Liebster Blog Award!

I've recently been nominated by the lovely Shona ( http://shonalouxo.blogspot.ie/ ) for the Liebster Blog Award! I'm am completely and utterly chuffed to bits to have recieved this award and will be silently celebrating tonight with a massive mug of hot chocolate and a wide grin on my face all evening.

The 'rules' of the award are to...
1. List 11 random facts about yourself
2. Answer the 11 questions that your nominator set for you
3. Choose 11 blogs to nominate (who have less than 200 followers)
4. Create 11 questions for who you choose to nominate to answer



11 random facts about me:

1. I'm a fairly picky eater. 
2. I study biology, psychology, art and English at school
3. I would love to live by the beach when I'm older
4. I'm a naturally cautious and anxious person - I rarely take big risks
5. I absolutely adore stars and the night sky
6. I'm quite a sensitive person and I take everything to heart
7. I have a diary that I write it quite often (my biggest fear is someone finding it and reading it!)
8. I love making people laugh
9. I never go out the house without make up on
10. I have naturally really curly, dark brown hair
11. I love listening to movie soundtracks more than any other genre of music



Shona's questions:

1. What's your favourite TV show?
I watch so many different programmes, I don't think I could possibly choose one! I've been watching Eastenders since I was about 11 and still love it. I also like Miranda, Casualty, Skins and Fresh Meat.

2. What's your favourite online shop?
I think BooHoo.com would have to be my favourite, but blackmilk is amazing as well.

3. Would more money make you happier?
I may sound shallow when I say this, but I wouldn't say no to a little bit more cash that I could use to indulge myself with now and again. I do love my shopping trips quite a lot :)

4. What song sounds like it was written about your life?
I've been thinking about this question for ages, but I really can't choose just one. My life is such a mix of awesome-ness and crappy-ness, so it's hard to pick just one!

5. What three words would you use to describe yourself?
Sensitive, energetic, joker.

6. What's your party piece/trick?
Sadly I don't think I really have any 'special skills'. I can roll my tongue and put my leg behind my head, but that's about it.

7. Do you have any piercings?
Yep, I've got one piercing in each ear. I really want a cartilage piercing, but I'm still mustering up the courage to actually get it done.

8. In what was are you different to how you were twelve months ago?
I've learnt not to trust everything that people tell you, to not care so much about what people think about you, and although you might be having an absolutely awful time and feeling really low and sad, it always gets better. 

9. If you could eat only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
This may sound boring, but I reckon I could live my life only eating chocolate. I adore the stuff, any flavour, milk/dark/white, yum.

10. What three items would you want with you if you were stranded on a desert island?
If I had to take items and not people, I would bring an iPod full of music (with an unlimited battery life), a diary + pen, and a phone that always got a signal in case I got bored of sunbathing.

11. What is the meaning of life?
I have not a single idea, but I'm hoping eventually I'll find out.



The bloggers I'm tagging are...


beadollblog
sequinbuttons
oliviagracebradley
lauracuddles
tan-livelaughlove
maddiestevens
frankest
treetrunkslife
vanillaparadisee
appletoothpaste
bettinahearts



My 11 questions for the people I nominate to answer are...

1. What is your favourite thing about yourself/your body?
2. If you could see anyone in concert, who would it be?
3. Do you miss anyone right now?
4. What one thing could you not live without?
5. What's been your most embarassing moment?
6. If you could only use one beauty product for a month, what would it be?
7. What makes you happy?
8. What have you done recently that's made you feel really proud?
9. What's your biggest fear?
10. What's your ideal career?
11. What's your favourite song at the moment?

My favourite jewellery!

For today's post, I thought I'd show you a couple of my favourite jewellery pieces! I don't tend to wear many accessories (usually because I just forget to put them on!) but I do have my collection of favourites...

This is my most worn necklace. I got it about six years ago at a zoo in South Africa - coincidentally, the shop I was buying it from was right opposite the elephant 'pen'! I love elephants/ellay-phants so much :) 

I love this little charm - the arms and legs move around and I find myself constantly flicking them whenever I wear it! :) I got it at a Christmas fair in central London about two years ago.

This is an assortment of my favourite string bracelets. The blue one is from a tiny shop in Mauritius that I bought this summer, the one at the top with the little key charm attached is from a stall in Camden Town, and the ying-yang-sign one in the right-hand corner is also from Camden.

This necklace is just adorable! As you can see, it's a little bubble-shaped glass jar of 'sweets'. I saw it in a cute trinket shop in France. The chain is quite long as well which I prefer (short chains can really irritate my neck!) 

I rarely wear rings as I don't think they really look right on my hands, but this bow one is so cute and subtle! I really like the charcoal, metallic colour as well, it goes really well with the sort of clothes I wear. I think I got it in a sale at Boots a year or so ago.

There's a slightly strange story behind the accumulation of this charm. I was on holiday with my family in America (I think) when I was quite young and we were visiting a big play-park for kids. There was a game 'stall' that involved digging through a sandpit, looking for the charms and trinkets that were buried in it and I happened to dig up this fish! I attached a really long, silver chain to it.  

I don't wear earrings very often, but this is probably my favourite pair at the moment - a cute set of gold dolphins. I used to have a pair of tiny horseshoes that I wore all the time and loved to death, but I lost one of them in the shower (hate when that happens!)

*all photos taken by me*

So as you can see, I tend to go for subtle, 'conservative' pieces rather than ones that make a statement, but I'm gradually pushing myself into buying more bold and unique bits of jewellery to add more colour or interest to my outfits! 

