lifeofablonde.co.uk!

Hello everyone so this is just a quick post to tell you some exciting news about my blog!

**THIS IS MY LAST EVER POST ON THIS PLATFORM YOU CAN NOW FIND ALL MY POSTS ON MY NEW WEBSITE INCLUDING ALL OLD CONTENT**

I have worked with Missfluencer a blog design company and I now have my very own website for my blog- you can find it by searching lifeofablonde.co.uk into the top search bar!

I already like having a self hosted website a lot more than Blogger and I would definitely recommend it to anyone thinking of changing over.

Although I have kept some of the same features of my old blog (this one) there are now more features and my page is more interactive in general.

It includes my brand new blog header by Alohalola cards, she is so talented and I'd 100% recommend her to anyone wanting illustrations or blog headers done! Find her on twitter HERE 

I feel like there's so much more to see on this new layout compared to my 'old layout' so I really hope you guys like it as much as I do!

I hope you enjoy my new website and I will see you soon with some exciting new posts including my first ever collab!

Let me explain...

Hello everyone I hope you’re all doing well…

So lets face it, for a while now I’ve been doing less and less on my blog and I’ve noticed that I’ve started falling out of love with it- I don’t have the same enthusiasm for it anymore and I’m just not as happy with the content as I would like to be!

I barely have an excuse for not posting on my blog, but all I can say is I have been juggling lots of different things at once at the moment and sometimes I struggle to manage my time and have a good balance. instead I become overwhelmed and then I end up avoiding the things that I was meant to do.

So what am I going to do about this?

I’m going to start posting on my blog every week or even more if I can as I feel like this will help me to get back into a routine with my blogging.

I’m also going to start planing my posts and putting more time and effort into them, I will only post them if I am completely happy with them. 

I want to post more of my own photography and pictures, I use to do this all the time however I have found myself doing it less and less recently, I feel like posting my own photography in my posts makes it more personal and readable.

Finally I want to concentrate on growing my readers by interacting with more bloggers on social media- I am already in a few blogger groups and I want to start being more active in them!

I hope you guys are still around and ready for lots of new posts as I sure am! 

Writing blog posts use to be an escape and a way of expressing myself but unfortunately over time it became a chore..I thought I would explain this to you guys and just let you know that I am honestly going to change this.

Today I have just had a chilled day tidying my room, relaxing in the bath and chilling with chad, including going on a nice walk (we love walks) 

Here's a few photo's of my tidy room! As tidy as it gets with all my stuff in it!

That's all for now and I will 100% be back with another post soon!

'New year, new me'

I always love welcoming the new year, I just love the thought of a completely new, clean slate.

However, the whole 'New year, new me ' thing I don't like. I personally believe that if you want to change something in your life, or in yourself YOU DO NOT NEED A NEW YEAR, you can change anything in your life whenever you want, why wait for a new year?

Although there's definitely not a 'new me' in for 2017, there are definitely a few things that I am going to do differently this year!

Read more and wind down properly before bed!

I have always loved reading ever since I was a little girl, I use to read to my mum before I went to sleep or she use to read to me...I still love to get into a good book but I will confess, I only read one book last year- 'All the bright places' I really enjoyed it and I have decided that I want to do lots of reading this year. I have just ordered these 3 books of amazon and I am going to start tonight! I would definitely recommend looking at books on amazon as you can get 3 for £10 with free delivery which is amazing, also a bonus is you can look at the reviews on the books.

Write more!

As well as reading, writing has always been my little escape and way of being creative; again since I was little, and although I love doing my blog... I miss picking up a pen and grabbing a note book and just writing. So I picked up my first new note book today, this one is for all my ideas related to my blog and my youtube channel! I am going to get another note pad to write down every day thoughts in as I use to keep a diary and I remember how much I loved it.

This lovely notepad is from Paper chase and I'll link it HERE.

Experience even more of the outdoors!

Last year I got to see some amazing places which I will NEVER forget and I really want to see and do even more outside rather than staying inside around the same surroundings. Whether it's walking, doing sports, photography, filming a video or just exploring I want to see even more of the world! 

Don't ask why I am using a photo of my indoor plants for this one! I just love my plants...

Choose Happy

No, I can't be happy 100% of the time, I mean who can? we're all human and it's natural to have down days, snap and start to think negatively,  however I really want to try and bring out the positives as much as I can from now on, I have been practicing this recently and It does make me feel so much more positive about everything! Obviously I still have my negative days but just thinking about the positives and what I'm grateful for makes me tonnes better than just picking out faults in everything!

These are just a few of the things that I want to concentrate on throughout 2017 and although there isn't a new me, this new year is a great opportunity for a clean slate and I am going to use it for sure! 

I hope 2017 is what you hoped for so far and I will be back soon with another post.

