June Round Up

(From L-R: My Bare Minerals set / Beau made me a red velvet birthday cake / He got me one of the best cards / My brother bought me a bunch of cakes / I bought new heeled sandals, they hurt / My dog got a new hoodie / The best books I've read in awhile / Beau got me a new charm / Avocado and bacon burger from Handmade Burger Co)

This is not a post about what's been happening on my blog in the month of June, but more like, what's been happening with my life! June is one of my favourite months of the year, and it's probably because it's my birth month. I love June, it's half way through the year and it seems like everything comes to an end in June. My student card expired in June, but Unidays says I'm still a student until October, so there's still that! I've also received my degree results, I got a 2:1! I never thought i'd get a 2:1 because I was so pessimistic about my dissertation, I just thought there was no way these 10,000 words would get a good enough grade to get me a 2:1. I am the last sibling in the house to get a degree, and I am so proud of myself for getting a 2:1.

I turned 21 and received a bunch of presents, even though I never expect them. I'm very grateful for friends and family who gave me gifts. I don't like to celebrate my birthday doing outlandish things, I don't really like to celebrate my birthday at all, I'm just happy that I get to see another year.

Those presents included the whole Divergent series by Veronia Roth, which I read in a week. I love love love this series of books! There are so many twists and turns and I was just left crying at the end of Allegiant, I NEED more.

I also received the Bare Minerals Get Started Kit in Light. This is the best foundation ever. Like EVER. When I lived in London, my sister and I went to Selfridges to try this out and see what my shade was, but I never bought it then and instead bought MAC's Mineral Loose Foundation. MAC's foundation is great, but I need a lot more product for coverage compared to Bare Minerals. It was about 2 years ago when the make up artist used the Bare Minerals foundation and brushes on me, and the brushes back then seemed really straggly and pointy, which might have been another reason as to why I didn't get it... But the brushes now are SO soft I'm not sure if they did a change to the bristles, but I am very impressed.

My little dog Freddie has a lump on his leg! The vet thinks it's a growth of some kind, and it hasn't gotten any bigger. It doesn't hurt him, and he doesn't seem bothered about it. He'll have to go into surgery and wear the cone of shame for awhile. My mom bought him a hoodie as his early birthday present. She loves him so much.

Let's not forget that Orange Is The New Black season 2 arrived! ARGH. I managed to watch it in two days. I loved it all. It is SO good I can't even.

What did you get up to in June?

Jenny xo

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Why I hated living in London

Living in London had its highs and lows, but mainly lows. I was living in the capital for 2 years for university, only to decide to move home for my 3rd year, because it all got too much. I was away from my friends, family, my dog and my boyfriend, adding sky-high rent prices and a job that didn't pay enough, I was constantly broke, refusing to use the money in my savings account, and refusing money from just about anyone who was willing to offer me it.

Living
The first year of university, I was living in Tottenham, not too far from where the riots had happened a month before I was due to move in. The area wasn't too bad to live in, but it was my experience of halls which made it repulsive. The floor of my block had problems with no hot water, a manky kettle, broken mops... And our flat door would always be left open for friends to pop in whenever they wanted to, but this was really annoying when someone would forget to lock the door completely, so food was stolen, and so was our iron! People banging on your door late at night, people shouting in the court yard, people using your plates and cutlery and not washing them up after.... Little annoyances added up, and I couldn't wait to move out of there.

Rent
Then there was the dreaded hunt for a home or a flat. Just when you think you've looked early enough, you realised you haven't, and all the houses and flats have been taken, or you've got to make your budget bigger.... this was such a stressful time, and on top of that, friends dropping out of being your future 2nd year flatmate, meaning it was just two of us, looking for a flat together. We did find one, and a little over our budget, and it worked. It was peaceful in our flat..apart from when the guy from the council rang asking us for council tax, sending us court notices when we didn't even know we had to pay council tax because we're students. Or that time we had a toilet that was constantly trickling, so our bill went sky-high, even though we told our estate agents and the water company about it. Or the times we were receiving bills for the people who lived there before us. It was driving us mad, we weren't expecting all these problems when we moved in. We did have an amazing view out of our flat, and we were so close to the shopping center it was nearly heaven! So there's that.

The Tube
I like the Tube when it's off-peak and I can get a seat. I hate the Tube when it's on-peak and there are swarms of businessmen. Me being 5"3, meant I got a lovely whiff of armpits from everyone surrounding me. During peak time, everyone seemed to turn into grumpy knob heads who lost their manners when they went through the barriers. There are also the people who look away when an elderly, disabled or pregnant lady are in need of a seat during peak time. Trying to get off the train? No chance! Nobody will move unless you shout "excuse me!" and do a bit of pushing, and by the time you've got through the wall of bodies, you've got people coming onto the carriage! The Tube fares were ridiculous. For me to travel in Birmingham by bus, for a whole day, it's £4. In London, say, zone 1-3, it's capped at £10.60 if you're travelling both peak and off-peak times, and it's £7.70 if you avoid peak times. SO expensive.

