Zoella Beauty | Sweet Inspirations Range

About a couple of weeks ago now a new range from Zoella Beauty was released called 'Sweet Inspirations'.  I'm pretty sure most of you will know of Zoella Beauty but just incase you haven't and you haven't worked it out from the name, Zoella Beauty is a range of beauty products from 'Zoella'.

Current Favourites (Part Two!)

As I mentioned in my last favourites post (here) I decided to split it into two parts.  Mainly because there are too many to put in one post and I thought it would be good to have one part on just beauty and the other on random sort of bits!

YouTubers and Bloggers

Fabulous Hannah and More Fab Han

I discovered Hannah's channel about a month ago and she is definitely one of my favourite YouTubers at the moment.  I just love her channel SO much.  Her videos are just really easy to watch (do you know what I mean? Haha) If you're looking for new people to watch on YouTube I would definitely recommend you subsribe to her main channel and her vlog channel!
Also can we just talk about the fact Hannah is only 17 and looks and acts so much older than me and I'm 21 haha. 

http://thriftyvintagefashion.blogspot.co.uk
I've been reading Nicole's blog for quite a few months now and I love it so much.  I love the variety of posts and her writing style.  You should all go over and check out her blog! I also follow Nicole on Twitter and she is one of the loveliest people I follow!

http://animesummers.blogspot.co.uk
Another blog that I really enjoy reading is Rebecca's.  She is going to be blogging more so all go over and check it out and follow her!

TV Shows 
I don't really watch much TV, but there's been a couple of shows I've been loving so I thought I'd share them with you.

Love Island
I never really watch stuff like this but my best friend told me to and I actually love it.  I'm not even sure why I love it so much, but I'm a little bit obsessed haha.  My favourite couple is definitely Nathan and Cara.

Jane the Virgin 
This is another show a friend recommend and one I am now obsessed with.  I'm only half way through season one, but it just makes me laugh and its a good nice light hearted program.  I definitely recommend it!

SO, there are all my current favourites.  Hope you didn't mind it being over two posts, but as I said I thought that would be best!

If there's any thing you would recommend for me, let me know! 

Current Favourites (Part One!)

I haven't really done any favourites post recently and this was meant to be a 'May Favourites' but I haven't had the chance to write it until now.  It is the 10th June so I feel like its too late to title it as that haha.  Anyway, here is what I've been loving recently. There's quite a few so hope you're ready for a long post!

(as you can see, my photography skills haven't improved during my break!)

The cacti in the pictures aren't really part of my favourites, but they looked cute in the picture so I kept them there!

Uni So Far

This is going to be a REALLY long post, just a warning haha.
I haven't really been planning on doing a blog post about uni because it is something that I hate and it actually embarrasses me the fact I have had such a disaster with it.  But today it is just really bothering me so I felt like I would write about it to try and make me feel better.  I just have to remind my self that I couldn't help being ill and its not my fault (as everyone is constantly telling me)

So.  Lets go right back to when I was in year 13.  My school was one of those ones that pushed us into it.  It was either uni or nothing.  I never ever wanted to go to uni, but when I had my school constantly talking about how good it was and that you need it etc, I kind of felt I had no choice.  So here we are now, 3 years down the line and I'm not even in second year.

The idea of uni did eventually grow on me and by the time it came for me to move out of home and to uni I was looking forward to it.  Nervous as hell, but a little excited.  Now here is where it all goes wrong haha.

Things started off alright.  I got on with my flat mates for about the first month or so, but then we all started to not get along.  I'm mainly talking about 2 of them really.  I had another flat mate who I got on SO well with and I always knew that he was there for me if I needed him and we were really close.

However, I suddenly started feeling absolutely awful.  I was missing most of my lectures, staying in bed and I was on the phone to my mum most of the time.  We didn't know what was happening to me because I had never felt like this before.  I had only ever had anxiety, never depression.  So off we went to the Doctors where she diagnosed me with depression.  Long story short, I couldn't find the right medication for me, I felt awful 24/7 and ended up basically leaving my first year at uni by February.

That left me with having to do my first year again in September (when I should have been in second year) things were all going okish.  Better than the year before, anyway.  Then my Grandad became ill towards the end of the year and things became hard again.  I passed the year but I was no where near ready to go back to uni in September.

