New Year's Resolutions Review

Seeing as I haven't blogged in a while, I thought I'd do a little review of how my new year's resolutions are going. Prepare for the worst, and be warned; this will be wordy.

1. Read 100 books

I've been doing what I intended when I chose this; reading a lot more. Before, I had no basic motivation to read even though it's what I love most to do. I've read a fair few already and I am not regretting setting myself a big goal.

2. Get a small job

Despite my efforts, I haven't yet found and gotten a job yet, partly because of the lack of jobs and partly because I have limited time to do it. However, I am keen and have a few options lined up, so here's hoping!
3. Stop spending so much money on cosmetics

Hooray for spending bans! Apart from the odd concealer bought, I have managed to restrain myself to some extent. (Just a note; all of the that ELF stuff was from before New Year, so I'm in the clear.)
4. Give up all junk food INCLUDING McDonald's

I have been fast-food-free for over 3 months now! I am very proud of myself, and still don't think that Subway counts as fast food (I will never be able to give up cheesy nachos).

5. Complete work experience

Work experience is very much in the pipeline for me at the moment as I am in the process of sorting some out for July. Fingers crossed!
6. Substitute TV for reading (unless the news or a film)

This could be better. Even though I have been doing it, a small addiction to Netflix (every season of Buffy), has meant that I have been substituting sleep for TV whilst substituting TV for reading. Does that make any sense?
7. Spend less time faffing about

Hmm. I don't think this will ever change.
8. Avoid getting into any kind of relationship

Neither will this.
9. Organise new blogging projects

I have been a bit off blogging recently (three months, sorry) but I do have some ideas that I just need to sort out and put into practice. 

10. Eat healthily and do plausible exercise at least once per week (eg. not walking)

Due to my lack of fast food, I have actually been eating a lot more healthy food (fruit smoothes are my lovers). However, I have been lacking in exercise (eg. doing none since January 2nd).

11. Complete at least 2 hours of work per night

This has actually been happening! I don't really have a choice in the matter seeing as I have a lot of work, but I'm still pretty proud of myself.
12. Complete all CAS

For those who do not know, for my IB, I have to complete 150 hours of a mix of voluntary work, action and creativity over the two years. I am at least halfway through so far, although it is a pain having to get it all signed off and checked!

13. Spend free periods doing work and the school magazine

This hasn't really been happening to be honest. To me, free periods are time for drinking tea in the sixth-form room rather than working. Oh well; I'm sure this will change once I have more work.

14. Go to bed earlier and get up on time

Nothing has changed.

15. Focus on work

I've been doing this! (As well as focusing on reading and Netflix and making smoothies)
16. Save up money and do not buy things that don't need

I currently have £1.51 in my bank account. I don't think I really need to say more.

18. Put more effort into blog

Needless to say, this hasn't really happened (again, three months). I do have a list of about 30 posts that I want to write, but I just need to find the time!
19. Drink at least 1.5 litres of water per day

I think that I've been keeping up with this. Even if I haven't been drinking more than 1.5 litres, I've still been drinking more water (which is really bad, I know).

That was actually a lot more positive than I expected it to be! Let's hope I can keep it up!

Bye!!

Literally | BEDJ

To many people, I am a renowned grammar Nazi, which means I shout at people when their grammar is incorrect. I thought that I would give a little 101 (rant) about how to use the word 'literally'.

I'm sorry love, but you haven't been waiting for the train for literally two hundred years, because if you had been, you would be a ROTTING CORPSE! And you have not literally been living under a rock, as I went to your house just last week, which is NOT A ROCK.

There is a big difference between saying something is literal or metaphorical. For example, saying "I am literally dead right now" is incorrect because you are not actually dead, despite the implied meaning that you feel tired. However, saying "I feel dead right now" is an acceptable thing to say around me.

Please don't make yourself seem stupid by saying things like that. I'm assuming that you reading this are smarter than your average bun. Don't waste it.
Use correct grammar.
Literally.

Bye!!

Another ELF Haul/Review | BEDJ

As you may know, one of my favourite make up brands is ELF; it is great quality, cheap products in a wide variety of colours and fantastic customer service. Therefore, I did a little (big) ELF buy a while ago and am finally getting around to blogging it (for BEDJ). I've tried most (if not all) of the products, so I will do mini reviews as I go! Also, for their 6th birthday, ELF (UK) were doing a live-stream, so I naturally sat down to watch and participate. As part of this, I actually managed to win a prize of loads of ELF products, so these will be marked with an asterisk (*). All opinions are my own and all other products were bought with my own money.

As I only bought one skin product, I will start with this. It is the Mineral Face Cleanser, which is basically a powder consisting of loads of good stuff for your skin, which you create a lather with to cleanse your face. I haven't used this all too much yet (purely because of testing other products), but I did the few times I tried it. It is an odd but also intriguing concept, and although I think it will take a bit of getting used to, I really like this so far.

