Yellowcard @ the O2 Ritz | Manchester

Concert season has rolled around again for me, finally! Last Wednesday (14/12/16) my boyfriend and I saw Yellowcard in their final tour at the O2 Ritz in Manchester. The Ritz is by far my favourite concert venue in Manchester as it has two tiers, so on the days where I just feel like relaxing I can stand on the balcony and observe all of the action from afar.

The first support act was a band called the Kenneths who weren't really my cup of tea but I found the frontman to be very energetic and engaging and  he was very good at getting the crowd warmed up. The second support was a band called Normandie who are a Swedish rock band, I really enjoyed their music as it reminded me a lot of Bring Me the Horizon. Both bands were really great which is always nice as it really sets the tone for the whole night.

Before Yellowcard came on stage an announcement was made reminding you to not watch the show through your phone and rather enjoy the moment with your own eyes, because of this I didn't get many photos. They played an exceptionally long setlist of 23 songs, unfortunately this didn't include my favourite song but I still really enjoyed the setlist,

The atmosphere for the whole night was amazing, everyone was singing along and having a great time and it was just really nice to see. It reminded me of why I listen to the kind of music I do, although the crowds get a little rowdy if someone is in a position where they could get hurt everyone stops what they're doing to help them out, and I just find that really humbling. Everyone was singing along to the encore and it was just breathtaking. I just really wish I could go back.

(video courtesy of my boyfriend)

I hope you enjoyed this different kind of post. I have a lot planned for 2017 so keep an eye out for more of these posts, if you like them of course. As always thank you for reading and a follow would be greatly appreciated!

-Chloe

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The Christmas Tag | 2016

I have seen a lot of bloggers doing this tag and I have really enjoyed reading about other people's Christmases so I thought I would have a go myself. I know I said I would try to avoid tag posts but I figured I could make an exeption for this one!

1. What is your favorite Christmas film?
I haven't really sat and watched a proper Christmas film for a long time, we tend to just have Christmas 24 on constantly in my house and my favourite Christmas 24 film is definitely A Christmas Wish. But my favourite Christmas films growing up were The Santa Clause and The Santa Clause 2.

2. Have you ever had a White Christmas?
I remeber having at least one White Christmas in my life as there are pictures of me building a snowman with my uncle outside of my Grandmas old house from one Christmas. Other than that I can't remember having any snow on Christmas.

3. Where do you usually spend your holiday?
I either spend Christmas at home or at my Grandma's house depending on how many people we have to squeeze around a table. This year we are having Christmas at my house as there will only be 5 of us.

4. What is your favorite Christmas song?
I would happily listen to any Christmas song, I couldn't possibly pick a favourite. The song that I associate with Christmas the most is probably Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid, more specifically Band Aid 20 as that is more my generation and I have memories of watching the video on TV with my mum.

5. Do you open any presents on Christmas Eve?
Never!

6. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, ......., Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolph. I'm pretty proud of myself for remembering that many but I can't for the life of me remember the 4th.

7. What holiday traditions are you looking forward to most this year?
Definitely staying up watching the Norad Santa Tracker which I do every year. Also watching Christmas films with my family and then Christmas morning breakfast made by my Grandma. 

8. Is your Christmas tree real or fake?
We had a real Christmas tree once but my mum didn't appreciate all of the pines being left on the floor so now we stick to fake trees, in fact we've had the same 7ft one for about 5 years now.

9. What is your all-time favorite holiday food/sweet treat?
We always have one of the big biscuit selection boxes on Christmas Eve, although that's not really Christmassy. I also really enjoy the limited edition Lindt chocolates and Terry's Chocolate Orange. This year I've really grown a liking to Pret's Gingerbread Melting Snowman. It's just so cute! 

10. Be honest: do you like giving gifts or receiving gifts better?
Although I absolutely hate the stress of Christmas shopping, I do enjoy giving people the 'perfect' present and making them smile. I also enjoy delivering presents to family and friends that I don't see on Christmas Day, but of course I also enjoy receving gifts too because it's nice to know people have gone through effort for me.

11. What is the best Christmas gift you’ve ever received?
When I was younger my favourite gift was probably my little play kitchen that I think everyone will have played with at one point in their lives, they're a classic! 

