The struggles of being a little lady and more

This is quite a personal blog entry but it's just something I want to write as a prequel post. This post is about insecurities because I hope you will also be able to relate to it and maybe it will help with any issues you are currently facing.

Ever since my 16th birthday I do not think I have grown a single inch, leaving me at a petite 5"1 height. 

I hated being small and I always had confidence issues to do with the way I looked, including my height. As I went off university a lot of small and rather big incidences shaped the way I thought of myself both positive and negative. Let's say it was a big learning curve and talk about all my dirty little secrets another time. 

My semester abroad was what really changed me. I began to become really comfortable with the way I looked. I learnt that it wasn't healthy to be put down by a funny look that a guy gave me and automatically assume it was because he thought I was short and funny looking. 

I shouldn't have based my confidence on how other people reacted to me, because it was my confidence. I should have more control over it. It was wrong to have all my self-esteem build upon what others thought. Worst of all, it probably wasn't even what other people thought, it was my assumption that they would judge me when in reality no one gives a flying fuck. 

When you are living in another country, you have no real wider friends circle therefore you stop caring what people will think of you, because you know that it is temporary and you will be out of there soon. The approach taken by me was, "so what! I'm only here for 6 months, like I give a shit if I tripped and fell off my bike. So what I'm 5"1 and shorter than my friends. Who cares? I don't really know anyone here." 

I made new friends but it was based on this outlook, therefore I didn't care if they liked me for what I was because I was only there for a few months. The friends I made became great friends. It was this attitude that I decided to keep once I came back from my semester abroad, 

I slowly came out of my shell in the exchange programme and grew as a person. Height does not define me, nor do my looks. It's okay to be the smallest person in the room! I shouldn't have to get comfort from others being smaller than me 

There are more important things, and being petite can be great! You feel a more dainty and cute. You can also get away with shorter skirts. 

Sorry for the rather long blog post, I shall try to make it less emosh and gushy next time bros. 

À bientôt, j'espère. 

The Body Shop's Vitamin E Sink in Moisture Mask Review

Salut tout le monde!

It's the return of FACE MASK FRIDAY Y'ALL!! FMF was brutally put to a stop when I sadly could not remember to buy face masks in time, and because I was on a semester abroad in Maastricht. Mais c'est la vie!

(Beautiful Maastricht church)

Maintaining the on-and-off, not-really glorious tradition of smothering face masks and then telling you about them on Fridays was unfortunately a long lost pastime. UNTIL TODAY.

This week I turned to The Body Shop's Vitamin E sink in moisture mask to make me feel fabulousssss (well more so than already).

If you have read my previous review on The Body Shop's Honey and Oat Mask, you will know that I was quite impressed the Body Shop's face masks. Hence I went out to my local TBS store and got myself a sample of the Vitamin E sink in moisture mask.

TBS had always gotten good reviews from me because their products are so lush and smell like my idea of heaven. Fact. My daily choice of spray in fact is from TBS, and they've recently started giving students free Body Shop (discount) cards which has made my life.

Back to business, the serious shit, the hit product: the moisture mask!

In substance, the Vitamin E mask was a pale pink soft cream-like product. It had a light subtle yet sweet fragrance that reminded me of baby cream (in a good way). I was feeling very positive about this product because I have sensitive skin and this looked ideal for me.

So I scooped up a bit of this fluffy mask and started spreading it in a thin layer around my face. There was a big difference between this mask and the Honey and Oat one, or in fact any mask I had yet reviewed. The Vitamin E mask was very smooth and I could hardly feel it as I waited for the recommended 10 minutes. I kept it on for a little longer (20 minutes) because I had been told that some women left this mask on over night.

Unlike other face masks my face did not feel irritated or tingly, just very cool.

I'm a real abider of the rules (despite the amount of times I have failed my driving test), so I took off the mask using a tissue as recommended on the instructions. My skin looked shinier but it also felt a little sticky and there was a slight irritation on one of my cheekbones.

I had a distinct feeling of uncleanliness so I washed off the mask, any my skin did look a bit cleaner and felt slightly softer for the next couple of days.

Overall, the Vitamin E Sink in Moisture Mask didn't really excite me because it felt more like an overnight cream than it did a face mask. It smelt nice but not as nice as the Honey and Oat scrub mask. I would recommend this to those who want to tackle the lines on their face or signs of aging because of the Vitamin E.

Due to it not giving out as good of a result as I thought it would, and because a price of £13.00 per 100ml is just simply too high for me, I would have to give this product a mediocre 3/5.

It sure does the job, but it does the job of a moisturizing cream, not an ideal face mask.

Cheap travel

When you're in your late teens and early twenties, there has never been a better time to go out there and explore the world. You're at university or school, things aren't quite that serious with life, you're not held back by much at this point in your life.

Even as a young graduate you're not weighed down by other priorities such as children, or family commitments, or a promotion that you have to get. In other words, why not pack a bag, book a flight, and spend a month or two having the time of your life?

After spending four heavenly months in Maastricht on an exchange programme I visited: 6 cities, a handful of towns and villages, and 4 countries. All whilst studying full time and paying rent for my room at my home university as well as my room in Maastricht. I was worse off than almost everyone I knew which meant I had to be very careful about any costs. Yet I managed to do all of this. So if I can do it on such a tight budget whilst paying rent in two places I'm sure you can as well!

Here is my advice to you buttercup! I hope it helps you and does not seem excessively obvious.