The face products I decided to buy have a fairly similar concept - a stick of colour in a tube. The left is a concealer (All Over Cover Stick in Apricot Beige) and the right is a multi-use cream blush and lip product (All Over Colour Stick in Golden Peach). I like both of these as the consistency is very smooth and blendable, particularly the latter which gives a nice healthy glow on to the cheeks (and rids of the need for a highlighter).

I got quite a few lip products, so bear with me as I go through them all. The first is this Therapeutic Lip Balm in Strawberry Creme, and this is definitely my most used product so far - so much so that I have very almost ran out. My only complaint is that I wish it would last forever.

Next, I got a Studio Matte Lip Colour in the colour Rich Red, which is a very glamorous cherry red. I love the consistency and had already bought it in the colour Praline, so it was a pretty safe bet that this was going to be good. My instincts served me well and I wore this a lot over Christmas.

I bought these three Lipsticks in Voodoo, Gypsy and Fantasy from their standard range of lipsticks as a bit of an experiment. I wanted to see if these lived up to some reviews I had read about how creamy they are. Good news! I love these so much, although they are much deeper colours than on the website pictures, which I think could be changed so people can actually pick a colour instead of a rather 'Lucky Dip' scenario.

I also bought this Lip Stain in Nude Nectar as a test because, being cheaper than the maybelline ones, I wanted to see if it would do a good job in comparison. I have to say that the colour can come out a bit unevenly, however, once it is rubbed in a bit, this looks great and stays on all day.

This Mineral Moisturising Lip Tint in the colour Rose was a product I wanted for everyday use for school as I am a sucker for lip tints. The texture is far creamier than I expected, but it does do a good job at just giving good colour while moisturising the lips and not feeling as heavy as a lipstick.

*The 11 Piece Studio Brush Set was something I had wanted for a while as everyone says how good ELF brushes are, but I never got round to buying it. These are the BEST brushes by a long shot that I have ever tried and I highly recommend you buy even just a few. Mr favourites are the angled liner brush, fluffy brush and flat-top powder brush. The bristles are prosthetic but they are so so soft and I ADORE them.

 *The next set of brushes I got was the 11 Piece Festive Brush Set, and I must say that these aren't as good quality as the other ones, but still give a great range of brushes. I would suggest buying this set if you were looking for some cheap brushes for essentials. Also, these are on sale for £6 at the moment. £6!!!

*Mmmmm... doesn't it just make you drool? This is basically a good quality equivalent of the really cheap palettes you get on Ebay with every colour on the planet. The version I got was the 100 Piece Marble Eyeshadow Palette, and even though I don't see myself wearing a lot of these colours (there are a lot of orange-toned ones), I will still treasure this forever.

 *This, my friends, is one of the most magnificent things I have ever seen. The 96 Piece Geometric Eyeshadow Palette is so beautiful. Also, in each little square, there are colours that go really well together (for the lid, crease, highlight etc), so kudos to the packaging ELF!

The next two products are virtually the same; they are both 32 Piece Eyeshadow Palette's, except one is in Warm (the neutrals), and the other is Cool (the colours). It's safe to sat that these are perfect for travelling as they are so compact, but also include a range of dark, light, shimmer and matte colours. I use the Warm palette all the time!

Finally, the Little Black Beauty Book in Festive Everyday. I must reiterate, this is not a very big product. It is ideal for travelling as it is (fittingly), about the size of a passport when closed. The mirror is so convenient as well, and oooooooh the colours are so pigmented and uuguuhhh. I have big love for such a small product! I am tempted to buy it in the other colour as well... shhh!

Thanks for reading and I hope this perhaps persuades you to have a look on the ELF online store as they are such a great brand! Their website is http://eyeslipsface.co.uk/ and they also have a sale on at the moment so go and have a look!

Bye!!

Best Books of 2013 | BEDJ

I hate to say, being a bit of a bookworm, that last year was not a great one for me in terms of the number of books I read. Hence, it is one of my new year's resolutions to read 100 books. However, I think it is still a plausible idea to write a post about the best books of the (few) I read in 2013. Just a disclaimer: you may come to realise that a 3 of these books are classics; this is purely because I caught up on all of my classics this year, but I do actually read other books!

Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder
As a rather philosophical novel, this was not the type of thing that I would have usually picked out. However, due to reading starvation during my exams, I grabbed it off the shelf and immediately got addicted. I would say that it is quite a heavy read; as my chum Amy would say, deep. I'm pretty sure that this book contributed to half my RE exam, so pick it up if you're interested in that kind of stuff.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I found out that we were doing this in English, having been wanting to read it for a long time but never getting around to it. BOY, I adore this book! I have reread I it multiple times and cannot get the last six iconic lines out of my head. It is set in the 1920's and, in a nutshell, is about the passing of time and how we can never relive the past. PLEASE read it if you haven't already!