12. What would be your dream place to visit for the holiday season?
I really enjoy our tradition of staying at home for Christmas but I've had a dream of spending Christmas in a log cabin for many years, prefereably somewhere in Canada because it snows there also I've always wanted to visit Canada.

13. Are you a pro-present wrapper, or do you fail miserably?
I'm not by any means a pro as I can only really wrap presents that come in boxes, I tend to either put gifts in gift bags or ask my mum to wrap the difficult presents for me because she is amazing at wrapping.

14. Most memorable Holiday moment?
My most memorable Holiday moment would definitely be the year we went to Lapland. Although I was only young I remember pretty much the entire trip; visiting Santa's Grotto (the real Santa), Reindeer and Husky rides, the ice slides and the massive snowman. I would love to go back one year!

15. What made you realize the truth about Santa?
I honestly have no idea, but my mum told me that the year I stopped believing I pretended to still believe until after Christmas because I didn't want to upset her.

16. Do you make New Years resolutions? Do you stick to them?
For the past couple of years I have made New Years resolutions and not really stuck to them because they are usually quite unattainable. This year I am however planning to make some more realistic New Years resolutions so look out for that blog post! I'm hoping that I will be more inspired to stick to them if they're on the internet. 

17. What makes the holidays special for you?
This is probably a cliche but I really enjoy getting to see pretty much every member of my family. I have a very large family which means that I don't get to see them very often. I like that I get to see everyone at least once around Christmas time. 

I hope you enjoyed this post! I have really been enjoying reading other bloggers' Blogmas posts so next year I will hopefully take part in Blogmas myself. I am however trying to keep December's posts Christmas themed this year so I hope that this will suffice. As always, a follow would be greatly appreciated! 

-Chloe

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Manchester Christmas Markets 2016

On Wednesday my mum, my grandma and I went shopping at the Manchester Christmas Markets, I had a really lovely day so I thought I would share it with you.

The day began with a browse around Primark because you can't go shopping without nipping into Primark. We all picked up a few bits, I will show you one of them later on in the post.
After we had finished in Primark we went for our first hot chocolate of the day in Costa. I had a Black Forest Hot Chocolate with a Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffin. My mum and my grandma had normal hot chocolates with marshmallows, a yule log muffin and a slice of carrot cake.

We then ventured into the Christmas Markets for our first shopping burst. We stuck to the main strip of market stalls at first. I bought a couple of things that I will show you at the end of the post. We also popped into the Arndale Centre and looked at all off the cute Christmas presents in the shops. We spent hours hunting around the markets and other shops to find a nutcracker for my grandma, sadly we were unsuccessful so I had to order one for her from Amazon instead.
When we got tired of walking around we decided to go for some lunch. We went to Frankie and Benny's in the Printworks (which is a really cool building, check it out if you ever get the chance). We had garlic bread, chicken strips and stuffed potato skins to start, I then had a carbonara with chips which was a little strange but very yummy.

Finally we headed back to the Christmas Markets to sample the hot drinks that they had there. I had an Amaretto Hot Chocolate which I had been excited for the whole day, amaretto is my favourite drink. My grandma had an Irish Cream Hot Chocolate and my mum had a plain hot chocolate as she was driving. I also had some of the mini Dutch pancakes with nutella on which were amazing!

I picked up quite a few things from the day so I thought I would show you them now.

The Christmas tree in the box is not actually from a market stall but as it is Christmas related I felt like I should include it. The tree is from Primark and was bought for me by my mum, the tree cost £5 and can be found in the home section.
The big white reindeer? teddy was bought by my grandma, she bought us each a present (my mum got a snowman). These cost £10 and were bought from the large stall on Albert Square.
The small Santa teddy was given to me for free at the same stall by one of the staff, presumably because we spent £30 but he didn't say anything he just put it in my hand.
The bottle of  Grumpy Git Amber Ale cost £4.50 and is a Christmas present for my step dad so hopefully he doesn't read this and spoil it.
The dream catcher cost £7 and I bought this because I don't have one in my room at the moment and I have been having a lot of bad dreams recently. I hope that having the dream catcher will help me out but also I just find them to be quite pretty. They had smaller sizes of these also.
Finally, I took the cup that I got my hot chocolate in home with me. I'm not 100% sure if you're supposed to take them but I really wanted a souvenir to remember the day and no one stopped me from walking out with it so I guess that it's alright?
I hope you enjoyed this post. I really enjoy writing these types of posts because not only do they allow me to share bits of my life with you but also they act as a little memory box for me,
As always if you enjoyed a follow would be greatly appreciated!

