Christmas with Kira

Merry Christmas my beauties, I hope it was enjoyable and fantastically festive! I can honestly say that mine was incredible and I loved every minute of it. I find that Christmas is a time of traditions so I thought I'd inform you all of my typical Christmases.

 

For me, Christmas traditions start well in advance of Christmas. In my mum's Eurasian culture food is a huge part of Christmas and so Christmas cakes and biscuits of all shapes, sizes and tastes must be prepared. This year I couldn't take part in our usual cake production line (it is literally industrial-like) but I can assure you there were jars and trays full of all those devishly tasty treats! I have been tempted by them sitting in my kitchen ever since, it's dangerous living in this household.

 

An important day for Christmas food prep was obviously Christmas Eve, where it is my annual job to prep all the vegetables and pigs in blanket so they're ready for cooking the next day. I peeled two sacks of potatoes, two bags of carrots, two bags of parsnips, prepared one bag of brussels (because no one really likes them but we have a 'must eat at least one' rule in our house) and made 3 trays of pigs in blanket. Why so much food you ask? Because we had 18 people for Christmas lunch...

Christmas eve outfit:

Jumper- Topshop

Jeans- Dorothy Perkins

Frilly Socks- Accessorize

Boots- Charlotte Russe

 

I know, I know, it seems ridiculous but in all fairness that was a quiet Christmas lunch for us! I think the most important aspect of my Christmas which makes its special for me is how family orientated it is. That's the reason we have so many of my family over for lunch (although unfortunately some people were missing this year).

 

Table for 18 (well two tables stuck together)

 

Don't be fooled into thinking that's all my family though, the rest come after Christmas lunch or the next day. Boxing day at my house is pure craziness. There were around 40 people in my not-so-big house on Boxing day! Lots of people had slept over from the night before and more people arrived to come and see the rest of the family. I think the reason it works so well is because my family all get along and love the rare occasions we can all get together. We really don't care about the chaos that ensues because we've grown up with it, being such a big family.

 

Of course presents feature a lot in Christmas and it's a family tradition for my brother Nyle and I to open our presents from Santa (yes I'm 18 and still receive presents from Santa) first thing in the morning and then to open the presents from the family when my aunt and my grandparents had come round. Before they come round, however, Mum, Nyle and I visit the cemetary to go and see my Mama's (my mum's Mother) grave. Unfortunately my Dad's father, who I call Dada, is too ill for my aunt to bring to our house anymore so it's now just my Ba (Dad's mum) and my Grandad (Mum's dad- sorry this is confusing!) who open presents with us at home. This is always really sweet and it's nice to have this time with my grandparents before everyone else arrives. Since Dada is too ill to travel, we've made it a new tradition to go and see him when we drop Ba back home to open a present with him and pull crackers together.

Dada and I

 

I received a lot of lovely gifts but I think I might make another post (or possibly a video?!) devoted to that as well as all the Christmas sales shopping I did.

 

I think the one last thing I have to share with you is my Christmas outfit. I opted for a loose dress (tactically chosen to hide post-roast food babies- I think I had triplets going on, I ate THAT much) with gold accessories.

Dress: Topshop

Tights: Uniqlo

Boots: Charlotte Russe

Necklace: Topshop

Assortment of rings and bracelet: Topshop

 

I hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas, stay tuned for a Christmas haul and New Years post

 

Kira <3



A Post-Deadline Treat

I feel like the majority of my posts have started off with some apology for not being more frequent with posting on my blog. The problem is, however that I'm just so busy all the time that it has been nearly impossible to fit anything in!

 

A small list  of things I've had going on to make you pity me and forgive me for not posting more often: I've had to write 3 coursework essays all of which were in for the same deadline and all of which required extensive extra reading and serious planning (I wrote an essay a week! As soon as I finished one, I had to start another), dance rehearsals for a competition, dance auditions for a dance show (which I didn't get into- boo!), Latin exams, a presentation to prepare, reading for seminars, Latin translations and grammar work, lectures and trying to fit in some sort of social life so people don't think I'm a boring person who doesn't want to hang out with anyone.

 

But now the first term has ended and I have finished all my essays and can finally relax. In celebration of this, I decided to go shopping today and treat myself. Usually, I would be hesitant to spend so much on the stuff I did but I think I deserved it for the amount of work I'd been doing. There were some weekends when I just wouldn't leave the house at all! I'd just be inside for days and days.

 

I've actually surprised myself with the things that I bought. If you could have a peek at my wish list you'd find it to be 80% clothes and make up and 20% other stuff but when I went out today I didn't buy a single piece of clothing. I think the reason for this was that I wanted to buy things which symbolised my freedom to me, so I bought books and films and CDs (the freedom to read something other than history books and articles, the freedom to spend time watching good films and let yourself be moved by the emotion and imaginative thought of them and the freedom to sit and listen to music while letting your mind wander). These items represented pure bliss to me.

