Throwback Series │ to Last Summer (2013) ♥

Aloha! 

So I thought I'd get in the summer spirit and as it is a Sunday and I'm still doing my throwback series I thought I would talk about Last Summer because I miss Last Summer and if I could relive it, I definitely would.

So last summer I went on my first holiday and it was to the lovely Portugal and to Villamoura which was so lovely.

I had my first ever Bubblegum ice-cream and it was so freaking good.

Hola at me in Portugal. My hair went ginger.

Selfie Central.

I made Brownies and a Cake. (The cake in the tin was only the first layer)

So last Summer I spent my time baking so much stuff. I baked buns with Alfie and Keane, I went to Portugal and conquered some of my fears and I love it, take me back please, I went to lots of parties.

That was my summer but what was your last summer like?

Sunset and Mix tapes ♥

Bonjour! 

Today's post is a little bit of a random post however as it is coming up to summer I thought I'd get some mix tapes out and sit and watch the sunset. This mixtape is my dad's from when he was a kid and it is pretty good. I love 80s mixtapes and so I was happy to dance along too it. 

I always moan about how I live in England and how boring it is but it is still so beautiful when it isn't raining anyway.

One of the songs that was on my dad's mixtape was this song and I absolutely love it.

Have you got any mixtapes?

Collection Illuminating Touch Concealer Review ♥

Hello!

I can't believe it's nearly the end of June. I know I say this nearly every month but this year is going so so fast! The end of June means one thing... It's nearly Summer. This summer I don't think I'll be that sociable when it comes to friends however I'm going to make the best out of it by trying to get fit and I will probably go to a few parties. Today I thought I would review the Collection Illuminating Touch Brightening Concealer which I picked up for £3.99 as I didn't want to join the hype of the whole Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer so I bought this one and at first I was like how on earth do I get the product out and well I realized that I had to twist the end. Although I liked this product when it was applied, it did go a little bit cakey and it ran out so fast. I hardly got any uses out of it. Even though I liked the brush I don't really think it's worth the money as you only get about 5 uses out of it. I then decided to join the hype of the Collection Lasting Perfection and I am much happier. 

The packaging is very basic but different to anything I've ever used.

Left - Not rubbed in
Right - Rubbed in.

As you can tell with the photo above it is the lightest shade available however it is quite orange compared to my Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer however it still matches my skin well. This product however did brighten my eyes up slightly.

Overall this product was okay but I will not be buying it again.

Rating out of 10: 3/10

What's your favourite concealer?

Throwback Series │The Body Shop Haul.♥

Hola everyone! 

Well it's Sunday and as you know I am currently having a Throwback Series, hopefully this will be carried on throughout next month too. So today's throwback is where I had a beauty type haul. It was about October time last year (2013) and I got an email from The Body Shop saying that they were having some deals and one of them was with a certain code I could spend £60 and only have to pay £30 which was fantastic and then I also got free delivery to top it all off. I am a massive The Body Shop addict and I am always spending my money in there. I really shouldn't as it doesn't do my bank balance any good but their products are so good and so worth the money. I got into The Body Shop when my Dad and my step-mum bought me a gift set of the tea tree range and from there I have just kept buying from them. I didn't really know what items I should pick as I didn't need to restock on anything but I definitely do now. Most of the products I have purchased before this and on this order have gone and I may have to go in and stock up on things over the Summer. So I bought a little bit of everything. It was going to be my birthday on the 8th so I decided to order and then pay my auntie back for these which I did and by lucky surprise my order got delivered on my birthday which was such a lovely present hehe.

I purchased the following things:

If you would like a review of any of these items then just let me know in the comments and I will do them for you.

Thanks for reading! Do you like The Body Shop?

Beauty Book ♥

Hola you lovely lot! 

Are you all okay? I know it's the end of June and even though all my exams finished in May I'm sure some of you  may still have some to do, I'm not too sure though. 

