Get your freak on!

Hey everyone!

So school's out for half-term and I couldn't be happier - I have waited for this holiday for so so so long, I can't wait to just relax and get things done in my own time.

I really wanted to get another post up before I go away on Sunday (to Cornwall, I'm so excited!) and I thought I'd do a fun one because my posts have been a little on the serious side lately. So what better way to do that then the Get Your Freak On TAG? I haven't been tagged by anyone in particular, but I just thought it would be a bit of fun! Here we go!

1) What's a nickname only your family calls you?

They mostly just call me Ciska but my granddad calls me Friska... My dad also sometimes calls me Ciska-wosk, and I have no clue where that originated from but yeah! 

2) What is a weird habit of yours?

Okay, whenever I have a shower I always have to close the lid of the toilet before I shower. It's really weird but it feels really unhygienic to have the toilet open while I'm showering! Another one is that I take my shoes off when I'm at school in the lesson and sit cross-legged. It's just the most comfortable way for me to sit! Actually, I never sit on a chair with my legs hanging down, I always sit on my knees or with my knees up or cross legged...

3) Do you have any weird phobias?

Ants - but that's not really that weird. It's because I got bitten by them on my feet when I went to India and I've never been the same since. Also, I HATE crossing roads. It's a lot better now than it used to be, but ever since I nearly got run over, I get so paranoid.

4) What's a song you secretly love to blast out?

I have a few but they're not really secrets.. I love songs by 'Train' like Save Me San Francisco and I Got You. I also really love the song She by Parachute - I have that constantly on repeat. Also, you can never have to much of the classics; Dancing in the Moonlight, Penny Lane and It Must Be Love are some of my other favourites.

5) What is one of your biggest pet peeves?

My family will know this one because they do it all the time: leaving my door open as they leave my room. I just don't understand why you would come into a room, and leave without closing it.. It aggravates me so much! Every time a member of my family leaves my room I always shout after them 'Close the door please!' because I just can't stand having it open! Weird, I know.. I also hate it when people touch my shoulders, I just hate it. 

6) What's one of your nervous habits?

I don't really have one...I play with my hair a lot or shake my leg if I'm sitting down.

7) What side of the bed do you sleep on?

I don't have a double bed so I don't sleep on any side!

8) What was your first stuffed animal and it's name?

This is a tear jerker... So the first cuddly toy I remember is a blue teddy bear and being the imaginative kid I was, I called it Blueberry Bear. I didn't really sleep with him until later when I found him in the toy box and re-adopted him; I took him everywhere, including my school trip to Paris. When I accidentally left him in the hotel room. So basically I was distraught and then as tribute I planted a blueberry tree, plant, whatever, in the garden and then got over it. But then when I went on my summer holiday, we visited some old friends who have two sons who are each a year younger that my and my sister. The older one has a blueberry bear too and so when he heard my tragic story he decided to give my his, which was so lovely and kind! So now I have Blueberry Bear again and it's all good!

9) What's the drink you always order at Starbucks?

Good old hot chocolate can never go amiss.

10) What's the beauty rule you preach but actually never practice?

Not squeezing or touching spots. Gross I know, but true..

11) Which way do you face in the shower?

The door..?

12) Do you have any 'weird' body skills?

I have a realllly long tongue - it comes past my chin when I stick it out. 

13) What's your favorite 'comfort food' that's 'bad' but you love to eat it anyways?

Maltesers. They are my favourite thing ever and I know they are so bad for me because I eat so many but I could literally eat a giant treat bag in literally 6 minutes all by myself.

14) What's a phrase or exclamation that you always say?

'Guys' , 'basically', my mum just told me I say 'I dunno, like..' a lot... And I say hello like 'OH HAI!'

15) Time to sleep - what are you wearing?

I love my matching Christmas pyjamas from Primark - no it does not have to be Christmas for my to wear my Christmas pyjamas. 

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Well there you go, I hope you enjoyed it and that you learnt a lot..? Thanks again for taking the time to read this, I really do appreciate it! Have a nice weekend everybody!

Hey kiddo

xxxx

Current beauty favourites!

Hey there!

Basically, I haven't done a beauty related post in a while so I thought I'd tell you all what my current favourites are because I have recently found the products that I use everyday; kind of my staple products. So as you can see above, there is an array of stuff including some new found stuff, so here we go and I hope you enjoy!

1) Collection's 'Lasting Perfection Concealer'

As you all probably know, this has been a massive cult favourite in the beauty blogging world, but I just wanted to refresh my love for this as I just re-purchased it.

Even though it is pretty high coverage, it still manages to look natural, brightening and not cakey, with the added long lasting-ness. In fact, I don't even need to use a foundation with this because it just covers up everything so flawlessly. I am in the shade medium 3, however, when I tried it in the shop, the darkest shade did match me as well. I just prefer it to be one shade lighter so that it can brighten up my under eye area as well and cover up the darkness and blemishes. The packaging is the only disappointment - I only just bought it last week and already the print on the tube has started to smudge and come off. Also, it only comes in 4 shades, which match pretty well but don't cater for much darker skin tones, so it means that some gals do have to miss out on this one. But overall, the best drugstore concealer I've found so far, be sure to check it out!

2) Sleek's 'Storm' palette and Eco Tools Angled brush

Although my eyebrows are pretty thick already, I still like to fill them in for a bit of extra colour and definition. I use the dark brown eyeshadow from the 'Storm' palette and the Eco Tools angled brush to fill them in and they work wonderfully.

The eyeshadow has just the right amount of warmth and ashyness to it, is so soft and pigmented and stays all day. The angled brush gives perfect definition and is just so useful to have in your kit as a staple product. As a side note, all of the Sleek palettes are absolutely amazing, so if you're looking for a good value for money make sure you take a look!