-Chloe

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Netflix Shows I've Been Loving

I haven't really done an awful lot this week as I have been having a huuge lazy week. My time has mostly been spent eating, reading and watching Netflix, I have been trying to distract myself from spending all of my time on social media recently.

So, this week I have decided to prepare a list of the shows that I have been watching recently on Netflix.

The first show that I have been absolutely loving is Gilmore Girls. I had seen a lot of people talking about this show on Twitter and so I decided to give it a go. I have really missed having a girly show to watch so this show fills the void quite nicely. I think I remember having watched a few episodes with my mum as I was growing up but I really wanted to start the show from the beginning. Since starting the show on Monday I have been hooked. I am currently up to episode 10 of the first series. Although I didn't get to watch the whole series before the new one comes out I am still excited to watch that when I'm done. This show hasn't yet failed to cheer me up when I'm feeling a little down, it does however make me miss my mum a lot!

The second show that I have been enjoying is Episodes. I feel like this show is highly underrated as I never really hear anyone talking about it. I started watching this show on a recommendation from my boyfriend. I really like that the episodes are only half an hour because sometimes I just don't feel like I could sit and watch something for an hour. It's also nice to be able to watch a comedy every now and then. I am currently up to episode 3 of series 3. I am hoping that I will be able to finish the whole series in time for the new one so that I can watch it with my boyfriend. If you are looking for a comedy that doesn't feel too time consuming I definitely recommend Episodes!

The final show that I want to include in this list is Orphan Black. This is another show that pretty much everyone on the internet has already watched but as always I'm a little late on the bandwagon. I started watching the show over the summer but have recently got back into it now that more episodes have been added to Netflix, I believe it is actually a Netflix Original now. As with most of the shows I watch I am trying to finish the whole series before the new series comes out, luckily the new episodes will go straight to Netflix so I wont have to worry about catching them on TV. I am currently up to episode 8 of the second series.

I feel like the three shows that I am currently watching are quite a nice mix, I have a different show for each mood that I'm in.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and I hope that it helped you pick your next show to watch if you were searching! As always, a follow would be greatly appreciated if you want to stick around!

-Chloe

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This or That: Beauty Edition | Tag

I was struggling with writers block this week so I looked to google to find some inspiration. On my search I came across Nikkie Tutorials "This or That" tag. I thought this would be a fun way to get to know a little more about me. In the new year I do plan to make a whole post of facts about me but I do not feel confident enough to do so yet. If you would like a blank copy of the questions I used to complete yourself click here.

QUESTIONS:
→ Makeup
Blush or Bronzer: I'm not very good at using bronzer and always feel that it looks a little strange on me so I would definitely choose blush as I have used it for years.

Lipgloss or Lipstick: I'm really not a fan of lipgloss at all as I hate that they leave my lips feeling sticky so lipstick all the way!

Eyeliner or Mascara: Although I am an eyeliner addict I cant imagine it would look very great if I wasn't wearing mascara, unless I was wearing false eyelashes. However that's too much effort for a daily basis so I will have to choose mascara.

Foundation or Concealer: I really don't enjoy how my skin feels when I'm wearing foundation. I like to feel like my skin can breathe as I suffer with quite bad skin. But I do like to wear concealer under my eyes so I choose concealer.

Neutral or Color Eyeshadow: I am not brave enough to experiment with colourful eye shadows so I will stick with neutral eye shadows.

Pressed or Loose eye shadows: I don't think I have ever tried a loose eye shadow before so I will have to choose pressed eye shadows. Although I will look into some loose eye shadows to try.

Brushes or Sponges: Although I enjoy using my sponge when applying liquid foundation a lot of the makeup I wear would be virtually impossible to apply with a sponge. I also feel that brushes have a lot more uses than sponges.

→ Nails
O.P.I or China Glaze: I have never used anything by China Glaze before but I have used some O.P.I, before, therefore I will go with O.P.I.

Long or Short: I don't really enjoy having my nails too long as they are quite weak and snap easily. I do however enjoy having some length to my nails but I think a lot of people will consider my nails to be short.

Acrylic or Natural: I haaaaate acrylic nails as they leave my natural nails in a mess so I would definitely choose natural nails.