Lots and lot of love,

Ellay xxx

Beauty Wish List

I constantly have a list of beauty products/clothes/things in general that I am longing for, and I thought I would share with you what's currently on my beauty wish list right now!

1. Urban Decay eyeshadow primer potion

http://bit.ly/WbmF79

Yes, I know, I'm missing out. I've heard countless raving reviews about this product and have been desperate to try it for so long, but due to *cough* limited funds, I've had to make do with ELF's eyeshadow primer, which works just fine though! 

2. Origins High-Potency Night-A-Mins

http://bit.ly/omB9NM

I've heard that this stuff is a saviour for dry, chapped skin, and with these cold winter months, my hands get quite nasty. As good as this stuff may seem, I'm just not willing to pay £33 just yet, so it will have to stay on my wish list for the time being.

3. Topshop Highlighter in Sunbeam

http://bit.ly/U0Gi7l

I've been meaning to get into the use of highlighters recently (in the hope that I can achieve that glowy-dewey skin look!) and this Topshop one is meant to be great. I have Benefit's High Beam, but to be honest, it doesn't really do much for me but that may just be because of the way I am using it!

4. Benefit Blusher in CORALista

http://bit.ly/VfnVaN

I loved this blusher from the moment I swatched it on the back of my hand over a year ago in Boots, but again, it's just slightly out of my price range. 

5. Jemma Kid Light As Air liquid foundation

http://bit.ly/10FS4Ga

I've also seen many rave reviews about this product, some people even going as far as to say it is the 'perfect foundation'. Unfortunately I've had a hard time finding any shade other than Dark on any site online, so until then it shall remain here on my lovely list.

Lots of love, 

Ellay xxx 

Update: 08/01/13

Hello lovely people!
This is just a little update on my life as I feel like I haven't posted anything in a while. I thought it would be nice tell you about what I've been up to in the past week or so - it's been quite a good one! :) 

I started school on the 2nd which was ridiculously early and unfair considering most of the rest of country go back at least a week later, and immediately, all the relaxed-feelings and calmness melted away, replaced by stress and exhaustion. But to be honest, despite the constant stress due to the upcoming mock exams I have soon, I don't really mind school or the workload and the holidays were getting a tad boring/too unproductive!

On Friday, I got to speak to the mother of one of my friends about a career I'm considering going into when I leave school in a couple years. It was so useful, but has left me even more unsure and confused about the job as I was before! It definitely helped though. 

Then on Friday evening, I went to another friends house for dinner with a group of other friends. It was so lovely and I was pleasantly surprised with my friend's cooking skills - the food was brilliant! He cooked goats cheese and roasted tomatoes on toasted bread for starter, chorizo and cheesey pasta for main, and banoffee pie for desert (however, I was too drunk on cider and wine to have any room for desert - how classy! :S ). Overall, it was an unbelievably fun night! I love just hanging out with a group of really close friends, completely relaxed and content in each other's company. 
Howeverrrrr, 'events'... occured, and I must admit I did leave more confused than I came, and since then I've been feeling a mixture of irritation, confusion, but also insane happiness about certain 'things'. 

Saturday afternoon, I went with one of my best friend's, Emily, to Somerset House in London to look at Tim Walker's exhibiton 'Story Teller', which was absolutely incredible and I adored more than any exhibition I have ever been to before! I've completely fallen in love with his work, and haven't been able to stop thinking about some of his pieces since. It was truly beautiful. Me and Emily spent a couple of hours wondering around and staring at the hot guys skating around on the ice rink, then went sales shopping at the Topshop nearby! 

they serve delicious hot chocolate! 

gorgeous architecture 

this is a picture of the ice rink that I edited - I really like it, especially the purple hues at the top and defined white scratches from the skates!

Some family friends came round for dinner on Saturday evening, and I had a lovely, long, girly chat with the daughter who's a few years younger than me, but unbelievably mature!

Sunday was an unproductive day, I got very little work done and spent most of the time watching movies online, but it was rather nice to have a bit of a rest (which I obviously definitely needed after being back at school for 2 days!). 

I got the result for my art AS Level mock today - I got an A (the highest grade), which I am unbelievably pleased about, as it's nice to know that all the time I spent on it and effort I put into it payed off!

I must admit, this probably isn't a very interesting post for the majority of you, but I thought I would share it, just in case anyone was interested!

Lots of love, 

Ellay xxx 

New Year's Day mini haul!

On New Year's Day, I went with my lovely mother to Oxford Street and we spent a couple of hours trailing around the shops and lusting over all the gorgeous designer clothes and jewellery in Selfridges. I thought I'd share with you what I bought! 

excuse the crappy photo (straighteners are not pictured)

• Jose Eber straighteners - £120 down from £180

Me and my mother already own a pair of Jose Eber straighteners and absolutely love them, so after a great demonstration from one of the saleswomen there, my mum decided to treat us both to another pair. These ones work on both wet and dry hair which means you don't have to waste time drying you hair before you straighten it! 

• Primark coat - £20

A fairly heavy, boxy, grainy black-and-blue coat, perfect for the cold winter weather. It's quite long as well, which I love. I've already had so many compliments on it!

• Primark pink bow-bag - £8

So cute and girly, also quite a vintage-y feel to it. 

• Forever 21 Elmo crop sweater - £8.99 in the sale

I love Elmo and crop tops, so when I saw this jumper I had to have it! A really good price as well. 

• Longchamp large black holdall - £72

I've been desperate for this bag for over a year. I've constantly been looking in shops for it and building up the courage to splash the £72, but I finally did and I'm so happy. I'll probably use it both as a school bag and weekend holdall. 

Lots of love, 

Ellay xxx