I had my french listening and reading exams on the 12th May, I had my drama exam on the 1st April and I had my English Literature on the 22nd May so overall I've had a busy May although I was really stressed about them I feel like they were a different kind of pressure to last year. But enough about exams because I won't have any until my mocks whenever they may be. I thought I would tell you about a beauty book that I have had for about 5 years now and it's such a great book, so helpful and it was a gift. 

So here is my beauty book and it is called Be Beautiful every girl's guide to hair,skin and make- up by Alice Hart Davis and Molly Hindhaugh.

It's a very bright book but is very unique.

I love the whole of the book and how it is presented.

It has lots of tips such as cleaning your teeth, make up, skincare and how to find your skin type.

"This is a practical and comprehensive beauty guide for teen girls by an award-winning beauty journalist. At some point, every girl is going to come up with a whole bunch of questions about her skin, her hair, her looks...and when Alice's daughter, Molly, started asking, there seemed to be so many, you could write a book. With chapters about hair, make-up, spots, skincare, hair removal, manicures, pedicures and how to look good in pictures, this fabulous beauty bible extends a sympathetic helping hand as it guides teenagers through the minefield of often inappropriate beauty advice in a friendly and informative way."

It is such a useful book and has helped me a lot. 

Have you got a beauty book/blog that helps you with tips for your skincare and beauty?

Blog Schedule ♥

Hello everyone! 

So today I thought I'd give you a post about my blog schedule as you know for months I have posted on my blog every 2 days and I have posted all sorts of posts and I have never really had a proper schedule but I thought it was time for a slight change. So I have decided on a schedule which will start next month on the 1st July. 

If I change my mind about these or for one of the days the topic changes I will notify you all and If you have any ideas for my posts and the days you would like to see them on let me know in the comments. 

Sunday - Throwback Series (This is still temporary and I will need another topic to have for this day, so let me know in the comments)

Tuesday - TAGs/A week in photos/Discussion Time.

Wednesday - Reviews of Products ranging from beauty and skincare to food/snacks.

Friday - Lifestyle posts - Baking, movie days and random posts.

Although these will not be the final schedule as you decide what days you'd like me to post and what type of posts I make so it's up to you! 

I hope you'll enjoy this new plan and let me know your ideas!

Dying my hair │ L'oreal Castings Creme Gloss Dark Chocolate Review.♥

Hola!

So as promised I have done you a beauty post as this month I have focused more on lifestyle. So today I thought I'd bring you a review as you lovely bloggers seem to love these posts so I have chosen to review the Castings Creme Gloss hair dye in the shade Dark Chocolate. I'm always trying to experiment with my hair colour and I am a medium brown so I thought I'd go darker. I've used the L'oreal Casting Creme Gloss 3 times before as I have dyed my hair black cherry and it started as a plum colour and went to a lovely red but I went on holiday to Portugal last summer and well my hair went ginger and so my hair was abut 3 different colours therefore I needed to get it to a darker colour because I know when they fade they will fade slowly. I use the Casting Creme Gloss dye because they're semi-permanent and are supposed to last 28 washes but they last me at least 4 months and the longest was 6 months. They have no ammonia in them therefore they don't damage your hair. 

This is my natural colour.

Here is my hair after I've dyed it Dark Chocolate.

The packaging.

The no-ammonia crème formula blends away grey. Your hair has all the richness of truly natural colour, full of visible shimmering tones however I don't use these dyes for my grey hairs as I am only 15 and don't have any.

It gives you glossy and natural looking colour.

Colour lasts up to 28 shampoos but it lasts me for 4-6 months.

During colouring, the patented conditioning complex helps protect the hair fibre, inside and out, for voluptuous hair: exceptional softness, glossy shine.

After colouring, the Nutri-Shine conditioner with Aloe Vera and Royal Jelly enhances the shine of your colour until the next time you colour and it smells so good.

Dark Chocolate is recommended for blonde, dark blonde and light brown hair. Hair is illuminated with shimmering golden tones, rich and glossy.