Brights or Darks: I wear dark nail polish all year round so dark nail polish for sure.
 
Flower or No Flower: I'm not a fan of nail art at all (mostly because I'm not good at it).

→ Body
Perfume or Body Splash: I prefer to use my Victoria's Secret body splashes on an every day basis as I don't get paranoid about them being in my bag.

Lotion or Body Butter: I don't have the patience for body butters as I feel like they take too long to soak in to my skin so I would choose lotion.

Body wash or Soap: One of my favourite things in the world are different types and scents of shower gel. Especially seasonal ones!

LUSH or Other Bath Company: Lush is my default store for things like bath bombs and face masks, I don't really ever consider any other stores.

→ Fashion
Jeans or Sweat pants: For lounging around I would obviously choose sweat pants but for going out I would definitely put on jeans instead. I don't think I've ever been brave enough to leave the house in sweat pants before.

Long sleeve or Short: I prefer to wear long sleeve shirts as I am quite insecure about the tops of my arms.

Dresses or Skirts: I like to wear both dresses and skirts but if I had to pick I would probably prefer to wear a dress as I struggle to find tops to wear with skirts.

Stripes or Plaid: Striped jumpers are one of my favourite things to wear so stripes would be my choice. Although I do quite like my plaid shirts.

Flip flops or Sandals: I hate having my feet out but I would definitely rather wear sandals as I find flip flops to be very uncomfortable.

Scarves or Hats: I do enjoy the warmth that wearing a scarf gives you but I'm currently obsessed with the £2 bobble hats from primark.

Studs or Dangly Earrings:  I rarely wear earrings nowadays but dangly earrings annoy me so I would choose to wear stud earrings.

Necklaces or Bracelets: I hate having anything other than a bobble around my wrist and necklaces are my favourite things to wear so this was quite an easy choice for me.

Heels or Flats: I prefer to wear flat shoes on normal days but when I go out I quite enjoy heeled boots. But if I had to pick one I'd choose flats.

Jacket or Hoodie: For going out I prefer to wear a jacket as I feel that they keep me warmer but also make me feel like I've put more effort into my outfit.

→ Hair
Curly or Straight: I like to curl my hair for special occasions but as my hair is naturally straight I find it easier to keep it that way.

Bun or Ponytail: I hate having my hair up but if I had to I would rather it were in a bun.

Bobby pins or Butterfly clips: I rarely use any clips in my hair but I probably use butterfly clips most often.

Hair spray or Gel: Again I rarely use either of the choices but whenever I curl my hair I use hair spray to keep it in place.

Long or Short: My hair at the moment is very long. I prefer my hair to be long-ish, just below my shoulder. I don't think that I would suit short hair.

Light or Dark: My hair right now is a faded red colour as I haven't had it dyed for a long time. However, I prefer my hair to be dark brown and that is the colour I plan to dye it soon.

Side sweep bangs or Full bangs: I don't think I could have a full fringe without looking even younger than I do now so I would choose to have side sweep bangs.

Up or Down: As I said earlier I hate having my hair up so I would definitely choose to have my hair down.

→ Random
Rain or Shine: I don't like rain as it makes my hair frizzy so I would choose for the sun to be out. Or at least no rain.

Summer or Winter: I hate being too hot so summer is not my favourite season. I don't particularly like being cold either but I prefer it because I like wearing more layers and find it easier to warm up than to cool down.

Fall or Spring: Autumn is my favourite season of all as I love the colours. I do also like spring because everything feels fresh and new but I do prefer autumn.

Chocolate or Vanilla: I'm guessing that this question is about ice cream in which case I would choose vanilla. I'm not much of a fan of other ice cream flavours and I don't really like chocolate flavoured anything.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Hopefully next weeks post will be a little more personal and creative. As always a follow would be greatly appreciated!

-Chloe

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How To Build A Girl | Reading Challenge

I have a feeling that these sorts of posts are going to become a little more frequent than once a month as reading is the thing I seem to be doing the most recently. I hope that you don't mind and that you enjoy reading these sorts of posts as much as I enjoy writing them. My last Reading Challenge post is one of my most popular so that appears to be the case!

The second book that I read for my reading challenge was How To Build A Girl by Caitlin Moran. 