This might not count as a tip for you, but it shall be mentioned anyway. Make sure you have a little bit of money saved. For Europe I would say have about 600 euros saved up (for a month of travelling), more if you are planning on living in a city. 

Secondly, and I cannot stress this enough, choose a city or town to stay in for a month which is close to a lot of borders! It can be your hub for the next month, or couple of weeks. Maastricht was ideal, because it was close to the borders of Germany and Belgium, and of course it was a beautiful town. You could have spent a week happily exploring Maastricht and had a good time. Anyway, choose a town that you will quite like, make it your hub for as long as you want, and use the transport links there to make trips to other cities.

It is better to live in a city or town for a month and travel every couple of days because you will get a sense of the place. Buying an interrailing pass can be a little too hectic because you would be spending a few days in different cities for a month but not really appreciating the true feel of a city. You do not get to discover a hidden little bar, a great view, or a nice restaurant. 

My next tip, use a site like this to find a place to stay. 

It is cheaper than staying in a hotel, and if you look hard enough it can be nicer than staying in a hostel. Although be careful and always make sure you are being safe when renting online.

Try and find somewhere self-catered as you will save a lot of money from not eating out as many tourists do. Try to buy food for lunch from supermarkets rather than eating in a restaurant.

Alrighty, my next website is skyscanner.net. It's great because you can load up a chart where it tells you which days are the cheapest for you to fly in or out of your chosen airport. 

Now if you're in a country like the Netherlands, as a holiday activity you can rent out bikes fairly cheap and spend the day exploring! It'd be a great day and it wouldn't cost you very much at all. 

This post is long enough already so maybe more tips another time, fellow travel enthusiast. Feel free to leave a comment for any questions and I will try my best to help you. Happy adventures!

Studying abroad

Hollaaa my long lost sweet blog,

It's been months! And I'm sorry, I really am. But there is a brilliant excuse behind this: I spend the last semester studying abroad in the Netherlands, in the most beautiful, exciting, quaint place called Maastricht.

I also didn't want to be that kid posting every week about my adventures because honestly, do you really want to hear about how great the ice cream was at Luxembourg (7/10 max.) and how I did all the clichéd things in Brussels? No. I am no expert when it comes to the best beer in Germany and this is not a travel blog. This is a fucking categorically confused blog so let's try and stick to that.

Dear me, what a great couple of months though. I had the fucking time of my life, and it was the happiest I could remember being. I swear to you there must have been something in the water in Maastricht because I would just be riding my bike to the shops, or to university, thinking about how beautiful everything was. Maybe because everything was beautiful in Maastricht, here is a sample:

(Maastricht town hall)

(My faculty, Fasos, at Maastricht University)

(A road near the inner-city library in Maastricht)

(Maastricht from the highest point in the Netherlands)

It was everything, from the good company of my flatmates and everyone I'd met, to the good food, good drinks and the lovely Maastricht streets. This has just increased my hearts desire to travel, and if anyone is hesitant about doing a semester abroad (especially if you're in England), DO IT. Don't even think, not for a second, just do it. You might feel lonely for the first couple of weeks, but the rest of time will be worthwhile. You'll learn so much about yourself, about your country, and about the world.

If you're studying at sixth form in England right now, seriously consider going abroad for university. I wish I had. It's places like Maastricht that make you realize that there's more to the world.

This is the thing, travelling changes you. If you have done it right it makes you wiser, more appreciative and you can be damn sure that your views on the world will not be the same as when you started. My heart aches from the lost piece that I left in Maastricht but isn't that always the trouble with travelling? You leave pieces of your heart scattered, miles away with people or places. Is it worth it? Always.

Leaving

My life has taken some pretty alarming turns since I last posted on this blog. If I remember correctly, I was mopey over a relationship that clearly wasn't meant to be but oh wow have things changed. I finally got the guy who I've been pining after since October (since the first time I met him, how cheesy), a guy who treats me so well, who's lovely and better than anything I could have imagined, and what timing too. About a month after we got together it turned out I had to leave because I was doing a semester abroad. I rarely fall for many men as hard as I've fallen for Pug (let's call The Boy that shall we?), which made leaving so much harder.

We've agreed to carry things on while I'm in the Netherlands studying at the University of Maastricht but boy does it suck.

I won't lie to you, I hated leaving. I didn't think I would be as emotional or regretful but I was a mess on the last day. Tears, hating every second of saying goodbye, more tears, lots of awkward silences as I'm not the best person when it comes to saying the right thing. God I loathed it. It seemed more like a final goodbye because the chances were, after this semester I might go on a placement year and my best friends will have graduated by then. As will have Pug, who is currently in his final year.

I don't dare to think how much I'll hate to say goodbye to my mother who might not be able to come and see me off.

I suppose goodbyes are always hard when you know that there's a possibility that you will never return to that same place in your life again. My heart breaks as I think of all the nights I will never spend getting beers in a pub with the friends I once made, or never spending another evening lazing around in someone's room, talking about all the people we hate and how unfair life is. As Hugh Laurie once said:

“It's a terrible thing, I think, in life to wait until you're ready. I have this feeling now that actually no one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready. There is only now. And you may as well do it now. Generally speaking, now is as good a time as any.”"

Maybe this is true. I know I've never been one to worry about being ready before, I tend to go with the flow but once you have something that is worth staying for, I suppose being ready is required.