2014: The Roller Coaster Year

Photo taken in America by me.

I'm going to warn you now, this post is going to get a bit deep (and long), and it won't be all happy and lighthearted like my blog usually is. I'm going to be absolutely honest and speak about things that I don't usually speak about with anyone, not even my friends, let alone my readers. Part of why I'm writing this is so that I can look back at this and remember exactly how I felt. So if you want to read something a little less depressing, maybe choose one of my other posts!

I think I'll forever remember 2014 as my roller coaster year. Never would I have thought it was possible to cram in so many highs and so many lows into one year. I'm not exaggerating, I have experienced the best moments and the worst moments of my life so far this year.

The year began pretty standard, I was struggling at university, barely scraping a 2.1 and panicking about a half an hour presentation I had to do alone and what seemed to be impossibly hard assignments. My then boyfriend and I were having some issues, mainly down to the three hour distance between us and not having any time to see each other. I was working in retail a lot, but I also got hired too a summer camp last January, so generally life was good. Somehow, and I'm not even sure how, my grades miraculously improved (I think I finally figured out how to write an essay!) and I ended up getting Firsts in all my final assignments, which amazingly swung my average to a First! By May most of my deadlines had been submitted, I had also been working about 20 hours a week at work to save for my trip to America, and when I finally finished university and work then moved home for a week before flying out, I felt an amazing sense of accomplishment. 

It was during this time that my then boyfriend had been rather difficult. He'd always said he was fine with me going to America, but this was obviously a lie as he freaked out and broke up with me 4 days before I was due to leave. I have to say though, going to a foreign country for 3 months is an amazing way to get over someone! I don't miss my ex at all, I know he wasn't good for me looking back, he didn't treat me like Im deserve to be treated. However I do miss being in a relationship, a lot. I think I'm at that age now (22 tomorrow!!) where I want to be in a nice, settled relationship. I just feel quite lonely, seeing as all my girl friends have long-term partners, and I can't help but feel jealous. I could really do with the support of a boyfriend right now too, but I guess that's life. One thing I'm set on, I won't force anything and I won't settle for anyone less than Mr Right. He doesn't have to be Prince Charming, I just want a genuine guy who makes me smile and laugh, and gives great cuddles of course. 

If you have read my America posts, here, here and here.. You'll know that I had the time of my life there. America is a country I have always wanted to visit, and I was determined I was going to make it happen, and Camp America was how I managed that. I have always been a bit of an introvert too, so this was massively scary for me and I'm so proud of myself just for getting on that plane. However when I got home, things took a turn for the worse...

When I was 14 my mum was diagnosed with cancer. Since then it has been a long battle of it coming back, the doctors treating and getting rid of it, and it coming back again. It's something that's always there, lurking in the corner. On my last week travelling in America, mum told me she'd actually been in hospital for two weeks, because she was struggling to walk and they didn't know why. As soon as I got home off the overnight flight I nipped home and showered and then me and dad went to see her. She was out after another couple of weeks but unfortunately she was now wheelchair bound. I won't go into specifics but the cancer is back, and it's not good. Her condition has deteriorated rapidly and it is just awful to watch. It affects everything, we can't go anywhere, she's bed bound and there's nothing we can do. She's not just my mum, she's my best friend too. We used to do so much together and now we can't do anything. She sleeps a lot now and gets really confused sometimes, it's just awful, there's no other way to describe it. Christmas was obviously hard, but luckily most of our family and friends have been really supportive and they have made life easier for us. 

When I pictured my life at 21 I wouldn't have imagined this. I have a first class degree and yet I'm working in a stock room in a shop. That's another point, I didn't get kept on in the retail department, even though I did every extra hour they asked and bent over backwards for them! Life doesn't seem to like me at the moment. Luckily I managed to secure the stockroom role. I just need any old job at the moment, just to get me by. I do eventually want to do a masters but my life is sort of on hold at the moment! 