This book took me a very long time to read. I started reading it a couple of months ago over summer and unfortunately lost interest in the middle of the book, I found it to be a little tedious and dull as the plot didn't really seem to be moving anywhere. However, when I decided to embark on my reading challenge I wanted to ensure that I finished all of the books that I had started but never quite got round to finishing. I currently have one last unfinished book to read but I will probably not write a post about this one.

Although I did lose interest in the middle part of the story once I got past the 'hump' I really managed to get into the story a little more and found the last half of the book to be more enjoyable. I found 'Dolly' to be quite entertaining and the book did make me giggle at some points.

I think the main thing that stood out to me about this story is based around a character from a working class background which is something that you don't see all too often. But other than that I could not find anything else to relate to within the main character (my life is simply not that wild) which I think may be to blame for my loss of interest.

I also found it quite hard to keep up with how time was passing as one minute she was 14 and the next she was 17 and appeared to be a completely different person. Although this may be down to the long break I took in between reading the book.

At times I found the language to be vulgar which is something that I am not a fan of. There was a considerable amount of talk about sex in the last part of the book. If this is something that you do not like I would probably steer clear of this book. I personally found a lot of the pages to be somewhat awkward to read a little bit too cringey for me.

Although this review does seem to be mainly negative points I did somewhat enjoy the book and grow a liking for the character towards the end when she begins to see 'the error in her ways'. I also found one chapter at the end of the book to be quite inspiring and it did leave me with a warm feeling and a sense of a little more self-acceptance.

I hope you enjoyed this post and as I mentioned in my last Reading Challenge I have been getting back into Goodreads recently. If you would like to follow me on there Click Here!
As always, thank you for reading and I hoped you enjoyed.

-Chloe

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Garnier Moisture Bomb Tissue Mask

Last weekend my mum and I decided to have a bit of a girly night as we had the house to ourselves. We bought a takeaway, lots of goodies and some pamper bits. We picked up two of the Garnier Moisture Bomb Tissue Masks and I wanted to share my thoughts on them with you. 

Normally I tend to prefer non-sheet masks but we decided to try these out anyway. We got ours from Boots for £1 each, normally they are £1.50 each. 

The instructions on the back suggest that you apple the mask to a freshly cleansed face. I used my Garnier 3 in 1 wash because I like to use matching products but I don't really think it matters what cleanser you use. 

When I first took the mask out of the packet it was a little slimier than I had anticipated and was quite fiddly as I was afraid of tearing the sheet when trying to unfold it. Like all sheet masks I have tried this one didn't fit my face at all so I had to line my eyes up and then squish the rest of the sheet onto my face which I think worked fine although it looked significantly scarier than a normal mask. This made it hard to try and keep a straight face as we were both laughing at each other.

I left the mask on my skin for the recommended 15 minutes and then I peeled it off. I must add that peeling this mask was oddly satisfying. When you peel off the mask some of the cream is left over, the instructions say that you can either wipe the excess off with a cotton pad or you can massage it in as you would with a normal moisturiser. I chose to rub the excess into my skin which left my face feeling quite sticky for a while. This however eventually went away and left my face feelings soft after about 10 minutes.

Although there were no dramatic differences my face did feel quite soft and re-hydrated after using the mask. I have already purchased another mask to use next time I feel like a pamper night.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and as ever a follow would be greatly appreciated!

-Chloe

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My Favourite Liquid Lipsticks

I have never really been the biggest fan of liquid lipsticks as I am normally too impatient to wait for them to dry. I do however enjoy wearing them when I'm going out and want to put in a little more effort.

I tend to stick with matte effect liquid lipsticks as I feel they give a bolder look. I prefer wearing standard lipsticks when going for a more subtle look. I've picked out two of my favourite liquid lipsticks to share with you in this post.

The first is the NYX Liquid Suede cream lipstick. I have the shade Vintage which is a deep berry shade which is perfect for this time of year. The lipstick goes on really easily and dries to a matte effect quite quickly, as long as you don't use too much product. The product does however appear darker in the bottle than it does on the lip and when on the lip it is very easy to smudge and does not keep its vibrancy for very long, which is a shame. Although I was anticipating a darker shade when I purchased it I still very much love the colour of the lipstick. The lipsticks also have a sweet butter scent which I enjoy very much, they are available at most Boots for £6,50.

