Day in the sun

Good morning :)

So my aunty decided to come up from Bury (between Manchester and Bolton) to visit us for 4 days, and because the weather was super super nice on Sunday, we arranged to visit our local beer garden and watch a band that was performing!

Here are a few photographs of the day, however seeing as though my phone decided to cut out on me, only a few photographs uploaded. Therefore I will have to put them up when my phone decides to work again!

Me & my nan <3

Me & my aunty. I miss her so much when she isn't up in Kendal <3

Me & my mums boyf'

My aunty fell in love with my Vans, so she decided to snapchat this. She wore these shoes all weekend. (Nice little bit of bleach on the right shoe eh Jess.)

August Favourites | Beauty & Lifestyle

As it is very nearly the end of the month, I decided to do an 'August Favourites' post!

Personally I feel this month has F-L-O-W-N by, purely down to my holiday, my AS exam results and just general coursework to make the days pass by. Therefore I thought I would squeeze in a post for you all, showing off the products that I have been loving this month!

Soap & Glory - Smoothie Star Body Lotion

Soap & Glory 'Smoothie Star'

I have always been a huge fan of Soap & Glory products, but I instantly knew this product was going to be used every day this month. The bottle states that the product features a 'waterlock moisture trapping matrix', and the bottle states correctly. This product leaves your skin feeling full of moisture for at least 24 hours. As I suffer from quite dry skin, I put all of my trust into this bottle and it didn't fail to let me down. The product also includes almond, cocoa, yogurt, oat and honey leaving a very almost edible 'cookies and cream' scent on the body. As my bottle is almost empty, I will be sure to be purchasing another bottle soon. 

Soap & Glory 'Smoothie Star' can be purchased at Boots for £10.00

Max Factor - Wild Mega Volume Mascara

Revlon 'Wild Mega Volume' Mascara

I am quite a skeptic when it comes to trusting what a mascara claims to say on the bottle, but I thought "hey max factor, I will see what you have to offer me", and there I was, buying the newest of their mascaras. I tried the mascara as soon as I got home, (not because I'm a freak like that) but because I was off out with my family. I usually have to use 2 mascaras to get the full volumising effect, but with this mascara the effect was instant, and also I didn't have to use too much with lots of layers. This mascara is perfect for both a night out and a simple day look too.

Revlon 'Wild Mega Volume' mascara can be purchased at any drugstore for £6.99

Rimmel - 'Kate' Lipstick

Rimmel 'Kate' Lipstick in shade 08

I am a huge lipstick lover, and when I pop into a highstreet drugstore I make sure that I take time to look at all the different colours and brands of lipsticks before I leave. I came across this lipstick due to a friend called Linsey (Red Velvet Kiss <-- Check her out!) as she was currently using this as her daily lip colour. I fell in love with the lipstick and the colour instantly. The lipstick itself is very pigmented meaning you do not need a lot of it when you use it, and because it is so glossy you do not need to use a lipgloss over the top for shine. Therefore, you can make the most of the full package. Cheers Lins!

Rimmel 'Kate' lipstick can be purchased from any drugstore or Rimmel counter for £5.49

No7 - Highlighter

No7 Highlighter Packaging

I received this highlighter as part of a pack for christmas 2012. I hadn't really thought about looking into the highlight packet as I didn't really know what to do with it, until I came across Tanya Burr. I noticed that she was using a highlighter to add highlights to different parts of her face after she had finished applying her makeup. I noticed that the highlighters looked a tad like mine, so I thought " 'yolo' and all that shabang" and I gave it a go! The highlighter is very shimmery so you do not need to apply a lot when you use it, and it looks A-M-A-Z-I-N-G in photographs. However, because it was part of a bundle, there is no individual price for it (massive thumbs down), but if you can find a duplicate of the same highlighter but on its own, please comment and let me know!

No7 Highlighter Colours

Nivea - BB Cream

Seeing as though everyone was raving on about BB cream, I jumped on the bandwagon and picked up one to try out. When I choose foundations, I have to be careful of which ones I pick due to the fact I have really dry skin, and I often result in using a moisturiser before hand. BUT NO. This product is absolutely fabulous on my skin right from the very start. It gives my skin moisture and coverage, and my skin is no longer dry! The BB cream also adds illumination to my skin, so it no longer looks dull. Thanks Nivea!

Nivea 'BB Cream' can be purchased from any drugstore for £5.00

Glamour Magazine

I love a good read of a magazine, but I always find that the thinner ones run out too quickly for me. Therefore I resulted in buying a thick, glossy, fabulous Glamour magazine to satisfy my needs! The Glamour magazines are always filled with gossip, fashion, beauty products and little 'pick me ups' when they are needed. I will be making sure that I purchase next months edition for more advice and beauty tips. 

