Luella Musings

Notice - Please read!

2011-12-11T13:32:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to say that I have moved my blog over to here and am promising to be more active from now on. If you could come and follow me on there rather than hear then thats great and I can follow you back. This blog is going to be deleted in a week or two. My new blog is just a lot better now though so definitely check it out :)

http://eleganzaa.blogspot.com/

Love you all xoxoxox

OOTD. College day

2011-11-23T15:41:00.001-08:00

So this is pretty much a really boring post on the outfit I was wearing today. The other day I was watching Zoella's new video and I loved the top she was wearing in it. So next time I went to town I decided to buy it from topshop.

It was £16 but with my student discount I managed to get it for £14.40 and its such a nice, thick soft material it was so worth it! Its not the most exciting of tops but definitely a wardrobe staple. I am tempted to go back and buy one in every colour because they are just SO comfortable. I think everyone should own at least one of these :)

Anyway I look no where near as good as Zoella does in hers, but I thought I would share what I bought it with.

Excuse this amazing picture of me and a bear....this wasn't meant to be taken for the purpose of this blog...obviously. But its damn hard to take a full length photo yourself with a 7 year old olympus camera....

(try not to laugh too much...)

Face: Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation, Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection concealer, Naked Palette, Topshop Mascara, Bourjois Chocolate Bronzer, No7 Eyebrow Pencil in brown black, Benefit Posie Tint (On Lips)

Clothes:
Top - Topshop £16
Leigh Black Skinny Jeans - Topshop £38
Black Amalie Studded Ambush Boot - Topshop - £80
Earrings (not seen in photo) Large Silver Cross - £10 Urban Outfitters
Rings - Azendi, Accessorize, Simply Silver

Anyway darlings, I shall hopefully be posting a more exciting outfit of the day on saturday...I apologise for this one being so boring. And the rubbish camera quality. Hurry up christmas so I can get a new camera and take some decent photos!!

Love you all and thanks for reading :) xxxxxxxx

I've done it again!!

2011-11-21T11:09:00.000-08:00

I've been absent from this blog again, and I really have no excuse this time so I'm not even going to try and make one up :P

Anyway thought I would give you a quick update. I've obviously started back at college again, which is alright (for those who don't know, I am in my third year, which means most of my friends have gone off to uni and I am desperate to go next year!) Its going ok, its hard sometimes because I miss my friends, but I've met some new people who are all really nice.

Of course the bonus of having friends at university is that you can go and stay with them, which is what I did a few weeks ago when I went to stay with my lovely friend Amy. We went to a bar and listened to an amazing band from Brighton called the Move -Ons, check out their youtube channel here.

About a month ago, I passed my driving test. First time, 5 minors so very pleased with myself. Driving has been going great, no prangs so far (touch wood!) although recently my car has been screeching when turning right, which is worrying. It is going to the garage in two days time so lets just hope that its nothing too expensive or serious!!

I'm still working my job at the pub, which is great, loving doing that! And I am still volunteering at Samaritans which is going great.

I have just sent off my UCAS application so should be getting some university offers through soon, and I will keep you updated with that!

And finally, I am definitely going to update the deco of this blog, I'm not liking it at the minute, I want a more user friendly blog so definitely look out for that!!

So yeah, that is what has been new with me, and I definitely want to know whats new with you guys! Comment below with what you have been up to, I would love to hear :)

See you later guys, shall hopefully be putting an OOTD up tomorrow so look out for that, talk to you all soon! I am off to get some dinner! xxxxxxxx

Ombre Hair, and Apologies!!

2011-10-28T16:30:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, I have not blogged in the longest time...I have missed you all so much, its been a crazy crazy few months but I know that is no excuse...

Anyway lets start over...I jumped on the ombre bandwagon a few months ago...I wasn't sure whether too for a while because I thought it might be too "done" and also I wasn't sure how it would look on hair which wasn't gorgeously long!