The second is the Sleek Matte Me ultra smooth matte lip cream in the shade Bittersweet, which happens to be the title of one of my favourite Panic! At The Disco songs. Of the two lipsticks I'm sharing with you this one is by far my favourite, The colour that this lipstick gives off is a very beautiful nudey pink colour and the matte finish gives a classy look. I also found that the lipstick was much less prone to smudging, however this is often the case with lighter shades. These lipsticks are £4.99 in Superdrug.

I hope you enjoyed this post, if you would like to see more of my posts please give me a follow!

-Chloe

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My Autumn/Winter Essentials

The cold seasons are by far my favourite time of year. I love not feeling guilty for staying in cosy clothes all day, or choosing to spend the day with Netflix and a hot drink. The crisp mornings and the cold that I have been trying to get rid of are what inspired me to write this post, this will be part one and part two will come when winter settles in.

The best part of my day is coming home, taking off my shoes and putting on a pair of the Cosy Socks from Primark (mostly). Every time I go shopping I add a few more to my collection. They are £1.70 for a pack of two so I just cant resist picking more up when I see new styles. Although Primark's are probably not the warmest they are still pretty darn comfy and you just feel ten times cosier when you have a pair on. 

My mum picked up these Cadbury Instant Hot Chocolates from b&m for 99p. In the packet you get 7 little cups which have the chocolate mix at the bottom already, all you have to do is add the hot water and voila. Personally I prefer to tip the mix into a normal mug rather than using the plastic cups but that's up to you. I found these quite convenient to have and will definitely be getting some more next time I go shopping. 

About a week ago I took a trip into Primark and spent way too much money. I went early in the morning and I pretty much had the shop to myself, so I went a little crazy. I picked up some of their turtle/polo neck jumpers, (by some I mean I got one in every colour I could find) the jumpers are not too heavy which means that when the sun decides to show itself it doesn't get too hot but the style of the jumper keeps you warm when the cold wind hits. I picked up 6 of the jumpers, some are a ribbed texture and others are just plain knitted jumpers. They range between £6 to £8 each which is a bargain considering how soft they are. I did however realise when taking the photo that it some lights you can see through the jumpers but its nothing too drastic.

This one is a little bit random but a winter morning essential for me would have to be Tesco Easy Oats (or any cheap instant oats). I'm actually sat eating a bowl of this porridge right now as I'm writing this post. For 99p you get 10 sachets of oats, I choose to mix a little bit of honey into my porridge to add some extra flavour, some times I even add some banana if I'm feeling fancy but usually I'm a little too lazy to do this in the morning. There are also some other flavours of this porridge that I am eager to try.

I hope you enjoyed reading this post as much as I enjoyed writing it. As always a follow would be greatly appreciated. Lots of love.

-Chloe

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Biore Cleansers

A couple of weeks ago I was going through a bit of a rough patch with my skin due to stress, lack of sleep, etc.

This lead to me frantically trying every single product I could, I probably spent about £50 on skincare alone that week. I picked up two Biore cleansers, the first was the Deep Pore Charcoal Cleanser which was £4.50 from Tesco. I also picked up the Baking Soda Pore Cleanser which was £5. The only Biore product I had used prior to these were the pore strips which I think everyone has tried at least once.

I picked up the Charcoal Cleanser because I had heard good things about charcoal in general and its ability to draw out impurities from the skin. The product claims to leave your pores twice as clean after just one use.

Although the completely black product looks intimidating the product foams white in your hands which is a lot easier to rinse off. The product left my face feeling cold and tingly, a pleasant kind of tingly that shows the product is actually doing something. The next morning my skin looked much fresher and felt much softer. Although I can't say for sure that it was all down to the cleanser I think it helped a considerable amount. I will definitely be making this product part of my skincare routine.

I picked up the Baking Soda Cleanser on a bit of a whim to be honest as I've never really heard anything about it before. The product smells fresh and absolutely nothing like baking soda. This cleanser is definitely a lot harsher on my skin than the Charcoal one. It left me with a bright red and blotchy face and a painful stinging sensation. Although I expected a little tingling to prove that the product was actually doing something the pain from this cleanser was a little too much for me. I may give this cleanser to someone whose skin is not as sensitive as mine or I will save it for desperate times.

I hope you enjoyed this post, a follow would be greatly appreciated.