Passenger- All the Little Lights
OneRepublic- Native
The Worlds End
Titanic
Forrest Gump
The Yellow Birds- Kevin Powers
Will Grayson, Will Grays- John Green and David Leuithan
The Boy who Could See Demons- Caroline Jess-Cooke
The Night Circus- Erin Morgenstern

 

 

Okay so I'm sure many of you are judging me for the fact that I'm so old-fashioned and buy hard copies of DVDs and CDs but I just like having physical copies of things! Think of me as the person who is single-handedly trying to keep HMV alive. My dad and I are quite big movie collectors- we may not have the 'best' range of DVDS (there are next to no romantic comedies or pure romance films-rom coms are too cringey for me and romance is boring) and we're missing some vital classics, but we still have a huge collection of DVDs which we love. It's nice to display them all and people always comment on how impressed they are by it.
 I have never actually seen Forrest Gump before so I felt like it was one that was imperative to buy, especially at the price of £5.99!
 I have seen Titanic before, but it's one I feel like I could watch again and again and for £2.99 there was no question of whether I was going to buy it or not. I love the film so much- it's based on a historical event, it has the most powerful love story (I know I just said that I don't typically buy and watch romantic films, I find them boring except when there are other interesting factors in the plot to make it more than a gushy romance), and it's full of so much emotion and tragedy and the fact it is based on a real event makes this even more poignant.
 The Worlds End is a film that I didn't get to see in cinemas but I really think I'll enjoy- it has Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in it, who are just the best duo (Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz are great films) so I'm looking forwards to watching it. The soundtrack also sounds incredible!

John Green is an amazing writer. He has such great expression and has a way of thinking in a beautiful, unique way which he portrays in his writing. I've read Looking For Alaska and The Fault In Our Stars and adored them both so I cannot wait to dive into this collaboration with David Leuithan.
 The Night Circus is a book that I have been wanting to read for years but never got around to buying but I have finally done it and the girl at the till in Waterstones exclaimed when she saw what I was buying and swears it's the best book she has ever read, so that can only be a good thing!
The Boy Who Could See Demons is a bit of a darker book but I love me a real mix of genres and moods in books so I think I'm going to enjoy this one a lot.
 The Yellow Birds is one that I saw on the 'buy one get one half price' table with The Night Circus and I'd never heard of it before but I think it will be a good eye-opener about life in Iraq for soldiers and really help me see it from an important perspective, that of a soldier. I think it's good to read things like this to try and understand what others have had to live through so we have a better perspective of the world as a whole, not just what we think of it.

 I did by some make up too (I just cannot help myself- it's a problem)...

Maybelline 24hr Colour Tattoo Eye shadow- Pink Gold
Rimmel Apocalips lip lacquers- Eclipse, Galaxy, Aurora

I was given a Rimmel Apocalips lip colour in Big Bang (bright red) as part of a secret Santa gift and I loved the formulation and staying power of it so much that I decided to go and check out the colour range. As you can see I liked it so much that I bought three other colours which I have tried on and love the way each one looks on my skin tone. I also keep looking at and never buying the Colour Tattoo eye shadows from Maybelline and so I decided to pick one up, opting for this pink colour because I feel like there is a lack of pink in my eyeshadow drawer at the moment

So that is everything from my haul! I will possibly post some reviews of both the Apocalips (so you can see the colours) and the books once I've read them so stay tuned for that (but be patient because I'm a slow reader!)

Love love love,

Kira <3



OOTD 25/11/13

Hi guys! This is just a small little post to show you the outfit I wore yesterday because I really liked it. It was an extremely simple look but I just think it was perfect for a cosy day in my halls, chilling with my floormates.
 

turtleneck top: Missguided

 treggings: Uniqlo

 cardigan: Primark

necklace: Next

 

As I said, it was a very simple look but I still got lots of compliments, especially on my cardigan. I loved this cardigan, the colour is not one I usually wear but I have to say, I think periwinkle blue (and paler, more girly colours in general) are becoming a new obsession of mine. The pastel colours are so nice for the winter! This jumper feels amazing too. It's so soft that it just gives you instant comfort and feels like you're being hugged by a cloud.

 Me in blue fluffy heaven!

P.S. I'd like to apologise for the bad quality of the full outfit photo, unfortunately in my halls we only have small mirrors in our wardrobes and it's restricting my self-photography ability, and I am yet to invest in a camera stand so I couldn't just use a timer.

Bubblegum Lip Scrub

This is just a quick little post on a product which I used to own ages ago, that has recently been brought back into my life- Lush's Bubblegum lip scrub.

 

This smells and tastes ah-mazing! If you have a sweet tooth, you will not be able to get enough of this. It smells very sweet and bubblegum-y and frankly it just looks great with it's bright pink hue. The basic idea is to get a bit of this on your finger and rub it on your lips to exfoliate them and the great thing is you can lick off the excess when you're done! Of course, if the idea of that doesn't appeal to you, you can always wipe it off wipe a tissue instead.

 

I personally love this lip scrub. There is a high sugar content so it is very abrasive which I appreciate since my lips are prone to becoming dry and flaky. It also contains Jojoba oil to help moisturise them, although I would recommend using a lipbalm afterwards (I use Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Lip Protectant). It is quite pricey at £5.50 for 25g of the lip scrub but for me it is worth it because lipbalms alone can't get my lips this smooth and soft.

 

Finally, I wanted to mention that bubblegum is not the only flavour they have. There is also 'Mint Julip' and 'Popcorn' in their permanent collection and for Christmas they have also brought out a 'Santa' one which is cola flavoured, so hopefully there is a flavour there for everyone.

