There can be a whole tonne of really good things about school, but it can also be really tough for a whole variety of people. Everyone seems to say that your teenage years are the best years of your life, but my opinion? That saying is utter bullshit. And not only because it's not always true. It makes your future life seem pointless and a thing of never-ending misery. I spent a lot of time in my teenage years asking myself just how awful adult life could be if I was currently in my 'prime of happiness'. The truth is that my adult life isn't awful. It's rocky, I have a tonne of responsibilities, but I have a far better time than I did as a teen.
Despite enjoying the academic side of school a lot, I really found the social and physical side of it to be a massive strain on my mental health. When I say physical here I don't mean having to do PE (although that was a challenge too), but more bringing myself to actually go into school every day was something I genuinely found hard. There were some really horrible periods, where getting through one single day seemed like an impossible challenge. So just know that if you feel like each day is unbearable you are not alone. I even remember going through a phase of ticking off each day three times on my calendar to motivate myself to get through it: I would tick the calendar for waking up, tick it for going through the school day and tick it before bed. That way I could count down the days until it was the weekend or a school holiday in a much more intense way.
This may seem 'crazy', but that's because we've all been taught that your expression of mental health problems makes you crazy, when in fact the very word exists to simply divide people from each other. I hate using the word, as it has so many negative connotations. So yes, my behaviour was erratic, upsetting and hard to understand at this time, but it was never crazy. 'Crazy' is just a construct.
Going back to school after a break, especially after the Christmas holidays, can be really hard. And a lot of people don't understand how or why. It's often perceived as laziness: just because you struggle to get out of bed early in the morning to get to school does not mean you're lazy. This kind of prejudice against how you feel when you return to school makes it so much harder for you to accept that what you're doing is brave and tough and it's okay to feel as though it's all a little too overwhelming.
I'm not saying I know what any of you are going through, but if you are struggling with the first week back at school, or with the idea of getting through a whole seven weeks before having a real break, then just know that you're not alone. The fact that other people struggle with it too does not however lessen your struggle.
I've thought of a few tips that either really helped me when I was at school, or I wish I knew back when I was there that could have helped me to cope with school when I was having a rubbish time with my mental health:
1.) Find yourself a 'comfort blanket' item. This one is a bit of a double-edged sword, but is something I find so helpful. Pop something small that helps you to feel calm in your blazer or backpack that you can pull out when you're alone and feeling anxious. I was kindly given an Irish worry stone as a little Christmas present by another blogger, and I'm going to put it in my main handbag so that I can rub it when I feel stressed.
2. Prepare for school the night before. This is something that everyone tells you anyway, but I find it stills helps me now to deal with work in the morning. Get your clothes ready and school bag packed whilst you're feeling fully awake so that you have less to do in the morning. It also minimises the chance of you forgetting something important for school, which can really set your anxiety off.
3.) Treat yo-self. This sounds like a silly one, but it's probably the one that I found to be most useful. Reward yourself for going to school and getting through the day with something special. It could be a favouite chocolate bar, a nice bath, or simply taking some 'me' time out to read a book. On really bad days I'd pop a little treat in with my lunch as something to look forward to having for getting through the morning. You could even have a big treat for the end of the week: a new book, popping into LUSH and buying a special bath bomb, or maybe even cooking your favourite meal are favourites of mine.
4.) Take time out when you need it. Sometimes it's really bloody hard trying to be sociable all day every day. It can all get so overwhelming that you switch off from everyone and go into a little spiral of anti-social behaviour. Instead of this, it's nice to take little breaks from people. Spend a break time in the library relaxing on your own, or if you really don't feel up to school, taking one day off isn't the end of the world. Take the time to re-coup, really think about what's bothering you and tackle it.
5.) Keep up to date on your work, and focus in class. I know I sound like an overbearing parent right now, but I found my general school-related anxiety sky-rocketed when I ignored everyone's advice. There's nothing worse than realising you're at a point of no return: you're so far behind that you possibly can't catch up again. Anxiety levels rise as school grades drop, and it's so hard to fix. Getting into a good routine of doing work at the start of a term can stop this showballing effect.
So, there we have it. Some tips that I really hope can help some of you that are struggling in the first week back. My twitter or email inbox is always open if you need a friendly face to talk to about your concerns. And remember: things get better, and school is temporary, even if it seems neverending.
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December was possibly my favourite month of 2016. It was the most hectic as well. My shifts went up as a restaurant at Christmas basically never sleeps, and I had a massive freelance project to complete. I also attempted blogmas, which didn't go 100% to plan, but saw me blogging more in a month than I ever had done in the past.