If you weren't aware a few months ago I suffered with an illness which caused my hair to become extremely brittle, and my hairdresser said the best thing would be to cut it off, so my hair went from under bust length to shoulder length, I was devastated but I am growing it back now and it is growing quicker than I thought it would.

I wanted something different done to my hair as I hate the length of it atm so I decided to ombre it.

I had to trial and error my attempt to get it just how I wanted it...

1) I used a hair lightening kit (Smart Blonde Honey Blonde Lightening Kit)
I left this on the ends of my hair for around 15 minutes, this lightened my hair to the desired level but left it extremely bright ginger...wasn't exactly what I imagined.

2) Then I used nice and easy semi permanent hair colour in medium ash blonde. This neutralised the orange and gave me the colour I wanted :)

3) Since then I have been using the John Freida Go Blonder Controlled Lightening Spray on just the ends of my hair every other time I wash my hair, this has maintained the lighter colour.

It needs redoing soon so when I get paid I will bleach it again, hoping to go even more blonde on the ends this time.

I have been letting my natural roots grow out which is why I love having Ombred hair so much! Its so low maintenance (the bleaching effect lasts for ages with minimum touch up) but everybody always tells me how great my hair looks. And it cost under a tenner to do!

I think I will be having Ombre hair for a while, even if it goes out of fashion, I just love it so much! And it still looks good on you girls with shorter hair, so definitely go for it. This is how my hair turned out :)

Nail Polish of the Week!

2011-07-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

Here is another nail of the week :) Barry M's no. 318 "Peach Melba" - £2.99
All I can describe it as is a pastel light peach colour, but its gorgeous and makes even me (the palest of the palest) look slightly tanned :)

I really like the Barry M nail paints as they are very opaque and smooth, not to mention inexpensive! But I do find they take a little longer to dry and they are slightly less long wearing than other more expensive nail polishes like the revlon ones.

However, with a great colour selection and at £2.99 a bottle you can't really go wrong!

Anyway thanks for reading guys, talk soon and love you all xxxxx

Warning! Cuteness Overload in this post!

2011-07-22T16:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't written in a few days guys, I feel really bad about it but I have been super busy and the days just seem to fly by!

Thought I would do a really quick little post about some really exciting (but old) news! One of my very best friends Jess has just had a little baby called Indigo Grace, and my my she is the cutest little thing I have ever laid eyes on! I'm a Godparent of hers and I love that little one so much, she definitely takes after her mother with her stunning looks!

So I thought you might want to have a peek at her, and see how gorgeous she is (really I just want to show off about what a beautiful Goddaughter I have!)

Anyway sorry its not a long post guys, but I hope you enjoy looking at the picture, love you all and I will be blogging again soon, speak soon and take care lovelies xxxxxxx

Her big brother Zacky giving her a kiss, he is looking after her very well :)

OOTD - Shopping and Dinner with friends!

2011-07-19T05:47:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would do a quick OOTD before I headed out :)

My hair was very much misbehaving today, so bun it was!

Cream blouse - Topshop
Cream vest top (underneath) - Topshop
Grey skinny jeans - Primark
Grey tassle bag - River Island
Brown/ Black pumps (the only shoes I can drive in are pumps!) - New Look

Makeup was just my everyday thing, blog will be up about that tomorrow :)

Thanks for reading guys, speak to you tomorrow, lots of love to you all! xxxxx

Makeup of the moment!

2011-07-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

This is a list of the current makeup that I use for everyday use, I don't use all of these everyday but this is my main selection that I choose from :)

Some of these products are very obviously well loved haha, so ignore the appearance of them! And sorry about the terrible picture quality, I had to use my webcam.