I moved home last July for my final year, where i'd be travelling into London for uni. People thought I was crazy for doing this, but it honestly wasn't that bad. It would take me about 3 hours to get to uni (from waking up, getting ready, catching a bus, getting the train, then a tube). I spent my hours on the train reading books, attempting and failing to do uni work, catching up on shows I missed on TV, things like that.

Obviously a lot of people enjoy living in London, but it's very hard to enjoy living in an expensive city with hardly any money. I am super happy living at home, and to top off my whole university/London experience, I got a 2:1 for my degree!

Jenny xo

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Make your own oat clusters

Okay so this is the easiest recipe for making oat clusters that brands like Jordans sell. I love the selection of cereals (can you call them that?) that Jordans sell, so I decided to make my own. I don't tend to measure how much of each I need, I just do it how I like it. I don't really like dried fruit, and a lot of recipes that I googled just had a lot of dried cranberries and raisins in them. But obviously if you like dried fruit, add it to the oat clusters after they've been in the oven.

Ingredients:
Rolled Oats - a mug full
Desiccated Coconut
Brown Sugar
Honey or Corn Syrup

Turn the oven on to about 170 degrees Celsius. I poured the oats into a bowl and just estimated how much coconut I wanted in there. I put in a bit of brown sugar to make the clusters a bit soft and chewy. Then I added a spoon of honey, stirred, and then added corn syrup until the oats started to clump up. You don't have to use corn syrup, I only did this because I'm not a fan of honey. You can add nuts at this stage if you wish. Pour the mixture onto a tray lined with baking paper, and make sure it's spread out. You want to put the tray in the oven for about 10 - 20 minutes, keep an eye on it as it can brown quickly. You can take it out when it's slightly brown and is crispy but soft. You can also keep it in the oven a bit longer to get a crunchier texture.

Store the clusters in an air tight container once they've cooled down and enjoy!
Jenny xo

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Nail Art #4 | Black & Yellow Nails

I used two coats of I Can't Cope-Acabana from OPI's Brazil Collection (a shimmery golden yellow, which I got from my June Birchbox), waited for it to dry, and then I drew a bunch of flower doodles on my nails, sealing with a top coat. I tend to doodle flowers a lot when I'm thinking, especially when I used to have lectures. My notes would be filled with little flowers, hearts and stars! This is such a lovely summer colour, and I am dreading taking the polish off because of how glittery it is!

Click here to see more weekly manicures.
Jenny xo

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Getting the perfect hair, skin & nails: Week 4

My hair is so much more thicker!

Ring finger nail is the length the other two nails should be at

It's the last post of my weekly updates on my hair, skin & nails guys! If you haven't seen my previous posts before, I've been taking Perfectil tablets for the past four weeks in an attempt to get thicker hair and stronger nails. I am fine with how my skin is, so that's not my main priority. Since I got my hair cut in December, my hair has been lifeless. My hairdresser cut off my long hair up towards my shoulders - all the thickness was taken away after all of my long layers were cut. I had described and shown, how long I wanted my hair to be, and showed him various pictures, but I said I wanted my hair to be a bit longer than the pictures. He forgot the last bit and just went by pictures. I was mortified. Anyway, I was left with healthy hair to start the process of growing it all back.

My nails were chipping and splitting from winter, and no anti-splitting/chipping polish was working. A few months later, I noticed how my hair was still not thick, and not much longer. I took some other tablets which had biotin and selenium in, two key nutrients that Perfectil boast about. Only, my tablets didn't have enough of it in, and I wasn't seeing any improvements after taking them for a few weeks. So I bought Perfectil Original for Skin, Hair & Nails, a box of 90 tablets. I needed improvement to my hair and nails fast, and while doing so, creating posts for it each week to document the process. (Click here to see all of the past posts)

My hair has improved the most, it is much more thicker than it was a few months ago. I can tell it's getting thicker because of how difficult it's starting to brush my hair in the morning! My hair has grown, but not by much. I switched up my shampoos a lot, so I can't comment on whether L'Oreal's Fibrology shampoo was working. I've noticed a few spots on my scalp near my baby hairs, which I can't help but poke and pick. So I had to use a medicated shampoo for that part of my hair, which  made it go away in a day!

My nails have also gotten a lot stronger. For 2 weeks I used Sally Hansen's Nail Growth serum, which made my nails feel stronger. However, the third week I stopped using it so much, and when taking off nail polish, which normally makes my nails feel weak, my nails felt stronger. It's the forth week now, and I've stopped using it, and my nails still feel strong. I think this is a joint effort of using Nicole by OPI's Strengthener Plus, as well as the serum and the tablets. But after I've taken a hot shower, my nails are still delicate and feel as if they could break any minute.

I'll be continuing taking these tablets, as well as using the nail products, up until I've run out of them. I would definitely recommend these tablets, but only if you remember to take them every day.

*This post is not sponsored by any of the brands mentioned and all have been purchased with my own money.

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Nail Art #3 | Ombré Houndstooth Nails

 

It was my birthday on Sunday and I didn't know what to paint on my nails, I knew it had to be pink though! I am using Model's Own Sophie's Pink and Soda Pop Pink, and Essie's Pink About It.

Base coat is my usual Nicole by OPI Strengthener Plus, and Seche Vite's topcoat.

Click here to see more weekly manicures.

Jenny xo

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