2013? Bring it on.

Hiya!

Disclaimer: this post contains contradictions, things that don't make sense and will be confusing. I just typed it and hit the publish button so hopefully it contains some sort of meaning within it. If not - oh well.

First of all, I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and all got what you wanted out of the day. I for one had a lovely time with my family and friends and am now ready to face the new year.

So all kinds of TAGs and posts have been popping up all over the place about 2013 and everywhere people have been saying "I'm actually going to keep my resolutions this year" and "I'm seriously going to change this year" and stuff like that. Are you one of those people? Because I certainly am.

I don't really get why, but it seems that when there is an opportunity for a fresh start, it has to be a big thing. I make lists and give myself motivational talks in the mirror and tell myself "2013 is my year!". It's the prospect of it being a whole year that makes me so excited - it's such a long time and it's such a big thing and the idea that that big thing could be all mine to change in just gets me.

But this is also the downfall I suppose. In one year, so much happens that it swamps us and all of a sudden we're up to our eyebrows in stress and work and we'll maybe put on the few extra pounds that we promised we wouldn't only a few months ago. 

Why do we never say "Monday is my day" or even "2pm is my hour!"? Is it because there's something special and more thrilling about not being realistic? The fact that we could actually achieve something more difficult is somehow more motivating

All I am saying is that we are the only ones who can make it our year. There's no use saying that this new year will be amazing if we aren't going to work at it! This time next year I want to look at my old new years resolutions and think - yeah, I kept them because I wanted to and because I made it happen. 

To be perfectly honest, I have no idea what I just wrote; I just type-vomited and wrote what I was thinking without really knowing whether it even makes sense. I just hope that it got you thinking and hopefully will inspire you to make 2013 your year, even though it throws crap at you.

I love you guys, and hopefully, this time next year I will still be writing for my little piece on the internet and will be able to reflect on all the blessings that 2013 has brought and be ready for 2014!

Have a good night, enjoy yourself, don't get too plastered (you'll want to be able to remember it in the morning!) and I'll see you in 2013!!

xxxx

Sleigh bells ring, are you listenin'?

Hey there!

I'm so sorry I haven't really been alive recently - exams, college applications and life have just completely taken over and so if I haven't been revising or writing personal statements, I have been asleep or eating. 

Anyway! As you are probably all aware (unless you live under a rock) IT'S CHRISTMAS SOON! I'm am so excited you would not believe. So, in that spirit of things, I'm going to be answering a few Christmas related questions about past Christmases and traditions and that kind of thing! I may even shove in a couple of pictures if I can dig out any that aren't too embarrassing. Enjoy!

1. When do you start getting excited about Christmas?
As soon as summer ends and you can see your breath when breathe outside and you have to get out all your old winter hats and scarves and gloves and you need to turn the heating on, I get incredibly excited.

2. Do you still have advent calendars?
Yes of course! We always do them as a family after dinner or something.

3. What are your favourite Christmas films?
Elf I love and The Grinch of course. I used to hate The Snowman, but I'm starting to warm to it now. Also in our family we celebrate St Nicholas or Sinterklaas (click it if you want to know more) so we watch movies and TV episodes about that that my Dutch grandma records and sends to us :)

4. Do you have any funny Christmas memories?
Not really any specific memories, just being with friends and family, playing games and stuff. Everyone's always in a better mood on Christmas day so for some reason a lot of things just seem 10x funnier than they really are. Oh wait! One that I look back on now and laugh is when I was in nursery in the Netherlands. Who was I chosen to play in the class nativity? Out of all of the potential candidates there were in my whole entire class they chose me to play who? Friggin' Joseph. Will never ever forget that.

5. Talk us through your typical Christmas Day?
So this is for when we were younger..
Me and my sisters would get up quite early and maybe watch some Christmas TV or something. We don't really do stockings because we do Sinterklaas but in the morning we open some small presents before we get ready and then we go to church which is fun because it kind of brings you down to earth again to think about the real Christmas meaning like that it's not all about the presents (cheesy I know, but it's true)
Afterwards we come home and normally we either we used to go to my grandparents in Scotland or they would come to us. If we stayed at home then we would invite some friends round who maybe don't have anyone else to spend Christmas with or anywhere to go. Then after dinner we will open some more presents, maybe sing some Christmas songs and play games!

6. What do you eat for Christmas Dinner?
Standard turkey mostly, however, one year we went a bit wild and had a duck but for the most part, turkey all the way.


7. Do you have any Christmas traditions?
We always go to church, we always open presents as a family so that everyone can see what you got and we always watch the Queen's speech.