Foundation of the moment: Bare Minerals Matte Foundation - in "Fairly Light" from the Bare Minerals 30 day supply kit at £15

Concealer of the moment: Loreal Touche Magique £8.19

Powder of the moment: Bare Minerals Mineral Veil from the same 30 day kit - £15

Highlighter of the moment: Benefit High Beam £18.50

Bronzer of the moment: Accesorize Baked Bronzer, in Monaco - £6

Cream blush of the moment: Topshop cream to powder blush in Butterscotch - £6

Powder blush of the moment: Body Shop Cheek Bloom in Dune Pink (Discontinued sorry guys!)

Eyeshadow Palette and Brow Powder of the moment: Loreal Made for Me Naturals Brow and Duo Eyeshadow in Dark Brunettes - around £7 I think?

Kohl pencil of the moment: Barry M Kohl Pencil in no. 4 - £2.99

Liquid eyeliner of the moment: Maybelline Line Definer in Noir - £7 (Centre Swatch)

Mascara of the moment: Topshop mascara in Carbon - £10 but reduced to £5 in the sale!

Lipliner of the moment: No7 Perfect Lips Pencil in no. 20 "Nude" - £7.50

Lipstick of the moment: Rimmel London Rich Moisture Lipstick in 279 "Smooch" - £1 from the pound store!

Lip stain of the moment: Revlon Just Bitten in Passion - £8

Barry M Limited Edition Lipgloss - Came in a set with Impulse for £3

Let me know what your makeup of the moment is! And then be sure to let me know you've written a blog, I'd love to see! Love you guys xxxxxxx

Blog Award :)!

2011-07-18T04:29:00.000-07:00

This is basically the award rule:

1. Thank the person that gave you the awards, and link back to them.

2. Post seven things about yourself.

3. Pass the love to 15 bloggers.

4. Let them know they receive an award.

The lovely Sara (sarasaysheyy.blogspot) gave me an award. Thanks so much Sara, I really appreciate you picking me and its definitely put a smile on my face. Everybody go check out her blog! I love reading it! Thank you again girlie xxxxxxxx

7 Things About Myself

1. I have a brand new little God Daughter, Indigo Grace, blog post about her will be up very soon!

2. I live in a very remote typical English country village, and I love it here!

3. I have a car, and he has a name....he's called Bertie haha

4. I love to paint and draw, maybe I should blog some of my drawings too!

5. Me and my Mum have that kind of "best friend" relationship

6. My very best friend Ellen lives 2 doors away, I'm very lucky :)

7. I love Audrey Hepburn, favourite actress of all time!

The Favorite Questions

Name your favorite color:

Duck Egg Green

Name your favorite song:

Got to be "Before the Throne" Cry everytime I hear that.

Name your favorite dessert:

Cheesecake, I could eat it all day!

What pisses you off:

Judgmental people who think they are better than you are.

When you're upset, you:

Talk to one of my friends or God.

Your favorite pet:

My kitty cat Felix

Black or white?

Both, I can't choose!

Biggest fear:

Lots of things, I'm a worrier

Best feature:

Erm, I hope that its being a good friend, I know that isn't physical but I don't like naming physical things

Everyday attitude:

I'm normally a happy person, unless I've had no sleep

What is perfection:

Nothing.

Guilty pleasure:

I have a stash of sweets and chocolate in my wardrobe

Now, it's time for the top 15 blogs that I wanted to reward! I love everyone's blog but there are some that really stand out :D

http://sarasaysheyy.blogspot.com/2011/07/i-got-5-awards.html

http://fleurdeforce.blogspot.com/2011/07/guest-blog-lush-brazened-honey-review.html

http://minuteswithkristin.blogspot.com/

http://sprinkleofglitter.blogspot.com/

http://www.daintydollymix.com/2011/07/bathroom-essentials.html

http://www.peoniesandlilies.com/2011/07/spc-bath-massage-oil-collection.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+peoniesAndLilies+%28*Peonies+and+lilies*%29

http://abifbeauty.blogspot.com/

http://lipstick-and-pearls.blogspot.com/

http://pixibeauty.blogspot.com/2011/07/hemp-hand-cream-vs-loccitane-hand-cream.html

http://rose-tinted91.blogspot.com/2011/07/proactive-skincare.html

http://thekentuckygirl.blogspot.com/2011/07/abc-all-about-me-tag.html

http://www.theprovocativecouture.com/2011/07/fall-2011-trend-androgynous-look.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FyAAux+%28Provocative+Couture%29

http://thatsheartd.blogspot.com/2011/06/quick-hello.html

http://schoee.blogspot.com/2011/07/re-ombred-messy-barnet.html

Together On A Mission 2011!