Although I've just painted the biggest picture of doom and gloom ever, there are some good things that have come out of all of this. I've realised for one how strong I am. I never thought I would ever be able to cope with something like this, but here I am, still smiling surprisingly, I'm still nice to people, I don't complain, I don't make excuses that I can't do things because of this situation, I fucking get on with it. I'm now a part time worker, part time carer, part time homemaker, part time blogger! I work, cook, clean, grocery shop, look after... I never thought I'd be able to get over a two and a half year relationship so quickly either but I did! Never thought I'd meet so many amazing people in one year, I have. My best friend and I are intending to run a half marathon next year to raise money for cancer charities, so that's something positive to look forward to. Even though this year has not gone to plan, and my life is not going to plan, the things that were within my control did go to plan, and that's what I need to focus on, I've done all that I could. 

Always make the most of a bad situation, never take it out on others, and keep smiling. That's what I have learnt from 2014.

I wish you all a Happy New Year :) xxx

The Christmas Post

I wanted to post something Christmassy so I thought I'd post some photos of our decorations :) I hope you've all had an amazing Christmas and have been surrounded by those you love xxx.

My Week in Instagram

My week in Instagram photos (or two weeks to be exact..) Life has been a bit hectic the last couple of weeks, what with Christmas approaching and working a lot, I don't have much spare time! I've found that I have so many ideas for blog posts and I've taken a lot of the photos but just need to write them now! But the good point is that I've got posts planned for the whole of January, yay! So I thought I'd do a quick week in photos post, as I haven't done one of these in ages! And I've started using Instagram more again now :) You can find me at @xbeccabe.

1. Work night out on Friday, someone asked if I was an MUA!

2. Products used on Friday, lots of MAC and Urban Decay.

3. A Sunday visit to Elliot Rose in Bakewell (post will be coming on that).

4. Nandos Christmas meal with the girls, yum!

5. The makeup I wore to the meal, featuring MAC's Cyber.

6. My funky gym trainers, I got the NikeiD ones last year.

7. My room all cosy and Christmassy!

8. Beautiful sunrise.

9. My first Christmas Costa cup.

10. Quote of the day from my new book (post coming soon).

11. Gorgeous view from the gym!

12. Another gorgeous view, this time from my bedroom.

Why I Love Aussie

I remember the day I decided to try Aussie, it was a good six years ago and my teenage self was reeled in by the glossy advert in the magazine showing one of those surfer babe girls with amazing hair! Since that day it's been the range I swear by. I've tried different products for my hair, anything that I hear is good I'll give it a go, but I just keep coming back to Aussie.. So what's so good about it?!

The shampoo and conditioner photoed are from the Mega range, which is good to prevent product build up. However I've tried almost all of the different ones and they're all great! I tend to just usually read the description and pick one that suits my hair type. Simples. What I love about Aussie is that I rarely experience any product build up. Other shampoos and conditioners I've tried tend to leave my hair feeling heavy and it often goes greasy quicker. Whereas with the Aussie range I only have to wash it 2-3 times a week! 

The leave in conditioners are great to spray on after you've washed your hair to help brush it through. If you've got long hair like me this can often be a horrendous task! Aussie leave in conditioner makes this so much less painful. The conditioners leave the ends of my hair feeling so soft too, it's that kind of soft where you can't stop running your fingers through it! The 3 Minute Miracle Treatments are also worth checking out, I love them for the occasional deep conditioning treatment. 

The Miracle Dry Shampoo is my recent new discovery! I'm really, really impressed with this product. I've never found a dry shampoo I actually like, they usually make me choke on the fumes they're so strong and they make my room stink for hours! And they're not that effective even then. So I usually just use talcum powder! But this one has quite a nice scent and it's a lot more effective than others I've tried. So I'm a happy bunny!

Oh and I forgot to mention, the whole range smells amazing! People have actually commented on how my hair smells, it's that good. It's just the most delicious fresh, fruity smell, I still can't get enough.

Although I love Aussie it is quite pricey so I usually just buy it when the offers are on (which is a lot of the time!) You can view the full range here at Boots.

What's your favourite haircare range?

