What's In My Bag? // NYC!

Hello Hello Helloooo everyone! 

How are all you lovely lot today? I hope you're well and had a wonderful weekend! 
Now, in a few short days (6, not that I'm counting...) I'm jetting off to New York City with my boyfriend to celebrate my 20th birthday! Eeek, soooo exciting! 
So, I thought I'd do a What's In My Bag, NYC edition! I was going to do this in a YouTube video, but I've not done YouTube in so long, it made me kind of nervous at the thought of that and possibly no-one watching it... haha so here I am, and here is my bag! 

This is my lovely lovely Fiorelli bag that I treated myself to for Christmas, because I knew we were going to New York, and my bags really aren't big enough for all the things I'd be carrying around! I fell in love with this bag when I saw it in TK Maxx (TJ Maxx for all you Americans!) and when I went back to get it, I thought it wasn't there, but after making my boyfriend search with me for a good 20 minutes - we found it! It was fate, and this bag was destine to be mine. This bag was £35 coming down from £69 RRP I think? Which is a bargain to me! Especially as I don't really have 'designer' bags, so this was a real treat to myself. 

It has four big compartments, two zipped ones front and back, and your usual 'lady product' pocket on the inside in the second compartment, and then a small one at the back for whatever you want - train tickets, bus passes etc, as you can see in the photo above! 

This is what I will be holding in the first compartment of my bag in NYC! My Instax Mini 8 in pink, which I got as a present for my last birthday which I am IN LOVE with, I think the act of polaroids are beautiful and I have made a scrap book for all my snaps! I keep that in a purple side strap camera case, which I just got off Amazon when I searched "Instax Mini 8 camera bag". Then there is my purse! This is just a small beige purse with a black bow on the front and all the slots & bobs that you need to hold all your pursey needs. This isn't my normal purse, this is just a cheap on that I got from Primark when I took my first trip to America, as my real purse is rather bulky and I needed something I could just slip into my bag. This was probably about £2 RRP and has lasted me 2 America trips and onto it's third, so well worth the small price! The first compartment of my bad is usually where I like to keep all the stuff that is valuable, so it's near me and I'd (hopefully) know if someone was trying to sneak into my bag and take my things! 

My second comparment doesn't have a Yankee Candle in it, surprisingly, but it is held together with a button clasp which is still great protection for your things as these pockets are all really deep! In this I'm going to keep the likes of things like my water - or whatever beverage I'm feeling that day - my wooly hat from Tesco RRP £7.99 that I've picked that day because i have SIX!! beanies to switch between on my holiday! Some tissues, because you can never leave the house without tissues on you... otherwise you're asking for something to fall from your mouth onto your clothes or asking for the runniest nose you've ever had in your life that day. STRAWS! Anyone else carry straws with them haha?! I'm forever wearing lipstick and so I always need a straw with me! Especially in England, however America they actually give you straws with every drink so maybe I could take these out! In the back lady pocket, I have my lady products just incase, a mirror for touching up that straw-struck lippy, plasters, a nail file and a pen. Just all handy things! 

In the third comparment which is a button clasp like the one previous, I just have little bits that I may need along my travels! At the moment, I have a pair of rounded sunnies from Primark, which might have been £2? Now, I HAVE to wear rounded sun glasses! Does anyone else?! I have a really round face, and if I wear square sunglasses I look ridiculous! Fun Fact: I actually only just started wearing sunglasses last year for the reason that no sunglasses suited my round head! So yeah, a pair of those in white and I also have some in black to go with my outfits! New York may be cold, but everyone is always wearing sunglasses as the sun shines bright in the concrete jungle. My touchscreen gloves, that my mum kindly got me for Christmas I think from the market that is held in my hometown! I love the colour of these, as they're not your usual black and white, they're a nice pale purple and I love it! Some Instax Mini 8 Film because I do not want to be running out of film on the streets of NYC! Then some Kalms, I take these everywhere with me as I suffer with Anxiety, and instead of using my suited medication, I thought I would take these as they are a little less and just something if i need them.

Then my fourth compartment is all my travel documents and my places of travel which I haven't included for the reason of what's on the documents! 