Bridget Jones's Diary Trilogy by Helen Fielding
I read the Bridget Jones books fairly recently, and they are so hilarious! Bridget is such a funny character and I love the intimacy that diary-structured novels give you. Yes, these give you little intellectual insight or dazzling epiphanies, but they are a jolly good laugh to read.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
My all time favourite novel, Pride and Prejudice is the perfect classical, witty love story which everyone has undoubtedly at least heard of. After I read it, I felt married to Mr Darcy and a sister to all of the Bennett girls.

Paper Towns by John Green
A friend lent me this book after raving about it for so long, and I can see why. John Green is a great novelist who brought us The Fault in Our Stars (which I, along with tout le monde, recommend), so I had high hopes for this (rightfully). Apart from ending up completely hating one of the main protagonists (my opinion of him/her was - cleverly - completely twisted), I adored the determination and ruthlessness of the main main protagonist, as well as the element of mystery throughout the story.

Thanks for reading and I hope you feel inspired to buy these novels, as it would bring you much joy (I promise).

Bye!!

What I got for Christmas 2013 | BEDJ

To start with, I have already broken a few of my new year's resolutions (in true tradition), judging by my tweets last night (or rather, this morning). However, January doesn't really count anyway... right?

Anyway, due to it having just been Christmas, I thought I would share the gifts I got from my family. As a bit of a disclaimer, I'm not trying to brag or show off about presents and I'm so grateful to everyone who got me a present, so please don't think that. I'm making this because I like reading this type of post and I thought it might give others some nice (hopefully) reading material.

My big present from my parents was a Kindle Fire HDX! I also got a red leather case and general accessories to use with it. I am so grateful for this as now I am one of those Kindle people. You can play games, listen to music, read books and loads of other stuff. When I was not a Kindle person, I didn't understand just how useful it was! Especially since I accidentally broke the screen off my laptop, it is so handy to browse, read and even do work as I please. YAY

I GOT A ONESIE! Since Christmas, I have become part of the onesie community; striding around the house like a cow. No, literally.

I also got a red dressing gown which is so so comfortable and soft mmm.

As a female, the general assumption is that I love chocolate, and OH BOY are the stereotypes bang on. These may or may not have been empty. Umm

BOOKS! I love reading, and so I got two physical page-turning books from my parents, as well as a voucher for some Kindle books from my brother and sister. These were 'Divergent' by Veronica Roth, which I have heard a lot about (isn't the movie coming out soon?), and 'Is It Just Me?' by Miranda Hart , which is her bestselling autobiography. My brother and sister also got me poptarts! But they are all gone now... 

GATSBY. Need I say more?

GLOVES. Ok, I could elaborate. These are a creamy browny colour with really nice cable knit (I think) up the arm. Also, they are the mitten ones!! Also, some hand cream which will be so useful as my hands are always really dry at this time of year.

Thank you for reading! I hope you also had a lovely Christmas, and if you've done a Christmas Haul, feel free to link it in the comments (or just tell me).

Bye!!

New Year's Resolutions | BEDJ

As it is the start of BEDJ and the start of the year, it is apt to post about my new year's resolutions (of which I have quite a few). I do want to become better at doing productive things like work and blogging, instead of using my time watching tv and eating junk. I would say that I want to lose weight, but I don't really care about that anymore as long as I have energy. These are the resolutions:

1. Read 100 books
2. Get a small job
3. Stop spending so much money on cosmetics
4. Give up all junk food INCLUDING McDonald's*
5. Complete work experience
6. Substitute TV for reading (unless the news or a film)
7. Spend less time faffing about
8. Avoid getting into any kind of relationship
9. Organise new blogging projects
10. Eat healthily and do plausible exercise at least once per week (eg. not walking)
11. Complete at least 2 hours of work per night
12. Complete all CAS
13. Use free periods to work and do school magazine
14. Go to bed earlier and get up on time
15. Focus on work
16. Save up money and do not buy things that don't need
17. Complete extra work experience in the summer
18. Put more effort into blog
19. Drink at least 1.5 litres of water per day

Here's to the rest of the year!!

Bye!!

*Unless in social situation. Maximum spend per outing £3 (unless with family).

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Just A Note: MY blog

It has come to my attention recently that I talk about myself an awful lot on my blog. MY blog.

I'm terribly sorry if people are unhappy with the way that I talk about myself a lot, except I'm not.

This is called meglovestea, not strangerlovestea. I thought that I had made it clear that this blog was about me, and I don't appreciate it when people say I'm arrogant or selfish for writing such things. I write this blog for myself, so that I can spill out my thoughts into writing at the end of the day; think about it as a pre-PG13 diary.

However, I realise that an increased readership can have an effect on what I am expected of at the end of the day. I've even been considering starting a new blog to write about formal-ish things like reviews and keeping this for more informal day-to-day stuff. I am still in the process of deciding whether to do this for the new year, but I don't think I should have to. Anyway, those are just some comments on comments.

Bye!!

ps. on a scale of 1-10, just how egotistical am I?! 10, right?

Also, how cool is this?