This pack contains:

• 1 tube of crème colourant (48 ml e).
• 1 tube of developer crème (72 ml e).
• 1 precision tip applicator.
• 1 bottle of Nutri-Shine conditioner (40 ml e).
• 1 pair of professional quality gloves.
• 1 instruction leaflet.

Overall I feel like these hair dyes are so worth the money and are better and so much cheaper than getting my hair dyed in a salon. For only £5.00 from Savers I feel like they really do help my hair.

What are your favourite hair products? 

Throwback Series │ Primary school.♥

Aloha!

So it's Sunday which means another post of my throwback series and I thought it would be nice to carry on the school theme as my last post in the series was about Playgroup. So I thought I'd do a primary school throwback too. I'm in high school now and I'm in year 10, nearly year 11 which is scary. So I thought I'd talk about my time in primary school. I start my primary school in Nursery and I loved it so much! I loved primary school from Nursery to Year 2 and then after that the enjoyment wasn't really there. I had amazing teachers throughout the whole of my time at primary and I was so much sportier than I am now. I used to always look forward to sporting events and especially sports day. I always won the running race. My primary school had lots of sporting events and I was really good at running (not so good now, what went wrong) and in Year 5 I won 4th in Cross Country which you can see below in the photo. I was so proud of this achievement and went on to compete in a big one in the local park where I came 19th. I know 19th doesn't seem very good but there was about 70 of us so it was pretty good. I also took part in a triathlon in year 5.  

I'm the second one in the photo with the brown bob. Biggest mistake ever but I was so different then.

So except for my massive part of sport in primary which I wish I did now, I actually did really well when it came to achievements. I always got 100% attendance and awards in class such as star of the day/week. I also won lots of swimming vouchers which I found useful as I learnt to swim in 9 hours which is another achievement. So while I was quite sporty and now I'm a bit of a couch potato I have decided that I should probably get fit again and go to the gym but it's so much effort. In year 8 we did a cross country type thing in pe and I came 6th which is still pretty good but I'd like to try and achieve that now as that was 2 years ago.

Is there any achievements you achieved in primary that you'd like to share? 

Kelloggs │Nutri- Grain Breakfast Bar ♥

Aloha! 

So for some reason this month all my posts seem to be really random or falling into the lifestyle category but I promise I will have a beauty post for you on Tuesday as I post every 2 days and Sunday is my Throwback series. Today's post is about food which as you can tell I love. I thought I would write this post to recommend this breakfast bar as they're so nice and good as a little treat.  These are the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Breakfast Granola Slices Choc Chip.

The box really attracted me as it is bright and you get 10 bars for £2.49.

You get two breakfast granola slices in each pack.

The bars are quite flat and are so different to any bar/slices I've ever had.

The only thing I don't like about these is they are quite hard to bite into but other than that they are tasty and a nice treat.

Is there any breakfast bars you like?

My Month In Photos - May .♥ #1

Hola! 

Today I am going to do my very first 'my month in photos' post as I see these a lot and love seeing them so I thought you might like to see these every so often. If you would let me know in the comments below. However I am going to do it for May as I have done nothing exciting recently and thought you might want to know what I got up to in May.

In May I had my exams - French and my English literature and me and my friend decided to go to Tesco and have a cuppa while doing some English revision. - They are all done and dusted now so all I have to wait for is results day.

I then painted my nails with my new Barry M nail varnish that I bought which was 308 Berry Ice Cream - I'd been wanting this for a while but I had told myself that I had loads of other nail varnishes however I caved. 

I then took a selfie haha at like midnight. I have eczema near my eye that's why it looks weird and if anyone has anything to cure it or help it - suggestions are welcome in the comments! Haha I'm so weird.

At the beginning of May it was my gorgeous little brothers birthday and he is now 4 - so we took lots of posey photos. 

Photo central haha - he's so cute. If you want to know what make up I am wearing I can do a tutorial in another post - let me know in the comments.

