COLLECTION HAUL PART 01

Collection Haul Part 01

I am a complete shopaholic, meaning that these haul blog posts will be very frequent on my blog. Pay day is the perfect excuse to go mad and do some shopping! There will be two parts to this haul as I've bought too much to be able to show it all on one blog! I will leave the links to the items in the item descriptions, where available. Enjoy!

This is the Maybelline EyeStudio Colour Tattoo 24hr Cream Gel Eyeshadow, in the shade On and On Bronze. I love my neutral eyeshadow shades, and when I saw this I fell in love. Its highly pigmented, so a little goes a long way! It applies nicely and doesn't dry instantly like some cream eyeshadows - it gives you enough time to blend and cover your eyelid as you wish. It has a hint of sparkle which is nice to lift the neutral shade into something a little more special.

Anybody that knows me, knows my favourite colours are pastel shades, in baby blue and pale greens. So when I came across this handbag on Matalan's website, it was a must buy! Its a very large tote and the baby blue colour is just perfect for summer. As its very large, during the summer when I go on holiday, I can fit all my much-needed bits and bobs such as suncream, sunglasses, make up, cash, camera. I love the idea of having a long strap also, so it can easily be placed on the shoulder rather than have to hold it in the crease of your arm. Its very versatile and due to the pastel colour, it can go with many of my clothing items!

Having a new, massive Primark built relatively close to where I live, I'm forever going in there on the weekends and picking up pieces. I adore their homeware and usually spend the majority of my time looking through this rather than the clothes or shoes sections. In particular, I love their candles! These are the only candles I ever buy anymore as they smell incredible and for £2 you definitely cannot go wrong. I have tried every colour, aside from the green and pink, so I picked up these scents "Pink Grapefruit" and "Lotus Flower". I also picked up one of their diffusers in "Sweet Berry & Patchouli" for £3.

This little device is something I've been desperate for, for a long time, and not realised they existed. This strange looking comb is a wool comb, which removes any bobbly bits off leggings and jumpers. Having thrown many jumpers away because of bobbles, I'm glad I found this easy solution!

Another Primark purchase I recently got, was this little baby blue change purse. I have a gorgeous purse from Kate Hill but I have so much change that makes it bulky and I'm afraid of breaking it. So when I saw this, in the exact same colour as my bag, I couldn't resist buying it!

Many other bloggers and YouTubers have been commenting on Collagen eye masks and their brilliance in reducing puffy eyes, redness and under-eye bags. Although I don't have any of these, they are supposed to combat fatigue in the eye area. I found these on Amazon in a pack of 10 so bought them to test the recommendations. These are Crystal Collagen Gold Powder Eye Masks and I will review them as soon as I've tried them to describe any benefits!

As an English Language and Literature student, I read A LOT of books. I run a successful book club on Facebook for my Open University course and picked these out of the recommendations. I ordered the following; A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, Animal Farm by George Orwell, 1984 by George Orwell, Coming Up for Air by George Orwell, The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick, Talk Before Sleep by Elizabeth Berg &The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I look forward to reading them!

Love, Hannah

Motivation Week 23/01/2016 - 30/01/2015

Motivation Week 23/01/2016 - 30/01/2015

The Little Book of Mindfulness - This week focus on INCREASING GRATITUDE and appreciate what you have been gifted with, whether this be friends, family, or time. Forget about time and guilt, and focus on the positives surrounding you.

The Mindfulness Journal - Take simple short walks during the course of your day to help you order your thoughts. Notice your surroundings and keep your attention on what you can see - Stay Present.

Walking on Sunshine - SLOW DOWN. We are human beings, but we don't always have to be humans-doing!! Take an hour from your day where you can sit, with no urgent task to complete and recharge, and reflect.

Calm - "Press a Flower" - Take a token from something good that's happened this week and preserve the beauty of the day. May you always be reminded of the good!

Motivation Week!

Motivation Week

Those who know me, know I've suffered with anxiety for the past 6 years. In this time I have read multiple self-help and mindfulness books in order to keep control of it. And I want to share with you several of the ones I feel are best..

The Mindfulness Journal by Corinne Sweet.
The Little Book of Mindfulness by Dr Patrizia Collard.
Walking on Sunshine by Rachel Kelly.

Calm by Michael Acton Smith.

I feel I've read these books and not properly "read" them, so for your benefit and mine, every week I'll be posting weekly objects from these four books to live your life, and mine, by for the following week.

This weeks tips go as followed..

1. The Sky is Low; Take note of Emily Dickinson's poem about the Winter period.

"The sky is low, the clouds are mean,

A travelling flake of snow

Across a barn or through a rut

Debates if it will go.

A narrow wind complains all day

How some one treated him;

Nature, like us, is sometimes caught

Without her diadem".

This poem express the close relationship between our internal weather and the weather outside. It helps us realise that even in the worst of times, there are often opportunities to laugh and lighten the mood when we bother to find them.

TIP 1- Find something to laugh and smile about, whatever you face this week.

2. Look Around you and Live Longer; Focus on every aspect of life, increase your perception of the world around you instead of focusing on the difficulties in your life. It will broaden your mind and act as a form of meditation through a difficult period.

"With a sense of adventure and curiosity, we can learn and experience more, moment by moment"

TIP 2 - Realise the world around you, not just the world inside your head.

3. Start the day RIGHT; Many people are usually in such a rush in the mornings, they forget to slow down and take a second to think. And this moment of thinking and reflection, can create a sense of calm before you brace yourself for the day. Give yourself extra time to get ready, have a cool shower where you actually take notice of the water rather than the thoughts inside your head, eat breakfast without the TV or a phone, and appreciate the solidarity for the moment before your whirlwind of a day begins. Check you have everything you need before you leave the house and use the few minutes before hand to breathe and not rush.

TIP 3 - Don't rush, appreciate solidarity and calmness when you can find moments of it.

4. Spend time in nature; Take time out of your busy day this week to use those legs of yours and walk. Whether its through nature or through your city, walking is an instant reliever of stress when you have been couped up in an office environment or a busy environment. I think with our busy lives we all forget how important a simple walk away from our problems can affect us and create a sense of calmness for when we go back. It gives us the strength to carry on with our day.

TIP 4- Find your Arcadia. Walk away from your problems to create the strength in yourself to go back and deal with them.