Halloween at Illamasqua HQ!

I know, I know I'm super behind on a Halloween post but I've been so busy lately and I'm not just saying that, I really have been. I'm writing this having handed in a coursework essay, read 5 books and 2 articles for another essay (which I am yet to write- oops!), partied twice, auditioned for dance competitions, done the usual lecture thing students are meant to do and suffered from extreme fever and stomach cramps all in the space of a week. See, I wasn't kidding!

One other thing I did this week which was pretty cool was go to the Illamasqua flagship store in Beak Street (which handily/dangerously, is very close to wear I live now) with my university's MUA society. Basically, we were given an hour tutorial on doing awesome Halloween make up by one of the teachers of Illamasqua's school. She was so nice and went into so much depth that you really learnt a lot of handy tips! For example, always do your eye make up before your face, that way if you mess up you don't have to wipe off your entire face of make up. It also means you can clean up fall out from eye shadows easily. Another really great tip was to use concealer above and below your brow before filling them in to give them even more definition- the brows really stand out when this technique is used. As you can imagine the make up look was amazing, here's a quick snap I was able to take (sorry it's a bit dark!)

The model has a really interesting 'cracked skin' effect going on here. A pale foundation was used as a base and a green smokey eye was done on her eyelids. The purple lipstick really contrasts this look nicely.

After the tutorial, we were given the opportunity to explore through the products and buy some things. We were even given a really generous 40% off all products so I just HAD to buy something. In my defence I have never tried any Illasmaqua before and had always wanted to so I think I could justify it. I was very restrained (considering just how obsessed with make up I am) and only bought two items- both of which the make up artist had used in her look. The first is their 'Precision Gel Liner' in 'Infinity' which is just a black gel eyeliner. Yeah, not the most adventurous product but I needed a new black gel liner and was interested to see how this one would do.

This gel liner has actually impressed me. It feels really creamy, like it will easily glide on the eye to create desired shapes. It's a strong, true black colour (not a weird grey-black colour that you can get with some 'black' products) and when this stuff dries, my word does it have staying power! Even when rubbing my hand really vigorously, this stuff just didn't move at all. This is great for longevity, but if you want to blend this out (say as a base for a smokey eye) you'll have to work very quickly. It is possible though, because I saw the make up artist do it pretty easily. So far, I like this liner a lot!

Next up we have an eye shadow palette called the 'Paranormal' palette. This palette is super exciting to me! Not only does it have four beautiful bright shades, it also has a duochrome finish thing going on which means it looks sick over a black base (see the reason for the liner now?). The eyeshadows feel so creamy and amazing. They feel like cream shadows but are powder, it's so bizarre! Just look at this beauty...

Okay so the packaging for my particular palette sucks but I'm sure I'm just unlucky. As you can see something freaky happened to my green shadow :( I must say I was a bit disappointed when, having played around with the one in the store and loving it, I opened up my own to see it slightly weird-looking and missing product. That green pan was actually falling out of the palette when I opened the lid but I fixed it. In all honesty though, even that disappointment couldn't keep me down for long- this palette is just too cool. The colours are gorgeous!

No base (left to right):  Paranormal (vivid cerise), Aura (warm copper/orange), Possession (cool green) and Trance (soft violet)

Each shade is honestly so beautiful and highly pigmented but look how they transform with a black base...

The black really brings out the glitter in each shadow. It also brings out a goldish tone in 'Aura' and a more blue tone in 'Trance' which you don't see as much without the black base.

I do like both the items I've bought from illamasqua so far and think I am going to venture into buying more, when I can make my mind up on what to try next! Any suggestions?

p.s. for any of you wondering, this was me on Halloween (I only had an hour after a dance audition to get showered, dressed and ready so I couldn't do anything fancy unfortunately but how crazy is my friend's sugar skull?! The only cool thing about my costume was that my batman top had an in-built cape)



My Skincare Routine

I have tried many different skincare routines for my normal to oily blemish prone skin and mostly have been disappointed with the results. In the past I have tended to concentrate on finding products that are supposed to get rid of spots and I think this is where the problems lay for me. The products cleared up my existing blemishes (as it promised to do) but it didn't reduce the amount of blemishes I got in the future or how frequently I got them. It felt like I was going in a frustrating cycle of getting spots, treating and healing them, almost having clear skin and then BAM more spots!

 

Because of this, I decided a different tactic was needed and so I instead tried to concentrate on what I thought was causing my spots. Of course things like stress and THAT time of the month can't be avoided but there were some other causes that I thought contributed to my bad skin. Firstly, I have quite large pores on my face, especially my cheeks (where I get the majority of my spots) so I thought that maybe my spots were due to clogged pores. My face can also be quite shiny at times which suggests that it's a bit oily, this could also be another cause of the spots. With this in mind I headed to Boots to try and find a skincare routine that wouldn't break the bank but would address my problem areas.

 

 

Despite the apparent colour scheme, this is not a pre-made skincare set. We have Simple Clear Skin Oil Balancing Exfoliation Wash 150ml £4.29, Sanctuary Exfoliating Pore Refiner 100ml £10.50, Sanctuary Pore Refining Toner 150ml £9, Simple Clear Skin Oil Balancing Moisturiser 75ml £4.27 and Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Clear Blemish Gel 15ml £14.