2011-07-16T13:18:00.000-07:00

So I went away to a New Frontiers conference with a few of my friends this week. For people who don't know New Frontiers is a family of Evangelical churches across the world, there are around 240 in the UK and many others across the nations. My church is one of them.

So every year they have a conference at the Brighton Centre called "Together on a Mission" or for students and 20's "Mobilise." The conference is 4 days with 4 meetings a day, with worship and amazing teaching too.

And what a week! I had a great time, I stayed at my friend's Bekky and Holly's house overnight and we commuted to Brighton everyday. There were 7 of us in total and it was lovely to spend time with all of them, I had a great week.

But aside from that, the meetings were FABULOUS. The worship was amazing, Simon Brading, Phatifish, Kate Simmonds, and Evan Rogers were all there and they led us so well. You cannot beat the worship at events like that.

The teaching was also astounding, all of the preaches were amazing and I learnt so much about God, but the one that really stood out for me was from PJ Smyth, about he dealt with being diagnosed with cancer last year (he is now cancer free I am very happy to say!) It was amazing, he taught me so much about how to trust in God in hard times, and really revealed to me just how much God loves us, it touched me deeply and I am deeply affected by that preach and always will be.

The last night was also AMAZING. They took all of the chairs out and made the event free to the public, and there were thousands of people there. We worshipped and then we spent the whole evening praying for the nations and the areas in need. It again was so touching to know we were coming together, praying for places that seem so far away but that we care about so deeply!

So all in all, it was a fantastic week, I met with God so powerfully and know so much more than I did before the week. I can honestly say it changed my life.

Unfortunately that was the last "together on a mission" event to be held, but Mobilise is still going to go ahead next year at around Easter time. I'm so looking forward to it already!

Love you guys, have a great week and God bless you all :) xxxxxx

Nail Polish of the Week!

2011-07-16T13:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't written in a few days guys, I've actually been away at a conference in Brighton for a few days (Together on a Mission! comment if you attended! A blog post about the event will be up soon!) and it was utterly amazing, amazing but exhausting too!

As I work as a waitress in a restaurant and nail polish is not allowed, I normally paint my nails after work on Sunday evening and then take it off again the following Saturday night ready for my Sunday shift.

Therefore, I thought this Saturday evening would be the perfect time to do a "nail of the week."

Bear in mind that I do not own any high end nail polishes and do not intend on buying any in the future, I feel there are perfectly good nail varnishes from the drugstore.

So my nail varnish of this week is Revlon's "Minted" which is number 028.

I really love the Revlon nail polishes. They are really creamy and last for ages, these photos believe it or not were taken a week after I applied it, and I have had an extremely busy week this week.

They can be streaky and not very opaque on the first coat but don't let this fool you! As soon as you apply the second coat they become smooth, and very very opaque, and the colour choice is amazing.

At £6.49 they are a little pricey, but definitely worth it. I currently own 6 and always get a couple for my birthday/ christmas as people know how much I love them! Definitely recommend them!

Anyway that's all for now beauties. Love you all and speak soon xxxxx

My Acne Routine!

2011-07-10T14:04:00.000-07:00

So following on from my last post, I do now have a daily skincare routine to help keep the spots at bay! Some of these products may be useful to you too :)

This is my bedtime routine:

1) I remove my makeup with "Simple Clear Skin Oil Balancing Cleansing Wipes"

I enjoy using these as they don't break me out, are gentle on the skin and are made with ingredients that I find are really beneficial to my skin. They are also inexpensive and remove makeup easily, great for oily skin!