In the small back zip, I keep all the need-to-grab-now items, all the little things that I will be needed throughout the day and whatever lipstick I am wearing that day, too! So I have my Bath & Bodyworks RRP $1.50 hand sanitizer in the scent 'Orchard Bloom' which smells AMAZING! I got this on my last trip in Texas, and this one is my favourite and it has lasted me a long time! Some Extra gum, just because. My EOS RRP $1.99 lip balm, in the flavour 'Tangerine' which is also my favourite!! I have about 7 of these thing, all from my trips to Texas, and I think they're amazing! I was going to do a blogpost on them soon... what d'ya think?! Then there is my lipstick of choice that day, which today is the Topshop Matte Lip Bullet RRP £8 in the colour P33 which I actually think has been dis-continued :(! I really hope it hasn't, but every time I go in it's not there! But it's by far my fave... so this is kind of a little pocket of my favourite things!

Voila! That is my bag complete! Obviously I will also have my vlogging camera on me as i am going to be vlogging my stay in NYC but, I was taking photos on it so I couldn't throw that in there, and of course I'm going to have loads of lovely yummy American snacks and sweets in my bag too! Exciting!

Are you going anywhere soon? What's in your bag, and what is the item you take absolutely everywhere with you, from bag to bag? I'd love to know! 

Keep Smiling, 
Paige x 

Change & Finding Happiness

 

Hey everyone! 

Today I wanted to post a more chatty kind of blogpost, one about myself and one where you can share your stories in the comments if you so wish and we can have a nice talk with eachother about what we're feeling. It might not be as happy peppy and short and sweet as it usually is, so I apologise for that, but this is what I wanted my blog to be about. I wanted to talk about change, and finding your own happiness. 

Now, change has always been a scary thing for me ever since I was younger. I've never liked my birthday coming around each year, because it means I'm going to be a year older and I really don't like the thought of that. The only birthdays that I have been excited for that I can remember were turning 10 because I was "double digits", 13 because I was a "teenager", 16 because I thought being 16 was the bomb and I was SUCH an adult at that age (not, what a horrible age to be!!), and 18, for the obvious reasons and now I was legally in England an 'adult' and I could drink legally and be an avid party animal legally. 

In a few days to whenever I post this, I am going to be turning 20. TWENTY!! I'm not going to be a teenager anymore, and in the USA I'm still not classified as an adult! I'm just an awkward human-thing that's roaming around and meant to have her life together but really doesn't have their life together at ALL. I'm going to be coming out of my teens and that is really daughnting for me... I'm not too sure how to cope with it. It gives me anxiety, which I have suffered with for a number of years, but maybe we'll get to that at a later date.

I'm lucky enough to be in New York for my 20th birthday, with my boyfriend who is the best person in the world (and i shall be vlogging it, if you want to subscribe and see all those cool bits and bobs) but I'm still SCARED! 

I'm scared of changing into a drastic age, I'm scared of what is to come in the future (and excited, but mostly scared), and I'm also scared of the fact I'm not happy with what I'm doing with my life right now, and is this it forever? Because I really hope it isn't. I currently work in a dead-end job, in which I have been working for 2 years and I've hated every moment of it. It makes me so unhappy, and I would never wish this sort of life upon anyone. But how do I get out? I feel trapped, trapped in my job and trapped in my unhappy life. I come to be myself at the weekends, when hopefuly I can spend time with my boyfriend, or go and travel to see my friends at university.

But all weekend all I can think is that when Monday comes back around, I'm straight back into work, and straight back into being unhappy for a whole 5 days, just working so I can get money and pay off my debts with my family, and have 2 happy days out of 7. That's no life to lead! But I don't know how to get out. Not many places are jumping at the oppertunity to hire me, and I can't just leave my job because it pays for my car, and pays for my amazing trips away travelling to America. So what does one do? Are you in the same situation as me? Are you as scared of change as I am? Because I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets worried about the future and worried about being stuck in your horrible job for the rest of your life.

We ALL deserve happiness. We all deserve to be surrounded by loving people, who love us and we love back, be surrounded by co-workers in a job you love and wanting to wake up and get out of bed in the morning. We all deserve to be not scared of change - because change should be good, really, shouldn't it?! 

This is all over the place and I am sorry for that, I'm just feeling a lot of emotions right now... and it probably doesn't help that it's my 'lady time' of the month... but chocolate and copious amounts of english breakfast tea does help that.