 

I decided on the Simple products because their products tend to be gentler on the skin and in the past I haven't been too nice to my skin. I was so pre-occupied with getting rid of my spots that I would use harsh chemicals on it so now I wanted to apologise and make up for my mistreatment of my skin by being kind to it for once. These products had oil-balancing qualities to them and also help to clear your skin so I thought they were perfect. Not to mention that the small price tag made them absolute winners in my eyes! The exfoliating wash is not very abrasive which makes it perfectly fine for everyday use, twice daily. You're face doesn't feel dry after using the scrub and looks and feels a lot cleaner and the moisturiser makes my skin feel soft but doesn't feel greasy at all.

 

The Sanctuary products were a bit more pricey but I was drawn in by the fact they focus on clearing and minimising pores which was a problem area for me. I use the Pore Refining Toner everyday after my Simple face wash, spraying it onto a cotton pad and sweeping it over my face. The toner is not strongly scented of alcohol like others I've tried and so doesn't sting my eyes or nose likes some have done in the past. It actually smells okay (although I could not for the life of me tell you what it smells like). The Sanctuary Exfoliating Pore Refiner is a bit of a luxury product for me. You can use it for up to 3 days a week but not on consecutive days and it smells quite good! This scrub is abrasive, which I like, and when it's on your skin it actually feels like it's doing something. It leaves it feeling tingly and rejuvenated and just a lot more open. It leaves me feeling squeaky clean and my skin feels super duper soft the next day.

 

The last product is Clinique's Blemish Gel, which I didn't actually buy in that Boots trip but already owned. It's the only product I use specifically designed to zap spots because old habits die hard and I still want all my spots to be gone as soon as humanly possible. This gel is very pricey but it just happens to be the one I already owned, I have used others including Clean & Clear Advantage Spot Treatment Gel 15ml and Boots Tea Tree & Witch Hazel Spot Wand 3.5ml which both worked wonders for me and were considerably cheaper.

 

My skin has felt a lot clearer and brighter since I've been using this routine. People have commented on how great my skin looks and I have found that I can get away most days with not wearing foundation but just a dab of concealer under the eyes and some powder to set it. When I do get the odd break out (which are more infrequent now) they are dealt with very quickly and effectively. I have to admit I'm fairly impressed by the results and proud of myself for putting this routine together!

MAC Retro Matte Lipsticks

So every brand of make up has their 'elite' products which pretty much become celebrities in the make up world. NARS has its naughtily named Orgasm blush, Too Faced has its Shadow Insurance , OCC have their Lip Tars and MAC, among many of their celebrity products, have their Ruby Woo lipstick.

Ruby Woo is a lipstick shade much loved by many MAC fans because it's a gorgeous red shade that suits pretty much every skin tone. The website describes it as a 'very matte vivid blue-red' and I think they're spot on with the 'vivid' part. There is no way you wouldn't turn heads wearing this lipstick! I love how matte this shade is, it looks so classy and retro (duh, it's a retro matte!) and I feel like I could be in a 1950s gangster movie (channelling my inner Emma Stone in Gangster Squad) whenever I wear it. It never fails to get compliments!

You may have guessed that I'm a huge fan of this lipstick but I'm not the only one, Rihanna has also confessed her love of the lipstick through the medium of social media. She loved it so much in fact, that she brought out her own version of it called RiRi Woo which is very similar to the original Ruby Woo but with fancier packaging. I don't own RiRi Woo because I couldn't justify paying for two nearly identical lipsticks so unfortunately you'll have to make do with one of MAC's photographs of this product underneath my own Ruby Woo.

They look quite different here but when swatched they look very similar, I promise!

Okay, I know the title of this post is not 'Ruby Woo Appreciation' but so far I'm just giving you a lengthy introduction to what I'm really going to be talking about.

Obviously, I've raved enough about how much I love the retro matte finish so I think you can understand how excited I was when I found out that MAC was giving Ruby Woo  some new retro matte friends! I HAD to get my hands on some and luckily my mum was going to Florida so she kindly brought me back four of the new shades which I had asked for.

Left to right: Ruby Woo, Dangerous, Relentlessly Red, All Fired Up and Flat Out Fabulous

My goodness, don't they look gorgeous?

Top to bottom, left to right: All Fired Up, Relentlessly Red, Dangerous, Ruby Woo and Flat Out Fabulous

Dangerous

This is a orange-toned bright red matte which looks amazing on tanned skin tones. Orange toned reds are my favourite to wear because they really stand out and look stunning on darker skin. The texture, as with all of these, are very similar to Ruby Woo in that they are very thick and matte but they have a great staying power. The colour is bright and made bolder by being matte so this is probably one for the brave although it could be sheered out if applied over a lip balm.

Relentlessly Red

Despite the name Relentlessly Red I feel like this lipstick has a definite pink tone. To me it looks like a true red lipstick and hot pink lipstick hybrid and MAC kind of agrees with me on this because they describe it as a 'bright pinkish coral matte' which I can totally see. Now this colour does look a bit scary and I must admit even I'm a bit concerned if I can pull it off or not but I'll definitely have a good go! I think it will look especially good on lighter skin tones.