It was decided that I would have a sort of year out.  I say sort of because everyone knew that if I had a full on year out of uni there was no way I would ever go back.  It was worked out for me to do a few bits of work from the year before which I struggled with so then I would find it easier in the second year.  ANYWAY, I've finished that now and I'm going into year 2 in September.

The reason for me suddenly deciding to write all this and share it is because I just feel so crap about it all right now.  All the people I know from my first first year are leaving.  I'm seeing all these posts like "finished my degree" "Can't wait to graduate" and it just sucks so much that I should be leaving right now but because uni has been so crap and I ended up messing it all up, I'm not and I'm stuck there for another TWO years.  Also one of my closest friends at uni is leaving this year which means I won't get to see her as much next year and that is horrible to think about!

Anyway sorry this is such a long post and if you're still reading, I applaud you haha.  I just felt like I needed to write it out somewhere and that is what I use my blog for!

The next post will be more like my usual ones :)

Nails Inc Paint Can | Review

I always love buying new nail varnish, I definitely own too many! So when I saw the Nails Inc Pain Can (here) I decided I had to get it.  I'd heard about it ages ago and as I'm so impatient when painting my nails I thought this would be perfect for me. 

There are 6 shades to pick from and I went with Porchester Square.  I decided not to get the base and top coat as I have one from Barry M which I love! I was so excited to try this so when I got home I applied my base coat, waited for it to dry and then went ahead and put the nail polish on. 

I hated it, haha.  I have no idea if its just me but it looked awful.  It was uneven and just did not look nice.  When I bought it the lady said it should give me a sort of airbrush effect, but that is definitely not what I got! I waited for the first coat to dry and then put another on in the hope that would fix it.  It didn't. Anyway, I put the top coat on and waited for it all to dry so I could wash off the excess around the nails.  

I thought this would be really easy and the nail varnish would just wash away.  Nope.  I was basically scrubbing my hands for half an hour and there was still some nail varnish left on my skin.

Eventually it all came off but then within about a day, my nails were already chipping so I just decided to take it all off because, well, my nails just looked horrendous really. 

I've never been so disappointed in a product! It is definitely more hassle than its worth.  I'm not sure if its just me that this has happened to, but either way, I won't be purchasing this again.  Its just so messy and takes so much longer than normal nail varnish.

Let me know if any of you have tried the Nails Inc Paint Can and how you found it! 

A Little Update

I'm sitting here typing up this post and, if I'm honest, I'm not sure why I am sharing this with the internet haha.  I don't even know how to make this post make sense!

At the moment, I don't think I have ever felt so low.  I am waking up every day feeling like crap and not wanting to do anything.  I just want to lay in bed and forget that I exist.  Sounds a bit dramatic but its true at the moment and that really sucks.  As you can see, there haven't been many posts on here recently.  I've just lost all motivation with it and if I'm honest, I'm not sure if I even like blogging any more.  I am not happy with my blog one bit.  It makes me upset that I don't enjoy blogging as much any more and I am really hoping that it is just because of how crap my mental health is at the moment.

I've managed to isolate my self from most of my friends which has made me feel even worse.  I do it every time I get down like this and I hate myself for it every time because I know I shouldn't do that. I've probably now lost most of my friends because of that haha.  I miss them though and I miss talking to my friends made from this blog.  I've barely been on my Twitter so I haven't spoken to them!

I could honestly go on and on in this post about the way I'm feeling and how bad my anxiety etc. is but I'll leave it there because I feel like none of you even need to know this but sometimes its just nice to get out how I'm feeling.  I've still been getting views on this blog though which makes me happy so thank you to those that still visit! This isn't the end of my blog, I'm just going to have a break from it to try and get myself back on track with life and hopefully start to enjoy blogging as much as I was before.

Hopefully soon I can look back on this post feeling much more happier :)

Thank you to all of you for sticking with me through this time, I'll be back soon x

Makeup Revolution Palette Iconic 1 Review

I am always hearing people talk about how good the quality of the Makeup Revolution eyeshadow palettes are, but for some reason I have just never picked one up.  So, the other day I popped into Superdrug and I finally bought my first palette from them.  I got the Iconic 1 (here) as I love gold shades and this palette just looked SO pretty.   Also, it was only £4! Can't get much better than that.

I can't believe I've waited this long to pick up a palette from them.  This is the prettiest eye shadow palette I own! The colours are so pigmented and blend like I dream. 

I've included some swatches, but these definitely do not this palette any justice!