So, thoughts? Fears? Woes? Worries? I want to hear them all, vent to me. Get expressive. Get emotional. Then maybe we can help eachother. It's always nice to have a shoulder to lean on, and usually, strangers are the best ones for that. I won't judge you.

Thanks for reading my ramble. I shall leave you with this, the great words of Taylor Swift

"These things will CHANGE, can you feel it now? These walls that they put up to hold us back will fall down."

Keep smiling, (even if it's diffiult)

Paige x 

Best Year EVER! // Birchbox

Hello beautiful people! 

Today in my postbox, as I was just getting ready to sit down and eat my lunch was a pretty pink surprise delivered by a white van man! Now, I really don't have the best memory in the world... so when a package with my name on it turned up I went straight to my mum and said "I've forgetten what I've bought, again!!". Instantly, texting my boyfriend because he's a sucker for buying me surprise gifts, and because it's my birthday soon and I thought maybe he'd accidentally had a present delivered to me.

Now, I recognised the name on the side as *Birchbox, (and my boyfriend said it was okay to open it, as it was a little present from him, squee!!) it was beautifully package in a nice pink carboard box, really easy to open, however I can't show you that for privacy reasons so you'll just have to take my word for it!

Once I'd cracked into the packaging it revealed this GORGEOUS box, oh my goodness I actually love it! I don't think this is the main focal point of the subscription service...but I'm in love with it. The metalic writing, the cute little quotes, oh my I'm keeping it forever! Which, I actually am because I've already decided that I'm going to put all my nail varnishes into it and into my drawers, so it's completely re-useable and very sturdy!

Firstly in the box is a lot of carboardy-papers, giving you loads of information an welcoming you to the Birchbox service, I don't know if this is just because it's my first box or you get it every time - but either way it's cute and again I love the designs! You get a pamphlet which tells you all about the products in your box, which is tailored to your skin and your choices which you pick when you sign up - which I think is amazing as if you have sensitive, or oily skin, you can choose that and they will suit your products to you! It's very personal and very sweet of them.

In my box came a series of little postcards all to do with the start of the year - new year resolutions and it's all mixed in with a sprinkle of beauty just to tie in with the cosmetics side of Birchbox! I think these are wonderful, I'd send these to friends to give them a little pick-me-up, because I'm a sucker for cute quotes. Or you can write to a penpal, or even frame them or stick them on your walls. My personal favourite is "May your lashes be long & your year be awesome!", I love my eyelashes, I do take my pride on them and I just thought that was SO cute! So props to the designer on these babies.

This is my bag of goodies, and it all smells AMAZING! I don't know why! But such a lovely scent came with this, and this bag is UBER cute and can so be used as a tiny wash bag if you're going away for the weekend! I got:

BENEFIT They're Real Tinted Primer - Travel Size - RRP £18.50
Basically, a brown light weight tinted primer to go on under your mascara! I am SO excited to use this, and might actually keep it back to do a review on it in a later date as like I said before, I do pride myself on my eyelashes (on the days they want to co-operate), and I have fallen in love with Benefit thanks to a gorgeous present I got for Christmas with a lot of mini products. So yay!

EYEKO The Foolproof Liner - Full Size - RRP £12
This is a very chubby liquid eyeliner, according to all its ins-and-outs it's smudge-proof, bold, high-impact and easy to use novice or expert! I'm also really excited by this, I've been wearing eyeliner since it was cool to wear glitter liner, and I've recently branched out into a cat-eye kind of gal, so I'll be reaching for this in my make-up bag the next time i get glammed up and give it a whizz! Shall also report back.

RITUALS The Shower Invigorator - Travel Size - RRP £8.50
It's a shower gel! Who doesn't love a new shower gel? Now, I usually use Lush products for my shower gels, but this smells beautiful! The packaging is so lovely, and is packed with organic ingredients like white lotus & yi yi ren which transforms into a foam and is meant to make your skin feel glorious! 

BEAUTY PROTECTOR The Hair Multi-tasker - Travel Size - RRP £14
Ooooooo magic for your hair, I love hair magic things! Protects & Detangles, does alllll that good stuff you love to put in your hair to make it swishy and shiny. Also, smells amazing! Apparently this is a Birchbox Exclusive and one of their best sellers, it's also meant to minimise frizz which dang, I need. Use after showering! 