All Fired Up

I'm very into the raspberry shades at the moment and so when I saw the retro matte one, I almost fell in love. Raspberry + Matte = a happy happy Kira. MAC calls it a 'bright fuchsia matte' which is pretty much the same thing, it's just that when I see this colour I automatically thing 'raspberry'. I honestly LOVE this colour right now, I cannot get enough! I just like how it's a bit different from the usual pink or red so people are more likely to take notice. I may do a post all about berry shade lipsticks soon so look out for that. But back to the lipstick: it's gorgeous, enough said. (p.s. I apologise for the crappy picture, it isn't this dark in person. The swatch gives a much more accurate representation of the colour.)

Flat Out Fabulous

This is such a fun colour! MAC describes it as a 'bright plum matte' and since I have no idea how to describe it, we'll go with that! It certainly is bright and purple but I always associate plum with being very dark so I probably wouldn't say that. I think I'd say it was a darker lilac colour instead (if that makes any sense) but again the swatch gives a better idea of the colour than this picture so you can decide for yourselves what colour it is. I know this shade would frighten a lot of people but actually for me I'd find this more wearable than the Relentlessly Red but that's purely because of my skin tone and what I'm used to wearing (I don't tend to wear bright pink lipsticks). I think this colour could work for a lot of skin tones and like all the lipsticks could be sheered out to make it more wearable for those who want a more conservative colour.

These lipsticks, like all MAC lipsticks, are priced at £15.

So what do you think about retro matte lipsticks? Let me know what shades were your favourite in the comments, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Kira xx

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University Freshers! Part Two

I feel very guilty that it has taken me so long to get the second half of my freshers post up but as I hope you can all appreciate, it has been a pretty hectic time where I've had to cope with a lot of adjusting and new situations. It's now the last day of my first teaching week and so the end of all official freshers events (the last being on the Thursday just gone).

There were obviously various nights out during Freshers. The first 'proper' night out was a night called 'Fiesta' and a nightclub called Koko in Camden. The venue was pretty sweet as it was in a converted theatre and so had a really cool layout with the balcony and VIP boxes and the theatre still retained it's decor. However, it was so crowded on the dance floor that after a few hours of being pushed around and constantly separated from each other, my friends and I decided to go to the balcony where we could enjoy the music and also have room to breathe and dance properly. I'd made the schoolboy error of wearing heels (apparently wearing heels in London is pretty uncommon?) and we had walked all the way to Camden (about a half an hour walk from my accommodation) so my feet were feeling pretty fragile by the end of the night. Luckily though, there were some UCLU (our student union) staff outside the club offering slippers for heels-wearers to walk home in, which I thought was a brilliant idea!

The next day (I know I'm a party animal, right?) I went to a night called 'Chaos' which was held at the nightclub Fabric. Now do I have a Kira story for you... so we took the train to this club and there was a huge queue outside of people waiting to get in. I, unfortunately, needed the toilet very, very badly (spoiler alert: no I didn't wet myself). When we finally reached the front and the bouncer asked me for my ID I looked in my purse and it wasn't there! I had left it in my other purse! I had paid good money for that ticket so I decided that I was going to go back to my halls and get it since the train ride was only 3 stops. I ran back to the station (by the way I'm still desperate for the toilet, more desperate than I have ever been in my whole life, so that just made the whole experience particularly painful and uncomfortable) and I got the train home. Once I get my station I asked a member of staff on the platform when the next train is and he says in ten minutes. That's ten minutes to run back to my halls, go to the toilet, grab my ID and run back. It was such a narrow margin that I wasn't sure if I should even bother at all but I persevered and I (miraculously) made the train! My next obstacle was whether I'd be able to get in since my friend had my ticket on her phone and she had already gone in. Thankfully, it worked and I was allowed in but then I had another obstacle to face; I had to find a different group of friends from my halls who I was going home with! By sheer luck I bumped into one of them and one by one we rounded up the others. With all the chaos (geddit, because the event was called Chaos?), I did still end up having a great night. They had an RnB room which was playing some great old tunes which I just LOVED.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures to show you from the first two nights because I was an absolute idiot and didn't take any!

I went to a school themed night called 'Detention' at a club called Pacha which was pretty much a standard night out with a bit of dressing up involved. There was an incident however where I did the splits just to prove to some guy that I could because he didn't believe me, i regretted that the next morning (note to self: do not attempt splits unless suitably stretched)

Goofy picture from before Pacha! We were waiting for another friend to finish getting ready.

By far my favourite night was at a club called Rise for their 'Born in the 90s' night. Now I love 90s music and so the music they played this night was just amazing and so much fun! You'll come to realise that for me a great night out is determined by the music, the people I'm with and any funny antics that happen (in that order). I went with two of my floormates and we pre-drank together in our kitchen so it was nice to get closer to them and have a girly night out. 