8. Which are your favourite Christmas songs?
Carol: O Come All Ye Faithful
Others: Have yourself a merry little Christmas, All I want for Christmas is YOU, Slade: Merry Christmas, generally anything on the Michael Bublé Christmas CD ;)

9. What is the best Christmas present you ever received?
Rollerblades with knee pads and elbow pads and the glove wrist protector things. The whole shabang. I was so excited I went out and rollerbladed straight away!


10.Real or fake Christmas tree?
Real real real. I have never had a fake Christmas tree in all my life.

Short, fat and odd, but I loves it.

So that's it! I do quite like doing these questionanny type posts so do let me know what you think of them! Anyway, have an excellent Christmas and a fabdab New Year; stay safe and enjoy yourself! I'll be revising most of the time, but I'll try to write another post in a week or so. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

xxxx

Change up for the barnet: Ombré Part 1

Hey guys!

So I am officially back on here after being away for I don't even want to know how long - I feel very out of it so please bear with me. I'm going to kick off my return with some special news.
I have ombréd my hair. 
I jumped on the bandwagon on Friday with the help of my amazing friend Shannon, who happens to work in a hair
dressers (how coincidentally useful right?). 

A few disclaimers:
I had never dyed my hair before so if you have already dyed hair, ask someone who is more expertly
informed on that!
This review will be 100% honest and truthful to my real opinion, so please bare that in mind
when you read this.
This is about DIYing ombre hair, so not about getting it done professionally.

Anyway, this post is just to tell you guys how I did it if any of you are interested, perhaps to show you a few 
pictures of the process and to review the product I used.
Enjoy!

What you will need:

- Some form of bleaching kit. You CANNOT use blond hair dye, because unfortuately, you need to really lift the 
colour of your hair and only bleach will do the trick. I used the L'Oréal Paris Preference Wild Ombrés box.
- An old towel that you don't mind getting dirty. A lighter one is best as you won't notice the bleaching as much.
- An old T-shirt that you again don't mind getting dirty.
- A window that you can open because the smell will probably be filthy. 
- An available shower or bath where you can wash the dye out.

The kit that I used:

RRP: £6.99 from Tesco - what a bargain! 

I chose to use Ombre No.1 even though I have medium brown hair so technically I should have gone with Ombre No. 2. I chose this primarily because it had better reviews and I didn't want it toooo blond. Also, it was the only one available in the shop. :)

What do you get in the box?

- The brush that you use to apply the product

- One sachet of lightening powder (1)

- One bottle of developer creme (2)

- One tube of lightening creme (3)

- One mini bottle of conditioning shampoo (4)

- A set of instructions

- A little capsule containing a pair of plastic gloves

First of all, you pour all of the powder into the bottle of developer creme. Then, you open the tube of lightening creme and squeeze all that you can into the same bottle and first roll it between your hands, then shake it well. At this point, make sure you crack open a window, because it really does smell awful.

Then you put on the gloves, unscrew the tip of the bottle and apply a lot of the dye to the brush and brush it through the tips of your hair. I chose to do this first and leave it on for about 5 minutes because I wanted the ends of my hair to be the blondest. I kept moving up my hair, each time leaving it for 3-5 minutes, eventually stopping around where my chin was. This was to create a natural, gradient effect. As well as applying it with the brush, we also scrunched the product with our hands to make it look more messy which adds to the intended effect of ombre. In total, I left it for about half an hour before washing it out with the shampoo they gave me, and it gave me a beautiful caramel blonde colour which wasn't unnatural or harsh at all.

It did make the ends of my hair slightly dry, but as I was due for a haircut anyway, I decided to wait until the day after I dyed my hair to go to the hairdressers and get it styled, conditioned and fixed if anything did go wrong (which it didn't!)

So here are some pictures of the process and the results!

As well as combing it through, Shannon also applied it directly to my hair

The final stages of the process, where she was just making sure she didn't miss any bits

Washing it out!

The end result straight after washing and blow drying. You can see
the damage, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be repaired or treated.

The colour of my ends up close

The natural colour of my hair before (please excuse
my appearance, this was taken over a year ago.)

Finally! This is with no effect or enhancement to the picture. As you can see, it's hardly even noticeable,
but still a really pretty gradient that is natural.

So I think that is all! I hope you have found this at least a little bit useful if you want to do this yourself, or even if you're interested in my new hair. It was quite a big step for me as it was the first time dying my hair, but I think this was the perfect thing to do; it was cheap, it was easy and I LOVE it! Do consider giving it a go if you're looking for something fun and easy to do and if you're super nervous about messing it up, get it done professionally!
In a few weeks, I will do Part 2 of this topic where I will talk about the way I care for my ombre hair and what products have worked the best for me, so keep your eyes out for that. 
For now, thanks for reading. Bye!

xxxx

EDIT:: Since then I have had my hair cut (just trimmed) to take off most of the damage which I thought would be good to do to make sure it was as healthy as it could be.