The Green Juice Explosion Post

Have you ever tried to create a post and it's just gone horribly wrong? I've had a couple gone wrong but this was by far the worst! I recently wrote a post about how to make a nice green juice which I wanted to expand on. I always suffer from low iron levels and I find it difficult to eat the amount of greens I need in my diet daily so juicing is a great way of doing this!

I lay out all of my ingredients nice and organised here and I was ready to go. Ingredients used (I don't measure):

Half a bag of kale

Half a bag of spinach

Half a head of broccoli

Two kiwis

A spoon of Xenca Five a Day+ (which I mix in after).

I use the Philips HR1R1863/01 juicer which my aunty bought my dad but he never uses! We've already had one break on us and I follow the instructions exactly but this one sometimes seems to get really loud and sound like it's going to explode! I've read reviews on it though and they're all really positive so maybe it's just me because the last one did this too?! I think they're possessed!

But anyway I started to put in the ingredients, it would take about 4/5 attempts to do all this. The first 3 were fine but once I'd added my last bit of kale, that's when the noise like a jet plane was taking off in my kitchen started! I had one hand holding the top down and one hand poised on the switch ready to turn it off as usual as it scares me so much! I quickly turned it off when this horrific noise started but not before the entire top flew off! 

Here's my stressed out snapchat! I didn't get chance to juice the kiwis so had to kind of squeeze them in and then the whole thing tasted awful because it didn't have the sweetness of the kiwis! If you're making a green juice I always recommend adding something sweet like apples or kiwis so it tastes nice otherwise it will be bitter! Anyway needless to say my dad was fuming and we spent an hour clearing up! In the future I've said he can do the juicing and I'll just wash up because it scares me too much!

I know this has been a pretty random/hinging on useful post, but I thought I'd share it as it was quite amusing and our blog posts don't always go to plan to they?! Needless to say I didn't photograph the final result!

Have you guys ever had a blog post gone horrifically wrong?

EOS Lip Balm Review

When I spent three months in America this summer I didn't buy much as I was on a tight budget, but one thing I did buy was a couple of the EOS (evolution of smooth) lip balms, as I'd read a lot about how amazing they're meant to be!

The flavours I purchased were Strawberry Sorbet and Raspberry Pomegranate. I bought the Strawberry Sorbet flavour at the beginning of camp and I used it nearly every day and there's still some left!  

The claim:

"eos lip balm is 95% organic, 100% natural, and paraben and petrolatum free. Packed with antioxidant-rich vitamin E, soothing shea butter and jojoba oil, eos keeps your lips moist, soft and sensationally smooth."

I love how natural the product is as you do essentially end up eating your lip balm so you don't want any nasty chemicals entering your body!

The little ball form they come in is really cute, however not the most practical in terms of trying to fit in your pocket! But the design does feel really comfy to hold when applying. 

I love the way the balm glides on and they do leave my lips feeling soft for hours. They are the only lip balms that have come close to my all time favourite Nivea Essential Care! They smell amazing too and the scent lasts.

I bought these for about $5 from Walmart and I know these are available from Urban Outfitters for about £6 each (more expensive in the UK since they're imported I guess?!) but I've seen some on Amazon for a bit cheaper. Good old Amazon! 

Have you tried the eos lip balms?

Easy Christmas Nails

I won't lie, I'm pretty average when it comes to nails! But that's why I wanted to come up with something simple and easy for you guys to recreated, if you're like me and not that steady handed or simply don't have the patience! The colours I used were all by Barry M and I got them all last year, but I'm sure they will have something similar this year!

The effect I wanted to create was an ombre one, and I purposefully put the white shimmery colour at the bottom so when they chipped they wouldn't be as noticeable!

Step 1: Apply a base coat so the varnish won't stain your nails.

Step 2: Apply the pink glittery nail colour to the top half of your nails. Don't do it in a perfect half, leave it a little rough so it blends into the other colour better.

Step 3: When the first colour is dry, apply the white shimmery colour to the bottom half of your nails and blend it up slightly into the pink.

Step 4: Layer over any more colour as necessary.

Step 5: One dry, go over all of your nails with the silver glitter varnish. This step isn't necessary but it helps blend the colours together better and adds a bit more sparkle!