 My two floormates (Alex and Charlotte) and I

This next night out doesn't really count as a Freshers' event but it still happened this week so I'll add it in anyway (plus there's another Kira story...). It was my friend Danielle's birthday and since she's at the same university as me but at different halls I could actually make it to her birthday celebration. We all met at her halls to pre-drink and to meet some of her friends and then we moved off to a nightclub called Tiger Tiger. I was having a great night but my bag kept dropping on the floor and opening everywhere and although I thought I'd managed to reclaim all my bag's content, I lost my keys to my halls and my lipstain. I only figured this out on the way home however and so had to crash for the night in Danielle's small single room with three other people. The next day we went back to the club and found my keys so I could finally go home. I had to do the walk of shame (kinda) because as I hadn't planned to stay at Danielle's, I had no other clothes to change into. It was all very awkward and annoying. Just as a sidenote, I never found that lipstain and I'm still mourning its loss- it was my favourite lipstain!

Old school friends! Will, Louis and birthday girl Danielle!

Have another pic: Me with the beauty that is my friend Courtenay

The final Freshers event was 'The Freshers Ball' at Ministry of Sound which I went to yesterday. We had a fairly long pre-drinking session in a nice big group of about 11 people and then we all headed out to the nightclub. It was a fun night and Gemma Cairney from Radio 1 was DJing in one of the rooms which was pretty cool. I left quite early with two other people though because one of our friends was feeling ill and we had made a pact to leave together since we're from the same halls and knew it'd be safer to go home together. I didn't mind leaving though.

You can tell this was after an few vodka and cokes (with the odd shot thrown in for good measure)

So those are all the nights out that I've had this past fortnight, I think it's fairly obvious that I had an eventful and interesting time. Even the moments which were not exactly pleasing at the time have since become fond memories and have developed into great drunken stories.

I do want to mention some of the other parts of Freshers week that didn't involve partying. There was, of course, induction meetings and talks during the day throughout Freshers week which helped to introduce you to the university and your department as well as provide guidance in what to do now you had arrived at UCL. By far the most interesting thing to me that week was the Freshers Fair, where a thousand or so ambassadors tried to sell their  societies to you and boy were there some good/interesting/plain weird ones! We had: Harry Potter society, Surf society, RAG society, Dinosaur Appreciation society, Pole Fitness society, Chocolate society and so many more! I joined so many mailing lists for societies but I have decided to cut it down with Dance society, Salsa society, Make Up Artistry society (of course!) and Volsoc, which is the society for volunteering.

So that's all I have to say about my Freshers experience! I know that this is a hefty post and I thank anyone who has made the effort to read it all.

Lots of love, Kira x

University Freshers! Part one.

Sitting in my new twin room watching various undergraduate students roam around the corridors is something that I always thought of as some distant eventuality but here I am , doing just that. It is such a surreal feeling to be here, away from home and on my own, and I'm not quite sure how to react to it. I feel slightly lost if I'm being totally honest.

 

I arrived yesterday after a maximum of 5 hours sleep and got settled in as quickly as I could. I'm actually very proud of how I have managed to fit everything in my room. For a twin room I have a lot of space so my roommate and I are never in each other's way. I have one small wardrobe which somehow fits all my clothes, a desk and some shelves but the biggest godsend of all was the under the bed space to house all my food (plus other necessities such as my shoes and a rice cooker)!

 

My new bed! I love my fox cushion :)

Storage: My teeny tiny wardrobe, food stockpile and shelves. The white boxes are from IKEA and have DVDS/books in them and the Celebrations tin holds all my nail polishes. And yes, I do have apples on my shelves...

 

 I think it's safe to say the hardest part of making new friends was trying to find everyone! The closed doors to everyone's rooms makes it so hard to interact with anyone so I was glad to have a door stop so that at least I could say hi to people as they walked past. That is definitely something I would recommend everyone brings with them to university, it just makes you much more approachable! The kitchen is one of the only areas where people seem to congregate and is the only reason I've met most of my floor mates at all. I have made multiple cups of teas and snacks just for an excuse to go into the kitchen and see if there is anyone around to talk to!

 

We do also have a little garden at our halls and so I spent a lot of time down there meeting people and drinking (responsibly, obviously). It was decided that we'd go on a pub excursion as a group which had us going to two different pubs, the second of which was in Camden. Although it was nice to meet an abundance of new people at one time, there were so many people in the pubs that you couldn't move so a group of us decided to go back to our friend's halls for some (not so sensible) drinking games. In total there must have been about 12 of us crammed into a girl's tiny single room! It was very cramped but very funny. Unfortunately, some friends and I couldn't stay long because we had to make the 30-40 minute trek back to our own accommodation (which I was doing in heeled boots that I had been wearing all day-owww! ). If it was not for the other boy staying at my accommodation I think I would have gotten myself severely lost. I finally rolled into bed at about 2:30am.

 

I think it's fair to say that my first day as a uni student was eventful but I anticipate a lot of interesting things to happen in the coming days/nights. I'll keep you posted on them all!



Packing for university: Make Up

It's scary to think that I'm moving to London in less than a week to start my studies at University College London. It was also slightly worrying to think that I hadn't really started packing up my life at all yet so today that's what I started to do. Most of my stuff for university currently lives in the back room of my house but there are certain things which needed sorting and putting away properly, such as my make up (which of course is very important to me). 

Mum and I went to Dunelm mill and bought plastic storage drawers to house my make up and toiletries and I spent the night pain-stakingly rifling through my stuff trying to see what I could bear to part with! Of course the make up that doesn't make it to university with me will just be at home waiting for me when I come home for holidays, I could never throw it all away! 