ABSOLUTION The Cleansing Water - Travel Size - RRP £27
Another love of mine - new skin care!! Now I'm not too great at skin care thingys so being sent this was so good, so so good. This is a cleansing water, so you can use it to take of your make-up or just wash it all over your face if your skin feels like it needs some attention. This contains hazelnut oil & aloe vera to leave you soft, supple and fresh! 

SO VOILA! That's January's Birchbox for my preferred picks on their website! Also, you get a sweet little compact mirror RRP £4, and you know it's so handy to have one of those in at least every bag you own. I'm really really looking forward to using all these products and I am literally obsessed with looking at this and waiting to use them, and I am super excited to get next months already!!

I think I'll do an over-all review of the products individually in a blogpost in the future, once I've had a chance to use them all... so stay tuned for that!

Do you get any monthly subscriptions that you love? Let me know in the comments as I am so totally into this idea of getting cute little things every month! This is also such a lovely one off gift for someone you love.

Thanks for reading this absolute essay. See you next month for the next Birchbox! 

Keep Smiling,
Paige x

* All opinions are of my own and this was a kind gift from my otherhalf. Birchbox has not paid me to do this and do not know of me writing this prior to the blogpost. Thankyou. 

Relaxing with Lush

Hello, Lovelies! 

So the holidays have come to and end, for me anyway, and that can be a very stressful thing! I went on a wonderful day out with my other half on Saturday,  to Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland and it was magical! We have been twice two years in a row now (and on the same date... how freaky!) and we love it, you truely do have to take time out next year to go and visit if you've not already and are in the area or a train journey away! 

Any who, it was also my good friend's birthday, and she so happens to LOVE Lush, like many other people do (including me!!), so whilst I was picking her up a few birthday goodies, I thought I would treat myself to a festive bath bomb that I had been eyeing up and smelling everytime I popped into the store over the past few months.

*This particular bath bomb was the 'Yog Nog' festive Christmassy bath bomb! Oh my GOODNESS, I am so upset that this is only a seasonal bath bomb, because I'd buy it forever if I could! It smells so gorgeous, like a toffee-honey-yummy-ball of hugs! This is definetely one of Lush's sweeter bath bombs, however it's not as sweet as a Snow Fairy scent, so if you like something in the middle then I recommend this for you! 

 Yog Nog has so many good things in it for your skin, as your would expect from any good Lush product, and like it says on the tin, it is a luxury bathbomb! With things like Organic Shea & Cocoa butter in it to leave your skin feeling SO super soft, which it has! Ylang Ylang Oil, Soya Milk Powder, JoJoba Oil and the ever present Coconut Oil, which us girls will know is good for just about everything right now, it is sure to leave you feeling like a prince or princess by the time you get out of the bath. Nevermind the gorgeous detailing that whoever made this has put into it.

 This bathbomb fizzed in the bath for so long, which is a winner for me from a bathbomb, as to me that means it has loads of goodies inside of it that are going to treat your skin to what it deserves. Now I was surprised when it got to the end of this bathbomb, as I wasn't expecting what I saw, however I was pleasently surprised! I won't ruin the surprise for you, I'll let you guys pop into Lush a purchase one to find out for yourselves. 

If you're not a glittery bath-bomber, do not fear! Yog Nog actually wasn't that sparkly - I know - Lush not sparkly?! Usually, I'm say forever cleaning out my bath one I'm out quickly before my Dad sees the state it's in and sighs at me, but this bathbomb had only a tiny shimmer in it which was nice as it added something, but it wasn't too much.

I loved relaxing in this golden toffee bath, and I'm sure you will too. But be quick! As I've said before, this bathbomb is a seasonal one and I'm not too sure how long it's going to stick around for - so grab it whilst you can either Online or In Store! 

What's your favourite bath bomb to relax to? What do you instantly put into your basket when you walk into Lush, and are you a sweet or spicy scent? I'd love to know, leave your answers in the comments! 

Keep Smiling,

Paige x

* All opinions are my own and all products in this post were bought with my own money. Lush did not ask me to write this, or ask me to link them in this post - I did it out of ease of access for my readers! Thankyou.