However, I should probably also mention that I actually re-did my hair about a week after I wrote that post. Now, the reason for this is because I just didn't feel like the blonde was noticeable enough. The colour was so gradiented (if that's even a word) that you hardly noticed it in certain lights and I just wanted it blonder. I knew that it would damage my hair but since I'd just had it cut, I decided to do it again. I used the same L'Oreal kit but this time I actually did it myself and used No.3 for blonde hair. I left it in for about 45 minutes and I love the way it turned out. It's a lot blonder but still looks natural and not too much at all. 

Staring at a blank screen

Hello to you! This is going to be a quick'un...

When I opened up my laptop, checked blogger and clicked the 'write post' button, my heart sank. Again, I had no idea what to write about. If any of you write a blog, you will know what I'm talking about - I have just completely run out ideas!

So to all of you who take the time to read my blog, (and I know you're out there because I can see how many people read it!) please please please drop me a comment/tweet me/send me an email and tell me what you want to read! Also, you can follow me by either subscribing by email or clicking the 'Join This Site' button. 

I want to keep it interesting for you guys and plus it really helps me out when I'm stuck in situations like this where I just can't think of what to write.

That was all - thank you!

xxxx

"...to read is to live..."

 Hey there!

A bit of a different post today... I've decided that I don't really want my blog to be a 'beauty' blog any more really; I kind of want it to have a bit more substance to it (this is not a generalisation on all beauty blogs - I love them and read them all the time but just want mine to be different). I'm sorry if some of you hate this idea and that I've now chased you away, but I just want to feel fulfilled by what I'm writing and I think that the only way I can do that is by writing what I want! 

I realise that I've been neglecting reading a bit lately, which is such a shame because I used to be a complete book worm. I still am but I haven't properly sat down and read a novel in ages. So, I wanted to reflect on some of the past books which I have just loved reading and which I hope you will love too. I'm not in any way forcing you to read, but I really want to share something that I love to do with you! Reading is such an amazing way to broaden the mind and explore other worlds and there is no feeling better than getting lost in a good book. 

So here are a few of my favourites, and a couple that I'm planning to read in the future. 

I hope you enjoy! (If not the books, the photography. I did really spend quite a while on it.)

The Help - Kathryn Stockett; The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde; Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder
The Book Theif - Markus Zusak; Emma - Jane Austin

A wonderful, hilarious, feminine classic

Yes it was a book that I had to read for English and to people who go to my school, I don't care if it makes me sad that I enjoyed it!

I hate bookmarks; dog ears all the way

An inspiring book for those of you who 'hate' reading

One of my favourite lines from the book I'm reading at the moment: Sophie's World

My next read: The Book Thief

*damn it...classic typo - can anybody spot it?*

 xxxx

Cornwall adventures!

Well hello there!

I am back, finally, after an amazing, blissful half term in Cornwall and what better way to say goodbye to the late nights and late mornings, doing what you like whenever you like and spending time with family than to write a blog post allll about it! I have been dying to get behind my laptop and to get everything down for you guys and as I have to go back to school tomorrow (bleh), I thought I'd jump straight in and do it now!

So, for those who don't know, Cornwall is situated right along the South-West coast of England. It rains most of the time, it's really cold and most of it consists of either beach, field or cow. Here are a few maps to give you an idea: 

A map of England - the red bit is Cornwall (obviously)

We were in the middle of nowhere, but about 15 minutes away
was a town called Fowey (pronounced Foi) - highlighted in red

We were staying in a beautiful cottage owned by friends of the family and it is so beautiful! Really typically English with a fire place, an AGA in the kitchen (google it) - it was just so cosy! It was amazing spending a week there, enjoying revising (really Ciska, really?) and spending time with family. 
But what did I actually get up to?

We went for lovely walks along the beach; it was cold but so nice!

We also went for walks in the field and watched the sun set behind the hills.

We became werewolves when there was a full moon and went hoppelling around the country side on Halloween night.

We took the car ferry to Fowey and went shopping.

We went windsurfing...

...it was very cool.

We carved a pumpkin...

...and envied other pumpkins. Although ours was far superior to these ones. (This is my sister by the way, not just some random girl..)

We frolicked along the beach with my grandparents' dog and later went swimming. In the sea. In November. While it was hailing.

We walked in the hills, yay!

So I hope that's given you a bit of a taster of what my half term was like - I hope yours was just as good! Let me know whether you did anything interesting or even if you didn't I'd love to know all the same! 
Have a good week guys,
lots of love!

xxxx

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. 

**

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. 

**

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