-Chloe

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Eleanor & Park | Reading Challenge

I absolutely love reading but over the past couple of years I have found it difficult to find the time. At the beginning of this month I set myself a reading challenge, this is something I set myself every year but this time I think I may be able to stick to it. I currently have way too many books left on my shelf unread and every time I look at it I feel a little bit guilty.
Like every teenage girl I cant resist young adult fiction, particularly ones that I feel I can relate to. These usually feature a slightly awkward young girl.

The first book I decided to read on my new journey was Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, which I'm sure many people have already read so I'm pretty late on the bandwagon.

I'm a bit of a cringe, I love reading about people falling in love. Although sometimes I do get tired of the cliche slightly awkward, unconventional girl falling in love with a perfect boy I still very much enjoyed this story, so much so that I managed to read the whole book within a week.

The writing style of this book is quite different to a lot of the books that I have read from this genre. The book is written in third person which took a little getting used to at first because most young adult books are written from the perspective of the 'awkward' girl. Another thing that was different about the style of this book was the perspective change multiple times each chapter. Normally when books are written from both characters perspective a new chapter marks the change of perspective. Although this style was different I actually quite prefer it, I like that it allows you to have a better idea of how each character is feeling in each scenario.

Another thing that made this book stand out to me was that an effort was made to not ignore the drama and minor paranoia that comes with a new relationship and getting to know the person, finding out about who their exes are, who was their first kiss, etc. I liked that this was included in the book as it really made the love story a little more believable.

I also particularly enjoyed the nerdy comic book references, they made me smile a little bit as they remind me of my own boyfriend, like I said, I'm a bit of a cringe.

I really enjoyed reading a love story again. I hope that this will get me back into reading them. My plan at the moment is to post one book post a month, this will hopefully encourage me! I'm also trying to get back into using Goodreads. If you would like to follow me on there Click Here.
As always, thank you for reading and I hoped you enjoyed.

-Chloe

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My Skincare Routine

I have always had sensitive skin which meant that I have to be careful what I use on my face. From about the age of 13 I have been struggling with acne, although it has calmed down a lot now that I am getting older a lot of the scars remain on my skin which causes me to feel very self-conscious. I wear foundation almost everyday which means that is is important that I take care of my skin.

In this post I will be sharing with you my skincare routine.

Although I am not the most disciplined when it comes to skincare in the evening after a long day, I do try my best to stick to my routine.

For taking off my makeup at the end of the day I use the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water on a cotton pad. I find that this product removes all of my makeup effortlessly including eye makeup and leaves my face feeling clean. If I were having a lazy day I would be able to skip the next step.

To wash and exfoliate my skin I use the Garnier Pure Active 3-in-1 Wash, Scrub & Mask. For everyday use I use the product as a face wash but if I have a little more time I use the product as a mask by putting a layer on my skin and leave it on for a couple of minutes. I then scrub the product into my face before rinsing the product off.

I don't do this every time but after I've washed my face I use the Simple Kind to Skin Pore Minimising Toning Cleanser. I use this in the hope that it will make the pores I have on my skin less noticeable but because I don't use it everyday I haven't really noticed any changes unfortunately.

For moisturiser I use the Simple Kind to Skin Replenishing Rich Moisturiser at night because I prefer the thicker consistency before bed, also because it has the word replenishing in the name it sounds like it does more for your skin. In the morning however I use the Simple Hydrating Light Moisturiser instead as I feel that it absorbs quicker and helps my makeup apply smoother.

I also use the Simple Kind to Eyes Soothing Eye Balm. The product has a cooling effect that instantly makes my eyes feel more awake and less puffy which is great for early mornings. I use this day and night.

I also keep my Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes in my box but those are mostly reserved for very lazy nights where I cannot be bothered to take my makeup off properly.

I hope you enjoyed this post and as always, a follow would be greatly appreciated.

-Chloe

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MUA £1 Lipsticks

I have recently become obsessed with spending my change on the £1 MUA lipsticks from Superdrug and thought that I would share with you my current collection.

I currently have eight of the lipsticks in total which in total is about the price of one lipstick from other brands. I have four of the standard lipsticks which come in the black packaging and four of the matte lipsticks which come in white. Some of the lipsticks have names but others are just given shade numbers, I'm not entirely sure why.