Getting all 'wrapped up' in Christmas

When I hear people go on about how Christmas is such a Peaceful time of year; a time to reflect and relax- It leaves me thinking if I am actually living on the same planet as them? but then again some people aren't as crazily stressy as me and don't think about every little thing in such depth..

I LOVE Christmas day, the music, the family time, the food, the gift giving and also gift receiving and not forgetting cuddling up to watch the classic Christmas films that reappear year after year whilst delving into a box of roses- it has to be my favourite time of the year, cliche but so very true.

Now I have an apprenticeship and I get a proper wage, I expect myself to buy everyone a 'proper' present, when I say proper present I just mean something other than a box of chocolates or a token gift and whilst I love buying gifts for people, I feel so stressed about whether I have got enough people presents and whether I have spent enough. 

Chad reminded me earlier that Christmas definitely isn't all about giving and receiving and although I have heard this endless amounts of times  I do sometimes find this hard to remember it as like everyone else who works in town; I am constantly surrounded by the 'Christmas deals' and the whole commercial side of it and as I am not particularly religious I don't follow the whole Christmas story in the build up to Christmas... so it can very easily become a stressful inconvenience rather than a joyful, exciting time! 

Although the religious part of Christmas doesn't particularly stand out to me, I do love how everyone comes together and enjoys each other's company (plus a few family domestics) and whether you are religious or not Christmas should be a relaxing, happy and peaceful time. 

So when you're rushing around doing that last minute, panicked Christmas shopping- just remember it is only one day, it doesn't need to be perfect and the main part of it is being with the people you love.

I hope everyone has a lovely Christmas and I will be continuing to post into 2017, but for now Good bye! 

Christmas is coming!

Where are the days, weeks and months going? 2016 has literally flown by and I can't believe how close Christmas is! The fact that I have a Christmas jumper on shows how close christmas is..

I am extra excited for this Christmas as I get to spend it with all my family and the people I love, also I have actually had enough money to buy everyone presents this year and I can't wait to watch people open them! Even more exciting though- I am doing Vlogmas this year for the first time and I cannot wait at all- I will be Vlogging things such as the Christmas Market and also Ice skating at Nottingham's Winter Wonderland, as well as everyday, Christmassy kind of things in December!

I also have some Christmas collabs going up with one of my good friends, but I won't give too much away as you'll have to go and watch them yourselves.

I have a Christmassy makeup look going up on my channel soon so keep your eyes out for that- I am wearing my new Christmas jumper in it!!

I just though I'd keep you updated on what I'll be doing over Christmas as I am SO excited! Keep up to date with my blog and youtube channel which I'll link here: life of a Blonde 

Thank you for all of your continued support with my blog and youtube channel it means a lot!

My skin care routine!

After coming back from my first ever gym session (and loving it) I thought I would share my current skin care routine with you as at the moment I am using a variety of different products rather than using all Liz Earl like before.

So after using a wipe to take my makeup off I go straight in with Clinique's Clarifying lotion for Oily & Combination skin, you can obviously get this for other skin types but I opted for the one to eliminate oil!

This is obviously a high end product at £16.50 but this leaves my skin feeling so refreshed, clean and so bright. I have definitely noticed a difference in how glowy my skin looks when using this product.

I know that you aren't meant to use this first however I think this is the perfect product to take your makeup off before using a face wash, I do use this in the morning on its own before applying my makeup.

The next product I use at the moment (I bought this a few days ago) Is Freederm's sensitive face wash, I picked this up In Superdrug as I have left my Tea Tree face wash at my dads, however this also combats oil and at the moment in Superdrug you get this face wash for free when you buy the Freederm gel, so really its a winner! I like the consistency of this face wash and how refreshing it is on my face, I would particularly recommend this to teenagers who are just starting to get a few spots as it is so affordable yet effective. 

I then go on to using my Liz Earl light moisturiser for Oily/combination skin, This is the only moisturiser I really like as it is so light and doesn't make my skin feel more oily than it already is! It makes my skin feel soft as well as healthy and vibrant.

The last product that I have been using in my every day skin care routine is also a new addition, Freederm's gel, as I said earlier I when I bought this gel I got the face wash for free! This gel is amazing, you can notice a different over night, it really does make spots become less inflamed and noticeable just with one application. You don't get a lot for your money however it is so good for battling spots! 

To finish, the face mask that I use when I want a good, deep cleanse is Liz Earls' Deep cleansing Clay mask, this comes in a bottle and you get SO MANY applications from each bottle, Like all Liz Earl products this is perfect for sensitive skin and I have found that it helps with fighting excess oil and preventing spots! 

I hope you enjoyed my current everyday skin care routine and I will see you soon with a video on my youtube channel: Life of a Blonde Be sure to Like and Subscribe if you enjoy my videos!