There were a whole load of pros and cons to trying out blogmas, but I think if I tried to do it again in the future, I would prepare for it much more. I was working so much that I had so little time to actually blog that I ended up putting out seriously sub-par posts. And it showed. Despite posting more frequently than I had done in the past my page views were lower than they had been in months. It was pretty demoralising to look back on that on the 1st January to say the least. BUT, it has encouraged me to only put out content that I'm truly happy with, and to go with quality over quantity in my writing. There will be no more posts scraped together in the half hour I have free between shifts on some days, but instead I'll be taking my time with each and every post.
Aside from the world of blogging, it was so lovely (and a bit scary) to host Christmas in my own home, in a new town for the very first time. It went almost without a hitch, though my sister did have to save the potatoes from being cooked in cake tins because I didn't own enough oven trays. Whoops. I got to see and spend time with so many members of my family, and it was great to see everyone open the gifts I'd bought them.
In terms of favourites, I've left out anything I got for Christmas because I only had a couple of days to really try them out before the end of December. So, you'll have to keep your eyes peeled for my January favourites this time next month to see any of the presents I was lucky enough to receive.
I actually used two uh-mazing shower gels that I fell head over heels for this month. The first up was my mini Korres bergamot pear shower gel. This was so good that it actually made it into my 2016 top ten beauty favourites. Wild, I know. I love sweet scents, and this is definitely one, but it's not too overpowering. This is something that I'm now on the hunt to buy in a bigger bottle once my current shower gel runs out. It's so good that it actually tops Snow Fairy in my opinion. Yep, that good
Next up, is something completely different. The bergamot pear was a slightly classy, sophisticated scent. Now, we have Chewits' fruit salad shower gel. Oh yes. Fruit salad chewits were basically the best sweet of my childhood. Okay, maybe they took second place behind cherry drops, but still. This shower gel smells like fruit salad bloody chewits and it is an absolute delight. Again, if you're not into sweet scents then this probably isn't for you. But, if you are, you can pick it up for £1 in Savers, making it a total win-win in terms of scent and price.
It's been a pretty good month for makeup favourites too. I was lucky enough to be sent some bits and pieces from Rimmel at the beginning of December, and they challenged me to create a party look with them. I really didn't like a few of the items, but I fell in love with two of them. The first was their Magnif'eyes eye shadow palette* in Keep Calm and Stay Gold. The shades in this are fairly similar to those in my Naked 3 palette, but have a couple of gold shades (obvs) and more metallic ones that have been great for pairing with my Naked 3 shades over the festive period.
As well as festive eye products, I've also been toying around with allllll the festive lip colours, because why not? Rimmel's provocalips lipstick in the shade 'Not Guilty' has been my absolute saviour over Christmas week. With all the eating and drinking I was planning on (and succeeded in) doing, I needed something that could stay put. I've tried out a whole lot of liquid lipsticks in the past few months and this triumphs over them all. It stays put for hours, and I usually end up having to remove at least some of it with makeup remover at the end of even very long days. Plus, you use the lipstick at one end first and then cover it with a gloss from the other end of the product. So you end up with a glossy lip that stays put. I just haven't found this in any other product recently!
My last makeup love for December was Madame LA LA's bronzing ball*. This creamy, shimmery bronzer has worked wonders at helping me contour that Christmas double chin. Seriously though, it's helped me really get back into contouring, as I'd stopped bothering with it for a few months.
The weather has been a little harsh on skin this month. We've had so many super cold days and I've been doing my best to keep my skin hydrated in the face of it. Seascape's soothe body butter is so darned thick that no chapping could get through that. It basically has the consistency of sudocrem - not the nicest thing in the world, but it does smell amazing and keep my skin from getting any winter blues.
*Although some products in this post were gifted to me for the purpose of a review, all opinions are my own honest ones*
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2016 has been a year of some pretty 'out there' beauty trends, but some pretty epic ones too. Sheet masks and bold highlight really stole the show a little in my opinion, and we also saw a rise in the popularity of liquid matte lipsticks. So, I've picked my top ten beauty products for 2016. Each and every one of these changed the way I thought about a type of beauty product, or encouraged me to try something completely new.
Naked 3 Palette
At the start of the year, you would have caught me wearing eye shadow (badly) about once in a blue moon. I just wasn't that into it. BUT, when I won this in a twitter giveaway, I knew I had to do it some justice and at least attempt to use eye shadow.
Now I can't live without it. This palette is absolutely dreamy, and covers pretty much every look I want to go for. It has encouraged me to learn how to blend eye shadow, experiment with different colours, and it's even become part of my everyday makeup package. If I could only choose one makeup product to bring into 2017, this would be it.
Bergamot Pear Shower Gel
I've tried a lot of different shower gels in 2016, obvs, but this one triumphs over them all. Korres' shower gels are something that I'm always pretty pleased with, as they contain no parabens, silicones, or anything else that is likely to irritate my sensitive skin. They also pride themselves on helping to sustain the environment they work with, and trying to produce as little waste as possible; something which I hope more and more companies do in 2017.