 

So here is the finished product! It is still technically a lot of make up to bring with you to university but it's part of my identity to play with make up looks so I couldn't just have a small little make up bag- I'm sorry, I couldn't!

Okay this is my 'Eyes' drawer... It looks messy because I had to dump the eyelashes on top because they wouldn't fit any other way. I promise there is some rhyme and reason to everything's placement though!

Next we have my 'Lips and Face' drawer which I am so proud of because it actually looks somewhat organised and because this drawer really shows you how much I've cut back on my make up. That small container at the front would usually not even fit all my lipsticks in and yet I've fit lipsticks and lip glosses in it together! Plus my lip products used to take up a whole drawer altogether but now fit nicely with my face products! 

This last drawer is an eclectic mix of toiletries (minus shower stuff which will live in a toiletry bag ready for shower use). This drawer is also very messy but that's because I haven't packed it properly since I still need a lot of this stuff before I leave, it will look a lot nicer when I get to UCL. This drawer is mainly hair products (a lot of hair = a lot of products) and my face routine plus a million boxes of contact lenses for good measure.

So there you have my make up storage in a nutshell. I do feel very guilty about bringing so much... Let me know if you think that this is an acceptable amount to bring or if I'm bringing way too much. Also leave a comment if you're going to university and tell me how you're feeling about it! Have you overpacked too? Are you sharing a room like me? Are you nervous? Get in touch! Lots of love, Kira x

New York Make Up Haul!

As promised today I intend to show you all the wonderful products that I picked up while in New York. Most of these I have wanted for absolutely ages and others I picked up because they were just too good to leave behind. So first off here is an overview of all the make up I bought (all from Sephora with the exception of the MAC items). There was another OCC lip tar in 'Strumpet' but it exploded in transit which caused me much distress as you can imagine.

 

Ta da! Doesn't it all look beautiful?

 

We have: Benefit's 'They're Real' Mascara ~ Smashbox Megatint long wear lip colour in 'Punch ~ Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in 'Catfight' ~ MAC lipsticks in 'Rebel' and 'Lustering' ~ OCC lip tar in 'Lydia' ~ MAC lipliner in 'Nightmoth' ~ Urban Decay Naked palette ~ Anastasia Brow Wiz in 'Brunette' ~ Urban Decay 24/7 glide-on eye pencil in 'Deep End', 'Smog' and 'Mildew' ~ NARS eyeshadow duos in 'Dogon', 'Habanera', 'Rated R' and 'Mad Mad World' ~

 

Here are some swatches. From left to right, top to bottom we have the Urban Decay pencils in 'Smog' (golden brown), 'Deep End' (bright blue) and 'Mildew' (forest green). These felt very nice and creamy when I swatched them. The first lipstick is the Smashbox Megatint in 'Punch' and is a beautiful bright pink that I think could suit most skintones. The next colour is 'Catfight' by Urban Decay. Although it looks almost identical to 'Punch' in this photo, it is actually darker than it looks in the picture but it's another brilliant shade. MAC's 'Rebel' is next and it's a gorgeous berry purple colour. 'Lustering', also by MAC, is a lovely light pink colour that will suit every skin colour. I was drawn to it because I wanted a lighter, more everyday pink colour but I usually have trouble finding one that suits my dark skin- but this one works! It's a lustre so it naturally has a softer finish than other formulas. The beautiful lilac swatch beneath is OCC's 'Lydia' lip tar. Lilac and green are my favourite colours so this caught my eye straight away. The lip liner beneath 'Lydia' is MAC's 'Nightmoth' which was recommended to me by the nice MAC lady in the store to give it a more vampy look perfect for the colder months!

 

 

I don't think I need to tell you what this is. The Naked palette by Urban Decay has become a bit of a make up product celebrity and is used by pretty much everyone nowadays. It was about time I got my hands on it, don't you think?! Most of the make up artists and consumers that I've spoken to swear by this thing. It's a great product to splurge on if you just want one eyeshadow palette and you like your neutrals

 

Ahh NARS... somehow you had managed to evade me all these years but not any more! I finally own some duo eyeshadows and I could not be more excited about that! Just look how amazing they look in their packaging!

The order above corresponds with the swatches below. In order we have: 'Dogon' (metallic taupe/charcoal black), 'Habanera' (silver/ glittery plum), 'Rated R' (glittery yellow-green/glittery cobalt blue) and 'Mad Mad World' (pacific blue/glittery green)

These are all so beautiful and I can't stop staring at 'Mad Mad World' because I just can't find the words to describe the green colour! Unfortunately the taupe side of 'Dogon' didn't swatch very well on me because my skin is too dark, but it is a nice neutral colour.

 

So that was all the make up I bought, I hope you enjoyed snooping around my purchases!

 

New York, New York!

Hey everybody! Today I thought I'd tell you a bit about my whirlwind holiday to New York with my mummy. It was actually a birthday present from my Godmother (my mum's boss and closest friend) to me for my 18th birthday and for my mum as an early 50th present.