Standard lipsticks:

The first lipstick I bought from MUA was Shade 13 which is a bright red lipstick with a slight pink tone that does not suit me in the slightest as my hair is red at the moment, I hope to get more use out of it when I dye my hair back to brown. The formula of all of the lipsticks are creamy but this one in particular is intensely pigmented which allows a good build up of colour.

The second is in the shade Juicy which is pretty coral pink colour which also does not suit my red hair at the moment. The colour payoff and the creaminess of the lipstick is also very nice which is surprising for a cheap pink lipstick.

The next is in Shade 2 which is a darker, almost purple, pink colour with a little more sparkle than the other lipsticks. Like the others the lipstick has great colour payoff.

The final standard lipstick is a little bit out there but it is in the shade Raven which is a black lipstick. Currently I have no where near the amount of confidence required to wear this out but I very much enjoy wearing it around the house pretending I'm a lot cooler than I am. When I first picked it up I wasn't expecting much of it and bought it as a little bit of a laugh but I highly recommend this if you're looking for a good black lipstick but don't want to spend very much, although the formula doesn't keep its colour for very long.

Matte lipsticks:

The first matte lipstick is in the shade Peachy Keen which is another coral pink colour but is a little darker and more pink than Juicy. Also does not go very well with my hair but I can't wait to wear it when my hair is a natural colour. As with the standard lipsticks the matte lipsticks are also very pigmented and have great colour payoff.

The second is in the shade Fawn Fancy which is my absolute favourite out of all of the lipsticks. It is a dark nude colour which I wear almost every day. Although this lipstick is not as pigmented as the others it still provides a nice subtle tint to the lip.

The next is in the shade Lilac Belle which is, as you would expect, a lilac colour. This is another 'out there' shade for me as I tend to keep my makeup simple. The colour is a lilac pink which appears mostly pink on my lips, I have also not yet been brave enough to wear this shade out.

The final lipstick is in the shade Wild Berry. The colour of this lipstick appears to be a dark purple but on the lips it is more of a pink colour which disappointed me at first, however it is still very pretty. This lipstick is still my current go to shade for going out, I am however waiting for a lipstick that is this colour.

I'm very happy with my current collection however I am patiently waiting for more dark shades to make their way into my Superdrug. I find it very difficult to wear light colour lipsticks because my natural lip colour is quite purple. Because of this I don't think I will be purchasing anymore pink colours.
I hope you enjoyed this post, a follow would be greatly appreciated.

-Chloe

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Travel Bucket List | Cities

One of my favourite things to do is look through the brochures you can get from travel agents and recently I picked up one for city breaks. In this post I'm going to list a few that I hope to visit.

I'm not brave enough to travel to remote areas of countries so city breaks are my ideal holiday.

I am constantly changing my travel bucketlist so look out for an updated version in the future!

I have already wanted to go to Norway from being very young, a lot of people used to thing I was quite strange when most people dream holiday was to Disney or to somewhere with a beach. I have just always been interested in the country. In particular I would like to visit the capital city of Oslo. Although there is not that much to do the city looks absolutely gorgeous 

Although I have already been to Paris twice on school trips I would like to go back as an Adult. When we went we were unable to climb to the top of the Eiffel Tower so that is something I would definitely like to do. I would also like to go back to Disney Land and be able to experience the other parks instead of being limited to the main park as I would like to experience the Tower of Terror. 

In school a trip to Iceland was offered, unfortunately I was not picked to go but I hope to be able to go one day in the future. I would like to visit the Blue Lagoon and experience the spa. I would also like to be able to see the Northern Lights. Although I saw them when I was younger in Lapland I would like to see them again and be able to remember it, hopefully see some whales too. 

Although I have already been to London this year we couldn't quite fit everything into the 3 days we had there. If I get to return I would definitely like to see another West End Show, I think it would be weird to go to London and not do so. My absolute dream is to experience the View from the Shard. I have a small obsession with the Shard and to actually be inside the building would be a dream come true.

I think that New York is on everyone's bucket list. I would like to visit Times Square to see how small it makes Piccadilly Circus seem as well as doing other touristy things like visiting the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State building. My mum and I are hopefully going to visit New York together for my 21st birthday, this is something we have had planned since I was young. 

These are just a few of the places I have on my bucket list. I plan to write another post featuring some of the other places I would like to visit such as Canada and Edinburgh. 

I hope you enjoyed this post, as always a follow would be greatly appreciated. 

-Chloe

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