I really love this product as you can probably tell! I 100% recommend it so if you are on the hunt for a new eyeshadow palette, definitely look into this one or another from Make up Revolution!

On another note, I'm so sorry I haven't blogged for a long time.  I've been having a really crappy time with my mental health so blogging has been the last thing on my mind, even if I do love it.  Thank you for the people that have still continued reading my blog though, its much appreciated! Hopefully things should start be more regular on here now as I'm starting to feel a bit better :) (making no promises though haha)

Review | Rimmel Lasting Finish Foundation

Its no secret, if you read my blog, that Estee Lauder Double Wear is my all time favourite foundation.   However, I am almost running out and I can't actually afford to keep buying it so I have been on the hunt for a new drug store foundation with a full coverage.  I am pretty sure nothing will give me as much coverage as double wear, but being a student without a job leaves me with little money haha.

I've heard lots of good things about the Rimmel Lasting Finish foundation (link) and since I loved the Wake Me Up foundation, I thought that trying a new Rimmel foundation could only be a good thing.

I'm very pale so I have it in the lightest shade, Ivory, and it matches so well.  The foundation blends so lovely and the coverage is amazing.  It covers up my spots and blemishes really well and that makes me very happy! What I love about it as well is that it doesn't feel heavy on my skin.  Sometimes I find that the Estee Lauder does, but this never has.

Surprisingly enough I haven't actually kept it on for 25 hours (who would?! haha) but it has lasted me so well for a days wear.  I find it gives me quite a dewy finish which I really love as my skin is quite dry.  I just use the Rimmel Stay Matte Powder so I'm not really shiny but I'm still left with a finish I love.

I know this a bit of a short review, but I think I've covered all points.  If you are looking for a new full coverage foundation, I definitely recommend this!

Have you entered my giveaway yet? Enter here! 

My First Giveaway | Prairie Charms Goodies!

Hello!

So, I'm hosting my first giveaway at last! As I've just hit 200 followers on Bloglovin (thank you!!), I'm close to 10,000 page views on my blog and as my blog is a year old (post here) I decided that it was only right I gave you all the chance to win something as a little thank you.

Its not the biggest giveaway in the world but you can win some lovely things from Prairie Charms, you all know how much I love their items!

You can win the following:

• 1 pack of 2 top knot bow scrunchies in a vintage floral print
• Ditsy Silhouette floral bow head band in navy
• Sky blue glitter heart clip 
• Heart & Star charm necklace on their signature silver plated curb chain 

Trust me, all these things are so so lovely! You can get some sort of idea of these things by reading my blogpost on some bits I have from them here.  Obviously its not exactly the same, but you can get some sort of idea of what you can win. 

The boring, but important, bits (T&Cs):

• You must live in the UK 
• You must be following me on Bloglovin, Prairie Charms on Twitter and me on Twitter (all entries will be checked for this)
• I will be selecting the winner at random and then notifying them via email so make sure you use an email you check regularly 
• Once contacted, the winner has to respond within 48 hours or another winner will be picked 
• The giveaway will run for 3 weeks, 7th February - 28th February 
• The prize will be sent by me, should it get lost, damaged or stolen in the post this is not the fault of me but the courier its being delivered by
• Fiiinally, enter below and good luck!! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Liebster Award

The lovely Jemma from Jemma's Simple Life  nominated me for the Liebster award, thank you! I have done this before but that was quite a while again so I see no harm in me doing it again!

The rules are:

• Thank the person that nominated you and post a link to their blog in your post. 
• Show the award on your blog or in the post.
• Answer the 11 questions asked to you by the person who nominated you. 
• Write 11 random facts about you. 
• Nominate 5-11 bloggers that you feel deserve the award!
• Create a list of new questions for your nominees to answer. 
• List the rules in your post. 
• Once your post is published let your nominees know they are nominated! 

Answers to the questions Jemma asked me: 

1.  What was your favourite TV show that you used to watched as a child?

There were so many I loved! I loved 'Brum', 'Scooby Doo' (even though it scared me when I was very young haha) 'Mona the Vampire' and 'Arthur' were definitely up there as my favourites as well, they were great.

2.  Do you have any bad habits? 

Oh gosh, I probably have loads I don't realise about but I know I am 100% a procrastinator.  I will literally do everything I can to put off doing certain work, its really bad haha.