Finally an edited version of me and Alfie - This is up on my instagram. 

His birthday cake was Spongebob Squarepants which was made by his nana! 

I then had a bit of a pizza binge and had a ham pizza! It was delicious! 

On a bit of a healthier note I made a cottage pie all by myself and put so much cheddar on top but it was pretty good.

I then met this cute doggy! Who I walked in my half term!

I hope you've enjoyed this post! 

A Blogger Interview with Catherine Roberts! (A Small Girl in a Big Ol’ World)│Finding New Bloggers Series! ♥

1. Where are you from?
I am from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and I truly believe I live in the best place in England! I may be biased, but I love it.

2. How long have you been blogging?
I have been blogging since September 2013. But I think I’ve been mentally blogging for a while, haha! I have always wanted to blog and thought about what I would write so it feels like I’ve been doing it for longer than I have.

3. If you were shipwrecked on a desert island what 3 beauty items would you want with you?
Hmm...are there people on this island with me? Because if it was like a Lost situation and there was a whole planeload of us shipwrecked, I would take the heaviest coverage foundation I own (MAC Studio Fix foundation) and 2 pots of Rimmel Stay Matte Powder. But if I was alone, I would take a bottle of my fave perfume, Versace Bright Crystal, a bar of Lush’s Fresh Farmacy soap, and a tub (VAT) of Carmex!

4. Is there a fashion designer that you would really like to meet?
I adore highstreet fashion so I can’t really say that there is a designer I would be dying to meet, however I always fantasise about owning an entire work-wardrobe full of Donna Karan suits and dresses when I finally graduate uni, so probably her.

5. Where do you normally blog and why?
I normally blog in bed, all snuggled under the covers. Maximum comfort=better blogging, I say!

6. Pet peeves?
NOISY. EATERS. That is all. Blergh!

7. How often do you blog?
I try and blog as often as I can but because my uni work rate ebbs and flows I am never blogging every day. I just do it when I’m free. When I can blog, I tend to write a lot of posts and schedule them, so my readers are still getting content.

8. Top 5 favourite bloggers and why?
- Zoella- I am obsessed! I love Zoe’s blog and youtube channel and am jealous and how professional and well done her blog content is.

- Louise aka Sprinkle of Glitter and her blog. She makes me excited to have kids as she does such fun things for her little girl and she gets to document them all, which I think is really special.

- Tanya Burr. TANYA BURR. Her attitude to life and her blog is so polished to perfection I get incredibly jealous.

- Ruby from Me & My Make Up. I have known Ruby for a very long time; we went to the same primary school and live not far from one another. This isn’t why I love her blog though. She’s starting out just like me, and it’s so lovely to see her blog grow as she gets more followers and readers. Also, her content is amazing. She’s made the leap in to youtube videos now and I really think she’s going to go far.

- I also recently discovered a blog by a girl called Hannah, My Little Palindrome, and it is soooo good! I love her content and her writing is brilliant. Really friendly and well set out.

9. What are 5 items you never leave home without.
- My phone.
- Pens. Multiple black biros constantly litter the bottom of any bag I own. Imperative.
- Lipstick.
- If I’m going to uni, I need to have my notepad and glasses on me at all times.
- A water bottle.

10. What are your fears/phobias? 
I am a very fearful person as a rule. I’m scared of losing the people I love, which is quite a common thing I think.  I’m completely terrified of failure too.

11. If you could change one thing about your blog what would it be and why?
I would change the url name AND the blog name. A Small Girl in a Big Ol’ World is relevant, but it’s not very catchy. My url ‘bigbooksmallgirl’ isn’t so relevant any more- when I first began my blog it was going to be all book reviews and a little smattering of beauty here and there. But at the same time, my interest in beauty was growing and becoming bigger and bigger so I feel that I shouldn’t have made my url book specific.

12. Favourite blog posts to read?
I love haul posts, I’m super nosy haha!

13. Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
In my own house, working for a publishing company, reading for a living, with a lovely blog!

