by the time lunch comes around. However, if you prefer to have your iced coffee first thing in the morning, brew it the night before.

Step Three: Once your coffee has reached room temperature, prepare it as you would your normal cup of coffee. However, I like to add a bit of sugar to my iced coffee just for taste but anything you do here is completely up to you.

 Step Four: Grab a glass, put some ice cubes in it, pour in your coffee and you're good to go. On a regular day, this is all I'll do but if I want a bit of a treat I'll add some whipped cream to the top and sprinkle some instant coffee on the top.

Disclaimer: My method is done using a filter coffee machine, however I have found that this works best when making with instant coffee too. 
xo, Lauren

My Current Beauty Favorites

I had planned on doing a June favorites posts, but a lot of the things I wanted to include, I have been loving for a few months and I'm still using. So, I decided to just do a current favorites!


MAC Cremesheen Lipstick in Sunny Seoul - My boyfriend bought me this for Christmas and I had used it a couple of times since then. However, when it got into the lighter weather, I started to change things up with my make-up. I have been loving doing a nice natural eye with this lipstick as it gives me just that bit more of a pop of color than a nude-y pink would, but it still keeps things natural for the summer which I love.


Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette - Again, I got this for Christmas and I believe I've included this in favorites before. I stopped using it around March and stuck to my trusty original naked palette as, for me, every look I created with it was safe. However, over the past few weeks I have found a combination of shadows from this palette that I love and I have been wearing this look almost every day, and it looks great with Sunny Seoul which is a major bonus.


Too Faced Better than Sex Mascara - I'm going to be totally honest with you, the only reason I bought this mascara was because Taylor Swift uses it. That may be a stupid reason to spend £19.50 on a mascara, but it resulted in me finding my new holy grail mascara sooooo. I love everything about this mascara. It brightens up your whole face and adds something to your make-up look that I honestly can't describe, but it's good. One thing I will say though, it that you have to be careful with how much product you have on the wand as it can clump if there's too much.


Wonderstruck by Taylor Swift - I rediscovered this last month when I was stressed out from studying so much, I went into town to get myself a pick me up. The Wonderstruck perfume set was on sale for only £10 so I thought that would be the perfect pick me up, without spending too much money. I knew I already loved this perfume as I have had bottles on bottles before, but I had been using her many other fragrances for a while. When I sprayed this the next day, I was once again hooked. Wonderstruck smells so amazing, it lasts most of the day and it's relatively cheap for a perfume, which I think is a win all around.


Zoella Fizz Bar - I'm not that big of a bath person, so I usually only take them when I have a few Lush products to use. However,when I was in the middle of exams, I loved having baths to de-stress. When I ran out of Lush products I decided to pick this fizz bar up as it was inexpensive and had a lot to offer. I instantly fell in love with it. It's the perfect addition to a nice warm bubble bath, and as it's a white formula I don't feel bad about using bubble bath which I used to when using lovely colorful Lush bathbombs. This product also smells really nice, but isn't too overpowering.


Soap & Glory - Since the weather has been quite nice in the UK recently, I have been baring my legs and thus shaving them a lot more often. This of course means that my legs have been suffering a bit with being dry and what not. These 3 products have helped so much with that. They have kept my legs so soft and moisturised in between shaves and by using these along with my regular shaving foam, I haven't suffered from razor burn or bumps for so long.


 xo, Lauren

The 1989 World Tour

On June 29th 2015, I traveled down to Dublin to go and see Taylor Swift on the 1989 tour. If you know anything about me, you'll know that Taylor Swift plays such an important role in my life, and thus how excited I was to finally see her again after 4 years.

It didn't hit me that I was actually seeing Taylor until the day before the concert because I tried to avoid the whole not being able to sleep excitement thing that I always get, however, this did not work and I had trouble sleeping because I was so excited. So, yeah.

When I got to my seat I started to tear up because I was there, like, she was in the same building as me and I was going to be seeing her in person again in just under an hour. Although, I didn't cry just yet as she had a lot of cute little videos playing on the big screens which kept me laughing and smiling. *SPOILER* Then, when I heard 'Feels So Close' by Calvin Harris start to play, I completely lost it. I knew she was coming on in 4 minutes and I couldn't help myself and burst into tears.

The concert was absolutely unreal. Literally, Taylor Swift blows me away every single time. I'm not going to go into too much detail because I could write a full blog post about every song that she sang. However, I will say that when Taylor told us to jump during HYGTG, I went so hard that I nearly fell over the seats in front of me and that during Style, I nearly punched a woman in the face. Yeah, I had a lot of fun.

I want to say thank you to Taylor for putting on the most amazing show and allowing me to have one of the best nights of my life. Thank you, T, I love you always.

Inside My Handbag | Summer Edition

What I keep in my handbag usually stays the same throughout the year, however there are a few things which I feel are essential to have in my handbag for the summer time.


Deodorant -  During the summer, no matter who you are, sweating is inevitable. For me, deodorant only lasts a few hours and then it just doesn't work, so I like to take mine with me so I can spray a bit on when I stat to get a little bit sweaty. 

Perfume - I like to bring whatever perfume/body mist I'm wearing that day with me in my handbag as not only does it keep me feeling refreshed when I may be sweating, but I also find that spraying on a bit of perfume when you're really warm can help you cool down a bit. 

Umbrella - I live in Ireland, so this is just essential for me, even in the summer when it should be sunny. 

Tissues - One word. Hayfever. 

Bobble - I like to bring a bobble (hair tie) with me as I have long hair and when I get too warm I like to tie it up and get it out of the way. 

Lip Balm (with SPF) - No matter if I'm wearing lipstick or not, I will always wear an SPF lipbalm underneath during the summer as I tend to get dry lips anyway and I can't imagine what that'd be like along with a sunburn there. 

Powder - I will always keep a powder in my bag during the summer as I just like to mattify my face if I've been sweating or have been in the water. 

Lotion - Shaving my legs is something that happens a lot more regularly during the summer which means I need to take extra care of them. I like to bring a travel size body lotion with me so that I can take care of my legs throughout the day. 

What's in your summer handbag? Let me know! 
xo, Lauren
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