3) Maybelline's 'Great Lash' mascara in Blackest Black

If any of you have ever tried this mascara, then it might come as a surprise to you that I'm mentioning this as a favourite because this product doesn't seem to get much love - I certainly didn't like it when I first tried it. For me, it didn't really do much to my lashes, the brush was too small and it just seemed to be a bit of a waste of money. 

BUT, after trying it out more and curling my eyelashes before hand, I discovered that this mascara is actually amazing. If you apply 2-3 layers of it, it gives so much volume, length and drama and really gives you that doll eyed look. It does take some getting used to and I certainly had to learn how to apply this but once you get the hang of it, it's friggin fabulous!

Lashes before (look like a mouse)

Lashes after (oh my goodness me, are you seeing this length?!)

4) Benefit's 'Hoola' Bronzer

Yep, another cult favourite but I have been loving re-discovering this lately! If you haven't tried this bronzer, you are missing out on so much brilliant-ness..

Yes, it is a pricey purchase and yes, there are probably fabulous dupes out there, but this is seriously amazing. It is so soft to apply and isn't orangey at all. It gives you the perfect sun kissed glow whilst being completely matte so that you can contour equally well with it. Love this so much!

5) Sleek's 'Life's a Peach' blush

I have wanted this blush for so incredibly long that when I got it, I couldn't contain my excitement.

It looks so scary and orange but it gives you the most perfect glow that makes you look all autumny and happy. You can't apply too much of this, which is amazing. It just looks so natural - argh I love this so much! It is probably my most favourite item I will mention. However, it may not look so great on pale skin so I'd watch out for that. But overall, gah, its so good!

Zero makeup

Added concealer

The whole hog: mascara, bronzer and blush!

6) Nivea 'Pure and Natural: Milk and Honey' lip balm

Now, it's getting colder outside and my lips are always so chapped in the Autumn/Winter months, so this is so great to have just in my bag or pocket.

This is so moisturising and lovely, it lasts for an absolute age, it smells divine and it's cheap as chips. What else do you want in a lip balm?

7) Toni&Guy 'Casual Sea Salt Texturising Spray'

Recently, my hair has been getting a lot curlier than it used to be, so I wanted to try something to enhance the curly-wurly that was going on. 

I originally heard about this from Zoella (who is amazing by the way, check her out if you haven't ever yet) and immediately wanted to try this but didn't want to buy the full size. So I bought the little size to give it a whirl and I was blown away. This makes my hair look as if it has actually been curled, it's like magic. So if you want to give your hair some texture and stuff, you can pick this up from Boots, it's pretty cheap, and try it out!

Are you seeing this voluminosinosity?

9) Eucerin 'Calming Urea Shampoo'

This sounds utterly disgusting - I must admit, I was freaked out when I first saw UREA - but it's not wee, I promise.

I discovered this through yet another beauty person: FleurDeForce (who is also very great). I suffer from really bad dry skin on my scalp as well as not being very unattractive, flaky skin is also annoying and itchy. So when I saw Fleur mention this, I jumped at the chance to buy it and try it out. Seriously, if you suffer from  dry skin on your scalp then you HAVE to buy this. It is so amazing - after even the first time of using it my head wasn't itchy and flaky, it was so much more comfortable! I couldn't praise this shampoo more. Because I still use my other normal shampoo and conditioner, I only massage this into my scalp when I'm washing my hair, and apply my Herbal Essences 'Hello Hydration' to the length of my hair, so that it still gets washed and smells lovely. I leave it in for about 2 minutes, wash it out and put conditioner in as usual and it works brilliantly. 

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So I hope you enjoyed my little run down of everything I'm loving at the moment and I hope it gave you some ideas of new things to try out!
By the way, you can also now subscribe by email or follow me on Bloglovin, so please feel free to enter your email or click the subscribe button on the sides of the posts! 
Thank you so much to everyone who reads these posts, it really means a lot:) 

xxxx

The perfect version of yourself..?

Hey everyone!

As some of you might know, I'm in year 11 now and facing the oh-so-terrifying prospect of, wait for it...GCSE's. Some of you who have already been there might think I'm being ridiculous stressing out about mere GCSE's but honestly, I am slightly freaking out.

So I'm nervous about exams, that's fine, but I can't help but worry that I'm not going to get as good as people expect me to; that I won't exceed their expectations, to put it in Harry Potter terms. You see, I'm a massive people pleaser (aside from my family. Sorry guys.) and I can't stand the feeling of disappointment, not directed at other people, but directed at me.

It's always been a huge point of anxiety for me, that I won't make others proud. In some ways it does push you to do better, but in others it can really get you down. I sometimes just wish that I could be the perfect version of myself - I could still me me but without all the flaws and disappointments. Do you ever feel like that?

It's so hard to accept that it's okay not to be perfect and it's okay to have flaws. Learn from them and most importantly, embrace them. They are part of who you are and without them, you just wouldn't be you.

But it's easier said than done, right?

For me, there's such a barrier between thinking 'yeah, I'll just do my best and at least I couldn't have done any better' and actually accepting that. However, if you do try your best, nobody can ask for anything more. So what if your teachers are disappointed? As long as you make yourself proud and happy because there's nothing worse than being disappointed in yourself. 

So, if this post made any sense to you what so ever, then I hoped it helped somewhat. If not, then I hope it was a pleasant read and now you can go and move on with your life. 
Feel free to drop me a comment guys, I'd love to know who is actually reading my blog and what you think of it.

Thanks!

xxxx