14. What goals do you want to achieve on your blog?
I just want to interest people. As long as there is at least one person out there who enjoys my content and feels a little happy reading, I’ve done what I wanted to achieve. This started as a hobby for me, and I think it will end that way. Which I’m glad about.

15. Inspirations in life?
People who aren’t the norm inspire me- for example people who “aren’t the type to go to university” or people who keep down a job and lead a good life despite people thinking they will never do it, or they aren’t capable of doing it. We need to break stereotypes and embrace difference!

16. Favourite quote? 
My favourite quote is from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte- ‘who could ever imagine unquiet slumbers, for the sleepers in that quiet earth.’ I just think it is a perfect ending to the novel and I always remember it, so I must like it haha!

17. A message you would give to a new blogger.
DON’T DO IT FOR THE FREEBIES!!! Some beauty bloggers seem obsessed with getting free stuff. But a blog should be like a personal diary, and about what you love. Not a shopping list for companies to see.

18. What have you learnt by blogging?
It’s harder than it looks. Editing photos? Editing posts? Getting posts up on time? Always being creative? Yep, hard work. But worth it .

19. Hardest thing about blogging?
Haha, see above! (Particularly finding time to write).

20. Beauty, fashion or lifestyle and why?
Beauty all the way. People can be so creative with makeup, and they showcase their skill on blogs for me to read. Yaaaay! I love reading what everyone is doing. And having serious envy over how good they are haha!

My Links:

BLOG: http://bigbookssmallgirl.blogspot.co.uk/

TWITTER: @SmallGirlBlog11

GOOGLE PLUS: My name on Google Plus is Catherine Roberts.

EMAIL: robertscatherine11@gmail.com

Everyone give Catherine a follow on her links above! 

Throwback Series│What I made in Playgroup.♥

Hi everyone!

So I'm back again with another post to continue my throwback series and today I'm going to show you something that means a lot to me. In 2001 which was 13 years ago and I would have been 3 years old when I did this picture and it was for Bonfire Night in playgroup and I can remember doing this and is was so good to blow the paint around the paper and then sprinkle lots of glitter on it - it was my favourite part! I'm sure Louise would approve! 

So above is my masterpiece that I am still so proud of! I always think that the yellow part looks like a lemon aha, anyone else think that?

I loved playgroup and it was one of my favourite places to go and will always be one of the best things that I have done so far in my life. Primary and high school are so much different and so much more challenging and have changed my mind on how I view schools.

Playgroup is one of my best memories and so people have to treasure the moments.

Do you remember playgroup and what was your memory of it?

The sky looks so pretty tonight.♥

Hello!

So today is another random post and it is regarding the sky. The sky fascinates me and even though I live in England and the sky is mainly dull it does look pretty sometimes. Normally all I see is grey skies and rain droplets on the window but hopefully we will be blessed with a great summer like last year however when we had a heatwave I was in Portugal and it was very hot there. 

So as you can see it was a pink and blue sky and they were like pastel colours and it made me very happy.

Again this post is going to be short and sweet but I hope you enjoy your weekend!

Introducing...Moo.♥

Bonjour! 

Today I have a bit of a random company to introduce to you - you may have heard of them before but I certainly didn't. So may I introduce MOO. 

Moo  is a company that prints business cards and other things and well they are so cool. I decided that I wanted to trail out how good their cards were and you can get 10 cards for free so I decided to make some cards for my blog in case I want to use them for any giveaways or for presentation. 

They came in this packaging. 

Company name. 

I love how you are greeted by this card that says 'You're delightful' as it just makes your day.

I love how they have little messages on most of the packaging. It almost feels like pass the parcel aha.

My cards in the packaging. 

Back of the card with all my details on them.

Front of the card. 

and at the bottom of the box you get a quote. 

I love how imaginative the company is. I would recommend anyone with a business or anyone who wants some for their blog to get some as they are so handy.