A Beginning, An End and Somewhere In-Between

My life has been a series of predictable chapters.

At the beginning, my parents held my hand and guided me down the garden path. It was simple - play group, primary school, secondary school. Packed lunches, patted heads, words of reassurance, nods of acceptance. Easy.

Then came a choice - but looking back, it wasn't really a choice. There was another destination in mind - that destination being a degree - but I got to choose which path I wanted to get there.

And now for the first time in my life, I don't know where I'll be in six months.

Have you ever taken a step back and thought about how big the world is? How many people there are to meet, how many places there are to go, how many things there are to see? It's weird and wonderful but also extremely frightening. I feel too young - the ripe old age of 21 - to fully comprehend the consequences of my decisions.

I know I want to write. That's all I've ever wanted. But getting there is tough. And there's no one holding my hand anymore. It's not a garden path...it's a forest, gnarled branches and sweeping undergrowth. It's unknown territory.

But if things are to progress, things are to change. And for change to happen, something must begin and something must end. So in saying goodbye to the best three years of my life, I'm allowing myself to move forward, no matter how hard it feels.

To starting something new, finishing something old and taking life one step at a time.

• 5 Things I've Learnt Working On A Make Up Counter •

If you've ever worked in a shop, you'll know what I mean when I say retail work is ...interesting. If smiling and being preppy for 8 hours a day wasn't a struggle enough, someone decided that it would be a good idea to leave me with the responsibility of doing people's make up...

• A Cheers To Permanence •

AKA My tattoo experience.
I caved.

• Pretending For A Little While •

Don't even say the dreaded 'A' word. I can't even contemplate the possibility of summer ending just yet...

• Qui N’avance Pas, Recule •

On occasion, my life upgrades to moderately interesting. Interspersed upon the mundane, the lackadaisical, the inevitability of the dull the dreary the downright dismal, I do something worthwhile. And when the wind blows in the right direction, I go somewhere worthwhile. This time, my worthwhile happened to be Arles. 

Arles is a city in the South of France. It's nothing luxurious, but a corner of the world where it's beautifully sunny and indisputably French. After ten days I was set out to move out there, but alas, Cardiff will always be waiting for me...

• The Spencer Hastings Shirt •

Of course I posed in front of a bookcase. It was inevitable.

SO all everyone can talk about lately is Pretty Little Liars, social media is practically being suffocated by talk over the reveal of A and who had been torturing the girls all this time (I was so convinced it was Dan Humphrey)...

• To Tattoo or Not To Tattoo? •

Getting a tattoo has been on my bucket list for far too long.

 At 14, I wanted a inked peace sign on my wrist. At 16, I lusted over an infinity symbol on my hip bone. Shortly after, I wanted to get a sun tattoo while I was on a clubbing holiday with my friends. And THANK GOD I never got any of them, definitely not my thing now...

• FESTIVAL TOP TIPS + ESSENTIALS •

I love festivals. Everything about them - the music, the drinking, the fashion, the camping, it's totally my thing. While I can be high maintenance when I want to be, I actually love slumming it out in body paint, sleeping bags and cans of Strongbow. I've picked up a few tips that I wish I had known before, so thought I'd share...

• Summer Photos • Topshop Clothing Haul •

This week my lovely yankee cousins from California had been visiting moody Wales, so I've been giving them a grand tour of my humble welsh abode. Fortunately, temperamental Cardiff was on it's best behaviour and blessed us with sun! Which of course meant beaches and road trips, scoring some gorgeous photos (and yes, my cousin and I enjoy staring lovingly into each others eyes). 

90s OOTD • Mom Jeans and Jesus Sandals

So, as you can probably tell from my fashion sense I have a mild obsession with the 90's style.

One of my favourite TV shows of all time is Twin Peaks, and Audrey Horne is definitely my fashion spirit animal! From 10 Things I Hate About You to Clueless, Never Been Kissed, She's All That... I definitely think I was born 20 years too late. That, coupled with the fact my favourite band is The Smiths, means that on a daily basis I like to pretend I live in the 90s. Hence the Mom Jeans.

Makeup Storage and Organisation • Tips and Tricks

From the perspective of someone that has a (relatively) normal amount of makeup, I understand the hardships of finding good storage space for your beauty essentials that isn't too big. For a while I was on the hunt for some glass drawers and stands on eBay which were around £20; I was a little disheartened considering they didn't even hold much space. Thus, my discovery of a new, intuitive way of storing your makeup just for 5.99... six letters ladies: TKMAXX. 

How To Get Massive Lashes • Maybelline Lash Sensation Review

Lashes are a game changer. A good mascara can take you from doe-eyed to cat-eyed in just a few flicks of a wand, and I'm a firm believer that a decent mascara does not need to be an expensive one. For the past few years, I've been in obsessed with Benefit's They're Real; as a keen advocate of quality over quantity, I've always been willing to fork out the bone-chilling £19.50. However, last month I discovered Maybelline Lash Sensation, which kind of blew Benefit out of the water... and just for £7.99.