3. What is your best achievement?

Hmmmm, I'm not sure.  I've never done anything amazing.  I suppose getting through my first year of uni, I had a really bad time of it and I never thought I was going to get through it.  

4. What is your favourite junk food? 

 McDonalds or Dominos.  Easy haha. 

5. Do you have any guilty pleasure songs? 

Ohhh I really love a bit of Taylor Swift.  Definitely Justin Bieber too. I'm not sure if they're really guilty pleasures but that is all I can think of right now! 

6. Tea or coffee? 

Tea always (has to be really milky though).  I hate coffee! 

7.  What are your favourite things to blog about?

I really like writing lifestyle posts and doing tags. 

8.  If you had a choice would you prefer to live in the city or countryside? 

I don't think I'd like to live right in the city, way too many people for me to deal with.  Buuut, I feel like the countryside might be a bit isolating? I'd like to live in between, sort of like I am now. 

9. Name 3 things you couldn't live without.

Phone, food, family. 

10. What is your favourite season? 

Definitely Autumn.  Everything about it is lovely. 

11. What is the best book you've ever read? 

I've said before on my blog, I hardly ever read.  So out of my limited choice it would have to 'The Fault in Our Stars' by John Green.

Now for 11 facts about me:

1. I'm an only child 

2. Jumpers are my favourite things ever. 

3. I rarely wear jeans.  I normally wear leggings or skirts and dresses. 

4. I have a strong disliking for uni haha.

5. I'm currently learning to drive. 

6. I'm rubbish at thinking of facts about myself.

7.  I'm struggling to think of 11 facts right now. 

8. ERRRRMM. I've never had a job. 

9. I play the flute. 

10. OH, I hate bacon.  

11. And whipped cream .

(YAY 11 facts) 

I now nominate these lovely people:

Sophie from Petals of Perfection 

Rebecca from Anime Summers 

Hannah from Hannah Delacour 

Olivia from Olivia Cheryl

Bex from Bubbly Bex 

Nicole Marie from Thrifty Vintage Fashion 

My questions to you:
1. What is one thing that makes you smile?
2. What's your favourite quote?
3. Where do you get your inspiration to carry on blogging?
4. What is one item of make up you couldn't live without?
5.  What is you favourite High street store?
6.  If you were stuck on a desert island, what 3 things would you take?
7. One place in the world you would like to visit?
8. What is your favourite snack?
9. What do you enjoy doing in your spare time? (except blogging!)
10. What is your favourite thing about blogging?
11. If you could live one day again, what day would that be?

I hope all the people I nominated enjoy answering these questions! Let me know when the post is up and I'll have a read!

Jessica 

x

My First Q&A!

Hello!

I realised the other day that I've never done a Q&A before on my blog and they are a post that I love to read so I thought it was about time I did one myself. It then gives you all a chance to know a bit more about me too!

This is really bad, but I really don't read that much! The only thing I really read are blogs, haha.  My favourite out of what I have read is 'The Fault in Our Stars' by John Green. My favourite TV shows are Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl and Gogglebox! Probably more but I can't remember them all! You can see some of my favourite bloggers from this post here, some others are Petals of Perfection, Dork Face and A Belle to Remember (she's new, go check her out!!) I don't watch that much YouTube anymore, but I really love Emily Canham's vlogs.  I like Lucy and Lydia too, they're always so cheery in their videos! I quite like the SacconJoly's too, they're the cutest family. 

Sorry that was a bit of a long answer! 

Well, I'm not really sure that I'm the best one to ask for that as there are people with much more successful blogs than mine!
I would say its important to put your personality in your posts.  Personally I don't like reading posts that have no personality in.  I also like seeing pictures in posts otherwise it just looks a bit scary with all that text if you get what I mean?! Haha.

This a good question. I'd have to say Zoella. I know there's lots about her and if she actually does write her own posts etc, but either way, she was the first blog I started reading and then it carried on from there. I remember coming across her blog and I fell in love and the idea of blogging! I still love her blog now :) 

Ah I really don't know! I think it would have to be any on mental health.  Only because I've found them helpful and they've always had a good response! I also liked my one about when I went to The Ritz because its just a really nice memory.  You can read it here if you want!

I looove wearing jumpers.  My favourite one is this one from asos, I just love it so I couldn't live without that!  I also wear skirts and dresses a lot so I couldn't go without tights haha.  Sorry thats not just one!! 