The thing that really won me over on this one however was the scent. It's quite possibly my favourite shower scent ever. If you're into sweet scents, like me, then this is a must try.
Liz Earle Hot Cloth Cleanser
Oh my word, was this such a winner for me. I've been using some sort of product to wash my face in since I was probably around 14. That's a whole 8 years of trying out different products and none of them even come close to this one. This is possibly the first 'proper' cleanser I've tried. By that I mean that it's the first one that uses a face towel to buff away leftover dirt, and the first one that's actually worked miracles on my face. It's helped to even out my skin tone, keep spots at bay and has stopped my skin from having oily and dry patches.
I ran out of this just before Christmas and my skin feels horrible without it, despite using another face wash. This is definitely going to be something I'll be repurchasing in the next couple of weeks. I've even seen that they do a rose and lavender scented version, and I'm so tempted to give that a go now!
Imitation Tangle Teezer
Tangle teezers come at a hefty price for a hair brush, let's face it. And I know it must suck so bad for the company that so many other brands have made cheaper imitations of their product, but that really is capitalism for you. My 'tangle teezer' comes from New Look and it has been a lifesaver this year.
Up until the beginning of December my hair was super long, and by that I mean an almost reaching my belly button kind of length. It's also super thick and tangles within about 0.5 seconds of being brushed. This tangle teezer made a complete difference in terms of my hair care. It's easy to carry around in a handbag, it doesn't yank on my hair, and it's so much better at getting tangles out than a normal brush. It's something that I now cannot imagine being without.
NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Morocco
This was my lip colour of the summer, and of the festive season too. Before 2016 I had never tried a liquid lipstick. Beauty blogger heresy I know. This was the first one I ever tried and I totally fell in love. It sparked an obsession with matte lipstick - another thing I hadn't really given a go - that I just can't kick, and I'm now the proud owner of a whole collection of matte liquid lipsticks.
This is my perfect red: an orange-toned, corally red that makes my teeth look extra white and lasts forever. I mean, anything that can stay on through one of my sushi chomping marathons is definitely a game changer for me.
Tommy Girl Cologne
I've never been a big perfume wearer - it's always been a bit hit and miss for me. This is actually the first 'proper' perfume that anyone has ever given to me, and was one of my favourite Christmas presents that my sister bought for me in 2015. I wore it everyday when I went skiing and now the fragrance reminds me of that life-changing holiday. Just spritzing some on makes me feel as though I can achieve anything.
NYX Lip lingerie in Exotic
This is quite possibly my favourite nude of the year. 2016 has been a year of discovering all the nudes for me *thankfully not those kind of nudes* and I've fallen in love with so many. This one however, slightly pips the post: it matches my skin tone, stays on for hours and keeps me smudge free. It's slightly darker than most other nudes I own, so makes me feel pretty sassy whilst keeping everything lowkey.
MUA Highlight in Iridescent Gold
I'm not sure I'll ever be buying a highlight from another brand if I'm honest here. I've tried out a whole range of them. but nothing quite hits the spot like this. It makes me feel like I've gone through a total glow up, and is so easy to apply. This is the lightest shade in their 'undress your skin' range, and goes onto my pale skin flawlessly. As I wanted to get all shimmery over the festive period, I was reaching for this every damn day.
NYX Brow Pomade
The ABH dip brow pomade seemed to be all over the blogosphere this year, but I simply cannot justify spending that much on an eyebrow product at the moment. I've never invested much time or effort into my brows, but in the past year I've started getting them waxed fairly regularly, and actually paying attention to them whilst putting on my makeup.
When everyone started posting dupe alerts about this for the ABH pomade I got a little intrigued, and then when I found out that Gemma (aka Gemma Louise) uses it in some of her makeup looks I knew I had to give it a go. And I've never looked back. My sister wanted to switch up from her benefit brow set and I recommended this and she says it's a mile better than that (and a fraction of the cost). Now doing my brows is always a part of my makeup routine, and this is the main product that I'll be reaching for whilst doing it.
Twilight bath bomb
Let's face it, we all knew I'd manage to pop a little LUSH favourite in here somewhere didn't we? I've just totally fallen in love with them even more this year, and it may have *something* to do with the fact that, after four years of student housing, I finally have a bath that isn't riddled with disease.
Lavender has been my ultimate favourite scent this year, as I've really struggled with my anxiety and it helps to make me feel at peace. My sister got me this bath bomb for both my birthday and Christmas as she knows how much I adore the scent. The lavender in it makes me feel totally zen, and it turns your bath the most beautiful shade of purple. This product helped me fall back in love with baths.
What game-changing beauty products did you find in 2016?
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