 

We woke up on the 23rd at the disgusting hour of 4am and left home by 6am, when the rest of the world was only just beginning to rouse themselves. I have always been fascinated with airports and the people using them, all with some place to go. I wondered how many of them would go on a greater journey than they imagined. How many with go through a spiritual, emotional or self-discovering journey as well as the physical one from point A to B. I may be getting a bit deep here but it was 7 in the morning and my mind was severely drifting already. Of course it wouldn't be a Kira story without some coincidence or oddity in it somewhere so here it is, my best friend Ellie happened to be going to New York with her family at the same time and we were on the same flight! It was lovely to hang out with her and chat before we boarded the plane and again when we were waiting to go through security on the other side. Unfortunately we were in different sections of the plane for the flight itself but that didn't matter too much, I had lots of sleep to catch up on and The Book Thief to read (which is a book I highly recommend by the way) and I alternated between the two for the entire journey. I had only started that book on the flight and was half way through by the end of the 7 hour flight, which I thought was pretty good going seeing as it's a hefty book and I'm usually a slow reader. That first day we went straight to Grand Central Station since it was close to our hotel and had a little snoop around. It's very very nice there and I immediately thought of the flashmob at the end of Friends with Benefits when I saw it! Then we walked down to Pier 83 and went on what's called the 'Semi-Circle cruise' by Circle Line Cruises. It was a very good way of cramming in a lot of tourist sights in the space of 2 hours (I only had 4 days to do them all plus shopping remember!) including the Brooklyn bridge and the Statue of Liberty.

A nice little holiday snap for you!

 

After the tour mum and I took a Taxi to the Metropolitan Musuem of Art because that was something on my list of must-do's. I was most interested in going because, well, I'm a bit of a geek/enthusiast when it comes to the Ancient World. I did A level Classical Civilisation and one of our topics was called 'Greek Architecture and Sculpture' which I loved and one the statues I studied in great detail is housed at this museum so I just had to see it in real life! There were also a lot of Ancient Egyptian artefacts there which was also exciting for me because I've always had a soft spot for Ancient Egypt. In fact, when I was 8 years old my friend and I decided that we were going to become Egyptologists together and travel to Egypt in the hopes of unearthing a mummy or something! I guess I'm somewhat still on that same path considering I'm starting my 'Ancient Worlds BA' course at University College London. Anyway, mum and I spent a good long time in there and then finally went back to our hotel for a quick dinner and bed. In total we had been awake for 23 hours that day.

 

I love this bustling city!

 

The next day we got up fairly early to go to the National September 11 Memorial and see the memorial there. It was a truly beautiful and heart-wrenching experience for me. I have got pictures from the memorial but I don't want to put them up because I don't want to spoil the memorial for anyone thinking of going. I didn't know what to expect when I went and I think it made the impact of it so much better. The only thing that I will say is that the designers have made it very clear that something happened here and there was a loss that cannot be replaced in how they've designed it. I read the symbolism in it immediately. Honestly, if you get the opportunity to go, do it.

 

The rest of the day was spent shopping. I went to Sephora, Century 21, American Eagle Outfitters and did quite a lot of damage! I plan to do a make up haul post at the very least so stay tuned for that if you're interested in seeing what I bought. That night mum and I went to watch the opening night of Romeo and Juliet on Broadway, and who should be be playing the lead male but no other than...

 

YUP, ORLANDO BLOOM! ARE YOU JEALOUS YET?!?!

Joking aside though, the show was absolutely fantastic. The acting was superb and it was directed brilliantly. Seriously, go and watch this is you get the chance. After the show finished we went to the Empire State Building to see the whole of New York at night since it's open until 1am. It was still quite busy when we went despite the fact it was past midnight but it was worth it to see the beautiful lights of the city that never sleeps.

 

The next day was basically purely shopping. We started by going into Bed, Bath and Beyond to try and get me some useful bits and bobs for university and came out with quite a lot of stuff (not all for me I might add) and had to make a trip back to the hotel before we could head out shopping again. Next we headed out to 5th Avenue and did a serious amount of shopping there too. We ended up doing the entirety of that road of shops over the space of two days and since I can't remember what day we did what shops on, this is just a list from both days. I bought things from: Steve Madden, Sunglass Hut, Vans, MAC, Sephora (again),  Quiksilver,Uniqlo and Urban Outfitters- phew!

 

I think it's safe to say that my shopping adventure was successful but in my defence I do need autumn/winter clothes! That night we met up with two of my mum's friends who live in New York and they took us out for a delicious dinner. They were a lovely couple with amazing stories and a lot of jokes to treat me to.

 

Our last morning was spent frantically trying to pack and find out how much weight we still had in our suitcases! It turned out we still had a fair bit of weight and a lot of spending money left so we decided that we'd go back to shop on 5th avenue (but you knew that already) after we went to Central Park. We took a trishaw guided tour through the park which was actually very good. Our guide showed us where all the films had been filmed in Central Park including the park scene in Maid in Manhatten, the boat race at the start of Stuart Little and the fountain from the opening credits of Friends.

 

It's the Boat House from 27 Dresses!

 

I definitely had the most incredible time on my short stay in New York but after 4 long days I think it was probably the right time to come home and sleep in my own loving bed. I don't know when or how I'm ever going to afford to come back here but all I know is that I will, someday! This is not farewell forever, New York, I'm not finished with you yet!

 

 

Bye guys and thanks for reading! xx