I don't know why but I really love doing tags! I find them really fun to write, I just like answering questions! Haha.  I like reading others lifestyle posts and what I got for Birthday/Christmas or something posts! I'm a quite nosey haha.

Ah I don't even know! (ooopsie) I guess because its just something I really enjoy doing I find it easy to be motivated to do it, if that makes sense? When I don't feel like blogging, I don't.  I know my posts will not be up to the usual standard so I'd rather post nothing than something I'm not happy with.

I love anything with pasta! Except spaghetti Bolognese or something like that, I hate mince and mushrooms. 

Thank you to everyone that asked me a question and I hope you enjoyed me answering them! If you would like me to do another Q&A let me know!

Jessica 

x

The Birds and The Butterflies is One!

Today my blog has been up a whole year! Happy 1st Birthday to my blog! Well, sort of.  Basically I started this blog in September 2014, but I just posted every now and then, I properly started around this time in January 2015.

I so wanted to do a giveaway for this milestone, but being a student and having no job I just can't afford to.  You're just going to have to deal with me waffling on, sorry about that!
As soon as I get some money I shall do my first giveaway! (YAY)

To be honest, I am proud of myself for sticking to something for a whole year.  That is a long time for me, haha.  I literally thought this blog was going to last 2 months, maximum.  I'm also proud of how far this blog has come.  I know some bloggers who have been blogging for less than a year that have like a thousand followers, but I've only really recently started gaining followers so, ya know I'm not doing bad.  I'm happy with how my blog is growing.  I get some lovely comments and I've made so many amazing friends.  Yes, friends.  I think that is the best thing that's come out of this blog.  I've became friends with so many lovely people and I am so grateful for them.  I hope there is more to come!

This blog has actually helped me with.  When I started it, I never thought it would.  I remember thinking "how in any way is writing going to help me" but it has.
When I've written about my anxiety and depression, I've had such a good response and find people that are like me and makes me feel like I'm not alone, so thank you!

In other news, I have finally set up an Instagram at long last! Make sure you follow me (link)
I have lots of plans for my blog this year, I will be uploading once a week.  Most likely Friday at 10am, but I'm not promising that day, but it will be once a week haha.

Anyway, next weeks post will be back to the sort of normal style on my blog.  See you then!

ALSO, I'm thinking of doing a Q&A on here, so please could you leave me any questions you may have in the comments or tweet them to me.  My twitter is @bird_butterfly1 

Jessica x

Thank you for reading my blog! 

Hello 2016

Happy New Year everyone! I can't actually believe 2016 is here, last year felt like it whizzed past!

I've been unsure if I should write a post like this as I feel it is just going to be me writing loads of negative things at the start of 2016. I don't think that would be a great start to the year, would it!
However, it doesn't have to all be negative does it? I can focus on the positives that happened in 2015 and what might be to come in 2016.

Its fair to say 2015 was probably the worst year I've had. More or less right from January things were crap.  I won't go into all the details as I'm pretty sure none of you will want to know it all but yes, 2015 was an awful year for me and my family.

There were some good things though, like me finding something I really enjoy; writing this blog.  *cue me thanking you for reading*  it honestly baffles me that 150 people follow me on Bloglovin, like those people want to read my tiny piece on the internet, like, what? So thank you everyone who reads my blog :)
I've also made so many amazing friends from blogging and I am forever grateful for that!  I've become much closer with some of my friends from uni and back home and that makes me happy.

The end of this year was ok.  I've spent a lot of time with my Nan, I did before but now even more, and me and my Mum take her out every week and it is something we all love doing now.  We went to see the panto yesterday as my nan always loved taking me when I was younger.  It actually was the best thing ever, haha.  I wasn't really looking forward to due to it just being for children, but no it was very good and there weren't children screaming all the way through (added bonus haha)

I really hope that 2016 is a much better year for me and my family. I'm going to try my absolute best to get rid of this silly depression and anxiety and I really hope to feel happy by the end of 2016.  That is all I want, to be happy.

I haven't made many resolutions as I am terrible at sticking to them, like honestly, I forget about them by the 3rd or something silly like that!  However, I have one for this blog. I'm gong to try my best with it this year and I will make sure I stick to at least 1 post a week, WOO! My writing might not be the best, but hopefully it will improve more and more :)

If you're reading this, I hope 2016 is your year!

Jessica 

xx