2) Next step is that I use my Simple Foaming cleansing wash to cleanse my face. This feels really nice on the skin, is very gentle, is inexpensive and a little goes a very long way! I just use my hands to rub it in circular motions on the skin and then wash it off :)

3) I pat my face dry and apply my "Johnsons Face Care, Daily Essentials Light Cleansing Day Fluid for Combination Skin." I use a light day fluid for my cream at night as because my skin is oily, a heavy moisturiser clogs my pores and makes me break out. This day fluid is moisturising enough for me :)

4) Finally if I have areas of spots, I apply a thin layer of Sudocrem to that area to help clear it up, don't rub it in just apply a thin layer and sleep with it on :) Sudocrem is great as it is antiseptic healing cream and so great for clearing up and preventing blemishes. It is also inexpensive and available in most pharmacys and lasts for a really long time

The last thing I have switched for my skin is that I have swapped my heavy coverage liquid foundation (Studio Fix Fluid by Mac) for a lighter alternative which is great for clearing up acne prone skin, Bare Minerals makeup. I recently bought the starter kit which is a bargain at £15.

You get inside, a small original formula foundation, a small matte formula foundation, a mineral concealer, a pot of mineral veil, a buffing brush (which I love) and a concealer brush. I would highly recommend that kit if you want to try it out before you commit to buying the entire kit which is around £50.

so thats all for now! I really hope this is helpful to you :) have a lovely lovely week

with love from sunny old England xxxxxx

My experience of acne and Dianette!

2011-07-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

Hey lovelies :)

For the longest time, since I was about 12 years old (I am now 18) I have suffered with cystic acne, mainly on my face. I tried everything to cure it, I tried all the shop bought treatments, such as clearasil, clean and clear, Garnier skincare, and the more expensive treatments such as Dermalogica and Clinique, and many others. Some helped yes, I found the spot on treatments such as the Clearasil Rapid Action Spot Treatment (which is around £6) particularly helpful when desperately trying to shrink that massive spot on the end of my nose the day before prom. But all of these treatments have the aim of doing one single thing, which is to dry out the top layer of skin as much as possible to get rid of the excess sebum. Now this causes problems for people who have real acne issues, as the real reason why acne occurs is underneath the skin, not on the top layers where the creams can penetrate.

Now, bear with me here because its about to get sciencey ;)

Acne, contrary to popular myth, is not caused by not taking makeup off, being stressed, or being unclean although these things can contribute to minor breakouts, but not an underlying issue such as acne. Real acne is caused by one thing and one thing only - HORMONES.

We all produce androgen, a hormone related to testosterone and present in both males and females. Androgen regulates the amount of sebum produced by glands in the skin. Some of us make more sebum than we actually need due to high levels of androgen and this clogs under the skin causing a breakout.

So the reason that these types of treatments can't usually completely cure acne? Its because it doesn't address the underlying issue of hormones. So I urge you, if you are having real skin issues you need to get yourself to the doctor.

(My experiences are only related to girls I'm afraid guys!) When I went to my doctor after 5 years of battling with acne, she put me straight on a pill called Dianette. This is a contraceptive pill which is taken once daily like a normal pill, but it is only prescribed to people who have acne or hirsutism. To my recollection it reduces the amount of sebum produced by your skin.

I have been on this now for around 5 months, and it is AMAZING. It has cleared up my spots like nothing else! Within five months all that remains are a few scars and the odd spot now and again. I have experienced no side effects with the pill and I am so happy that I have found something that works. I say if you are a girl and are really suffering with acne, then go to your doctor and suggest being put on this!

It unfortunately doesn't work for everyone and some people experience side effects but I have experienced nothing of the sort as of yet.

I would say go for it, go talk to your doctor! Don't suffer with acne anymore if you believe that there is something you can do about it!

xxxx