Glamour magazine can be purchased from almost anywhere for £2.00

I hope that I have given you a few bits and bobs for you to try out yourself, or if you have already given them a try, comment below and let me know what you think!

Ciao for now!

My First Time

As I am a HUGE fan of watching Tanya Burr, Zoella, Tyler Oakley, Pointless Blog and Jim Chapman on YouTube, I have recently come across their vlogs of 'My First Time'.

The title My First Time doesn't literally mean that I am going to write a blog post about my 'first time', but instead I am going to talk about the first happenings in my lifetime (that I can remember) :).

I must state though, due to the fact that I don't have a YouTube channel, it may be difficult at times to express my emotions about some of the things that I will be speaking about, however I will try my best. Also, it may be delayed adding photos as I have literally just decided to write this post along with help from my mum, so I haven't had the opportunity to gather photographs to accompany my 'firsts'.

Anyway *stop rambling jess* and I shall commence!

My First Word

Even though I cannot remember this time in my life as I was only a youngster, I believe from stories from my mum that my first word was 'Dada'. This is quite a tough 'first' as my biological father left my life when I was a baby, and my mum didn't meet my step-dad (who I call dad and class as my biological father) until I was 3 years old, so I don't really understand how this had any influence under this being my first word.

My First Holiday

My first holiday was to Majorca with my mum, nan, aunty and granddad. I can remember different aspects to this holiday such as riding on a shetland pony, eating icecream out of penguin pots and also being dragged back to the apartment after making a scene in the local pub we visited. Ooops! 

My First Teddy

Even though I still believed to this day that my first teddy was a Scooby Doo teddy that I was absolutely terrified of, my mum has just corrected me that my first teddy was infact a 'Forever Friends' teddy. I have no recollection of this at all, but hey! We learn something new everyday!

My First Outfit

Even though every child's first outfit is of them in a romper suit in hospital 5 minutes after they are born, I thought that I was just taken home in a romper suit too-like baby's actually are. Actually, my mum decided to be adventurous and take me home in a pair of denim dungarees and a red t-shirt! Such a cool child I was.

My First Musical Instrument

I can remember this as clear as day. My first musical instrument was a recorder that I taught myself to play it out of a little book that accompanied the recorder. It was the most plastic and flimsy recorder you could EVER imagine. I got that engrossed in playing the recorder that achieved a grade 3 in it! 

My First Naughty Moment

I cant remember this, but my mum seems to think that my first 'naughty moment' was when I turned the cooker on in my old house, and nearly set the house on fire. As it was just me and my mum who lived together by ourselves, she often had to leave me alone to play downstairs or something whilst she cleaned the upstairs or other room, so how can she blame me?! I was an only child at this point and I CLEARLY didn't like to be left alone.. haha. 

My First (Girl) Friend
My first friend that was a girl was a very small girl called Paige. We became friends in reception at our local primary school and we were inseparable. I can remember her as the girl who had BRIGHT blue plimsolls, whereas everybody else in the class room had standard 'black'. One day though she left reception and nobody knew where she had gone. It turns out she moved to Scotland.

My First (Boy) Friend
My first friend that was a boy was called Cale. He came to our primary school when we were in year 2, but he never spoke. I felt honored to be the ONLY person he spoke to, but he only whispered in my ear. I had to pass messages on for him and we went everywhere together. Then one day when his dad came back from the army, he moved back down south.

My First Sibling
Now, this is quite a hard one to write about. As I was an only child up to the age of 6, my first sibling was actually my brother and sister who are twins! I absolutely doted on them when I was a child and wanted to do everything with them. I helped my mum to feed them, dress them, bath them and watch them whilst she got ready in a morning to take me to school. When my brother got eventually diagnosed with Autism and ADHD, this gave me a bigger sense of protection over them and I would do anything for them.

My First Mobile Phone
I had always had pass-down phones from my mum and dad that didn't work when they were finished with them, but I got my first proper working phone when I was 9 years old for Christmas! I was over the moon with my new Nokia brick, and what made it EVEN better is that it lighted up orange down the sides! Like most of my phones, this definitely didn't last too long..

My First Time As A Bridesmaid
My first time as a bridesmaid was for my aunty Paula's wedding. Me and my cousin Danielle wore matching cream puffy gowns, with a purple drawstring satin bag, tiaras and our hair up in and updo with tendrils. I honestly loved that day, and I can remember during the reception me and Danielle spent the WHOLE night running away from this boy that kept chasing us, so we decided to hide under every single table we could find. The amount of times people kicked us by accident was unreal haha , but we always got apologies!

Anyway, these are the most firsts I can remember, and I shall try and put photo's up to match them soon!

Ciao for now,

Turkey, 2013

I'm back off my holiday's, yay!

Early hours of this morning at 4:35am, I arrived back home after spending 2 long weeks in the sun!

