Primark & Essence Bargain Beauty

 A little while ago I picked up some new basic makeup as the pieces I've been using I've had for months (bad, very bad). I'll be fully honest here the reason I am so excited for this post is because of the beautiful purple roses that made my shots look professional. I always stick with the same brands, colors and pieces so I went straight for Primark/Penny's to their Essence stand to find my usual, and was surprised with my results.

As I said I always go for the same Essence pieces and that includes my mascara, although this time I went for one a bit different and boy am I glad I did. Eyes are my main focus when I do my makeup, I want them to pop and be the focal point. With this mascara they certainly are. I love a good dark lash and this mascara offers a vibrant black and even curls and gives an extension of the lashes.
Roughly €3.50

This one, I always go for the same, although I went slightly lighter this time. Roughly €4.50 I can't quite remember although I think it may have been cheaper. I live for soft touch mousse it was actually one of my first ever makeup pieces as my mum used it and I followed suit. I usually apply foundation first and then a light layer of the mouse to give a complete flawless soft coverage. If you've never tried mouse I can't recommend it enough as it really lives up to it. There are higher priced alternatives available but I find Essence and incredible quality and affordable brand, plus they're cruelty-free.

Lastly, I picked up this new foundation, stepping out of my comfort zone to try a new brand which was the Primark/Penny's P.S for just €3.50. I can not shout from the rooftops enough how AMAZING this smells, I mean smell is just as an important factor as everything else, it is truly beautiful. I barely use as much as I would normally as a tiny amount goes a long way with fantastic coverage and another amazing thing is the lasting effect, it lasts an entire night out (and even through to the next day, but we don't fall asleep with makeup on, and pizza in our hands) without any need for finishing spray which I would normally use. 

I'm a proud bargain beauty user, are there any bargain brands that you use without fail? 

Bullet Journal: Next 5 Pages

I recently started my own Bullet Journal and shared some of my creative pages and want to continue sharing as I expand the book. 

Every journal I've seen so far have a monthly layout and I had planned on not doing one as I do have a separate diary but as I said I am a list girl and there are extra bits and bobs each month that I like to keep organized and this is the perfect place for them. I kept this page really simple black and white with lots of different fonts to have it more organized and not too much color distracting me from tasks to do. I also added in a little monthly inspiration quote. 

My positive year is continuing with my Happy page filled with things that make me happy in simple everyday life such as cuddles with my dog or soup when I'm sick. It's a very simple page to add but writing a little piece of positivity in your life really makes a difference.

And again continuing on my positive pages are a list of all my favorite things. We all have that embarrassing diary we made when we were 10 and High School Musical and Hannah Montana were our favorites and I picture looking back on this one to see what some of my favorites were. I kept it simple again with blue and blank font for the little quote and then writing my favorites in red.

A really cute idea I saw to keep track of birthdays are this year diagram where you can clearly see who is in each month and when you have to prepare that gift.

A lunar calendar was something incredibly beautiful I came across and thought it was a lovely page to add as I believe in the phases of the moon cycle and having a page dedicated to it and the meaning of the moon stages is interesting for me and looks beautiful (although my drawings are terrible).  

Can't wait to create more pages soon and update you here. 

Biting the Bullet and Bullet Journaling

Like us all, I've seen the countless beautifully written Bullet Journal pages all over Pinterest and thought in awe how skilled people are. I never imagined starting one myself because I can just about draw a stickman and thought I wouldn't be able to make mine look as amazing as they are 'suppose' to be.
Then I received an amazing journal.

 I got inspiration for making this book my little escape in my spare time with my colors and just be creative and be me. I'm a list girl and schedule everything I possibly can, so keeping all my thoughts, lists, goals and notes together in one book in a creative way is my idea of a day well spent.
I've scoured Pinterest and Instagram for inspiration and ideas for pages and have planned out some of my favorites, all in three days back to back I drew, colored and wrote for hours on end and had the most inspirational and motivating start to the year. Here are my pages so far...

I had to start the book with a celebration of the new year, my plan was for a black background with lots of colored fireworks. It somewhat worked and then I decided I would write some of my little hopes and goals for the year, things I want to accomplish that I have been talking about for years and things I want to continue doing that makes me happy. 

On the inside cover page, I've been writing down ideas for pages to keep track. 

We have been talking about traveling and trying to save the bit we can for over a year but after Rich got me the travel fund money box seen in my birthday post we have finally set in stone this is it we are putting away money to live our lives exploring instead of wasting pennies on silly possessions. So our goal is to put away €2 every day each which will be €728 each, not a bad headstart at an adventure. I found this little money jar drawing to keep track of our total and think its so fun to watch the color filling up.

Anyone who knows me knows I'm a total book nerd but lately, I've been in a totally reading rut (after reading a not so great series which consisted of three books that took me six months to read, normally it would take me two weeks it was so antagonizing to read each day) but I am determined to get back into reading some amazing pieces that I have seen recommend a lot and have on my TBR list for a year.
Being a book nerd, I loved this little bookshelf drawing to keep track of the books I want to read.

 As I've said about 100 times so far, we want to travel and I saw a great idea of a color in map of places you've been and I decided to do our home country of Ireland and fill in all the places we've been so far, lots to explore yet.

I added in a nice little travel quote at the end for that extra inspiration. 

I'm constantly wanting to learn new things ( I may lose interest after a day though) and there are so many things that I have been dreaming about for years, nows the time to stop dreaming and actually learn.

I have a lot of blank space here to fill up with more and more of my crazy ideas of things to learn.

This 'year in pixels' was a really interesting one for me after seeing peoples 2017 being shared on New Years Day I thought it was amazing to look back and see how you felt on each day of the year. I am to try and make this a positive year and not have many of the same days, unless they're all amazing.

After two months off college (due to being out on placement) I am actually so excited to get back into study and lucky for me (much sarcasm) I have my exams coming up in January (they really know how to let you have a nice Christmas) and I've been waiting to make a study plan for weeks, until now. I like to add this kind of thing into my journal to look back on in a few years and see the subjects I did. 

The blank page beside is where I will write in my timetable for the next two semesters. As I will be going back into first year to do modules I missed (long story, I got direct entry into 2nd year) and then back into continuing on my second-year modules I need some form of organization to know where I'm at. 

This is by far my favorite page, mainly because it actually turned out quite well and they actually look like polaroids which is a shock (refer to my stickman statement). I like the idea of writing memories down in short word sentences instead of just pictures. 

I, of course, have a sampling page at the back of the book to write out some of my favorite fonts to use throughout the book.

I am so excited to continue on my bullet journal adventure and be more creative each day for the next year and onwards.

Do you bullet journal? what are some of your must-have pieces in your journal?