Step 6: Finish it all off with a good top coat! I quite like the Barry M one. 

If you're feeling creative you could draw on some snowflakes too!

You can view the full Barry M glitter range at here at Boots!

How will you be painting your nails this Christmas?

Blogger Secret Santa Meet Up 2014

Two weeks ago today I attended the Blogger Secret Santa 2014 Meet Up in Nottingham, ran by the Lovely Hannah King and Emma Dean! We all met up at Ned Ludd and had four different brands come to speak to us about their products. We also all received this amazing goody bag from The Blogger Programme! And of course we each exchanged our Secret Santa presents and I was very happy with mine! :) I apologise for the quality of some of these photos, I had a camera malfunction on the day so photographed most of the products when I got home!

How cute are these tags that Hannah and Emma made?! I framed mine!

This is what I received from the Blogger Programme Goody Bag!

Superdrug Superfruits Clay Mask, Dream Dots and Faith in Nature Shower Gel. Can't wait to try the Dream Dots!

Hairburst hair growth tablets and Perfectil skin, hair and nail tablets (although I don't think I want my hair to grow anymore!)

Leighton Denny, Beauty UK Posh Polish and Flashmob nail varnish. I've only ever heard of Leighton Denny out of these brands.

Makeup Revolution eyeshadow palette, Flashmob glitter, W7 Perfect Eyes and Playboy lipstick. I have to say I can't see myself using any of these! The baby pink lipstick is not my colour at all and I'll probably save the Makeup Revolution Palette for fancy dress makeup! The glitter might come in handy one day?!

Vita Liberata NKD SKN Instant Tan in Dark. I'm excited to try this as I used their Overnight tan in medium and that was a bit light for me so I'm hoping this will suit me better! (Read my review of the tan here).

Makeup Revolution Primer and Nanshy Eyeliner Brush. I think there was only meant to be one primer in the bag! I'm looking forward to trying these, the brush should definitely come in handy!

The bag also included a Lemon Meringue sample from The Treat Kitchen and a Crabtree and Evelyn cracker which I am yet to pull!

Your Tea Tiny Tea, a 14 Day Detox (I do love trying teas!)

A Facethefuture goody bag, I'm excited to try out some of these samples! I've never used this brand before.

These samples are from the brands that came to speak to us.

The hello breath sprays are made by the same company that makes eos balms, which instantly got me excited about this product! The idea is it's meant to look nice and able to fit in your bag easily, but also do the job it's designed for: freshening your breath! This flavour is Pink Grapefruit Mint, yum!

I can't remember the lovely man's name that spoke to us about hello and The Ultimate Fix, but he referred to himself as "The UK Friendly Guy" So UK Friendly guy also gave us a sample of The Ultimate Fix, which is a product that you spray on your nails after painting each coat which is designed to dry them from the bottom up. The good thing about it is that it doesn't have much of a scent!

The lovely Lekha from Merumaya then spoke to use about the Merumaya range of skincare. We got to test out most of the range, and it all looked/felt/smelled amazing! I can't wait to try these samples and I think I'll be adding a few products (definitely the serum) to my ever expanding wish list!

Xenca Five a Day+ was probably the product I was most excited about! It's basically a supplement in the form of a powder that supposed to help the body get what it needs during a typical day. The lovely Suzie explained all the science behind it and I was fascinated! I have been taking one teaspoon a day as recommended with water every day and I will update you with the results soon! She also spoke to us about a collagen supplement which sounded just as good, and both are reasonably priced.

Lush also dropped by to show us some of their Christmas range. Needless to say I wanted everything! We also got to make our own bath bombs which was so much fun! The one I made was called "Cinders". The Lush team were all so friendly and nice and even came round and gave us arm and hand massages using the massage bars!

Here I am weighed down with all my bags after a great day!

You will probably see some more in depth reviews of some of these products over the coming months, as I am currently in the process of trialling them still! :) Also it was so lovely meeting all of you who went to the meet up! Thanks again to Hannah and Emma :) xx