On Friday 2nd August, we arrived in Antalya at about 11:00pm after a long 4 hour flight, and then we had a 2 hour transfer to Alanya to our hotel. The transfer was awful and the 'half a coach' was dreadful, but we eventually made it there for around 3:00am on the Saturday morning. 

The view from our balcony in the hotel during sunset

Me in a cute beer garden near the hotel

The hotel was absolutely massive and very pretty. For the first couple of days we stayed around the pool, but even with factor 50 suncream on, I managed to burn and blister in the 54 degree heat. Silly me! After burning and blistering I had to be extra careful as the heat ranged around 50 degrees everyday, so I ended up staying under the parasol most days so that I didn't burn any further. 

Me and my mum in the hotel lobby

On one of the days, the whole family went to 'Aquapark' which was full of water slides and pools which was really good for my brother and sister. On one of the rides, me and my mum ended up flipping off the rubber dinghy and face planting the slide which was really

humiliating, but hilarious at the same time hahaha. The park also threw a Foam Party, so me and my mum attended that whilst my brother, sister and mum's boyfriend went on the slides.

Travelling down a road on the jeep safari

We also went on a 'Jeep Safari' on the second week of our stay. The jeep was open top and came to pick you up from your hotel with some other people from other hotels. There was around 8 full jeeps in total. In the back of the jeep, there were lots of litre bottles of water, which we used for water fights between all of the jeeps. In the end we were absolutely soaked! We were taken to different view points which we had photos taken, and then we went to a small run down village where we stopped at a little shack that a poor family owned, and we ate chocolate filled pancakes and visited their local market. Whilst we were there, we also visited the Mosque, and because me and my mum are grown women, we had to cover up from head-to-toe with literally only our face showing! The men were okay though, but because of the heat it got really hot in the Mosque and in all of the clothing. We then went to this water park for food, and the children went on the slides and stuff and then the jeeps took us back to the hotel. During the safari, there was a photographer that we all called 'Mr. Paparazzi', and he took photos and a video of our trip that we later on bought to take home. 

As there was a spa in the hotel, me and my mum decided that we would have some 'mother and daughter time' and treat ourselves. We got the full package which included a Turkish Bath and Body Peel, Face Peel, Face Massage, Face Mask, Sauna and a Full Body Massage. The spa was lovely and peaceful, and the treatments were so nice. They left our skin feeling really soft and properly cleansed for days!

Within the hotel, there was entertainment at night times and during the day around the pool. Our family became particularly close to one worker of the entertainment team called 'Frodo'. As he was so small, I thought people called him Frodo for a nickname, but when I looked on the entertainment team board, I found his name was actually Frodo hahahaha. Frodo was absolutely hilarious and sat with us every night. 

Me and Frodo
'We love you Frodo, we do!'

We also made friends with quite a few families whilst we were out there also. There was one particular family from Wales. Rachel, Jamie, Mollie and Caitlyn and Rachel's mum- Linda, were such a nice bunch of people and when they went home on the Tuesday of our second week, we were lost. However, a couple more families found us as there wasn't a lot of English people there at all so we all made friends. 

On the way home, we got picked up from our hotel at 6:15pm on Friday 16th August, and we arrived in Antalya for about 8:30pm. After we got through customs and passport control we then went for a Burger King as we were all starving. Whilst we were checking in however, I spotted a friend of mine called Hannah Wilkin who was checking in to board the same plane as I was back to Manchester- small world! It felt so surreal that I had seen her there. Our flight was delayed from 11:10pm to 11:28pm, however we didn't set off until 12:15am. The flight was long and hot and very uncomfortable but we managed to get to Manchester safely :).

Coming back to the rain in the Lake District really well and truly gives me the holiday blues! 

I wish I was back in Turkey again in the sun. 

Ciao for now!

We're All Going On A Summer Holiday...

Today's the day, yay!

Today, my mum, her boyfriend me and my brother and sister are taking our first family holiday together and jetting off to Turkey for 2 weeks!

Although I've not been excited for this holiday for the past couple of weeks, finally putting the last things into our suitcases and packing our hand luggage has added that last bit of excitement for us all. 

My brother and sister have never been on an aeroplane before, so I'm quite looking forward to seeing their reactions of the flight. Personally, I LOATH flying and I couldn't think of anything worse, but hey, I'm off to Turkeeeeeyyyyy!

The flight is 4 hours long, and then we have a 2 and a half hour transfer to Alanya to our hotel (meh). The heats going to be so draining and we don't get there until early hours tomorrow morning so travelling is proving to be very long.

The hotel has free WiFi, its own beach, pool and bars etc. so we're not going to be short of any activities or anything to do when we're there. Also, it's going to be HOT.

Anyway, I need to go and get prepared for the taxi coming to take us to the airport, so I shall blog when I am back from my jollieeeesssss and I will also put some pictures up!

Ciao for now!