Let's catch up.

Photo found here

Hi! Sorry it's been a bit quiet around here lately. I don't even think I put up a post this month, so it's about time we'd catch up.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote this post about my experience with university, about my doubts if I should continue or just drop out etc. I did a whole lot of thinking and for the most part, dropping out and getting a job seemed like the best option. But to be completely sure, I decided to talk to a friend of mine who studies the same, but had finished her second year. And we talked a bit about what I could expect from the courses etc. She was in the same boat as me, always had had doubts as well, but with the prospects of her last year (going on erasmus and doing an internship) she had a lot to look forward to to motivate her.

And she made me genuinely excited to go back and learn new things. But if I wanted to go back, I wanted to be sure I would make the most of it. After all, it's a lot of money and a lot time that goes into it and I don't want it to be wasted. So I want to say yes to more experiences, whether that being work experience (I definitely want a weekend job!) or just general experiences with my friends, or even on my own. I'm thinking about joining the student paper (lols) and take up some old hobbies such as music and art :) Exploring the city is high on my list too, I've lived there for two years and have never ever wandered off or gone to any place I'm not familiar with. Such a shame.

Phew, that was quite the fair bit to discuss. If you follow my twitter, you might have seen my tweets about my ruined laptop.. I spilled water all over it. Like literally ALL over it. The poor thing was only 1.5 years old. Hello unexpected expenses, so not glad to see you around.

I've also been thinking about making videos.. I think I would prefer the vlogging style, but I don't really have a lot going on so that wouldn't be too interesting, haha. But I might start a YouTube channel one day, who knows. It seems like a lot of fun!

And that's all, I think. What has been going on in your lives? Let me know in the comments :)

a radiance booster

One of my favourite purchases for this Summer is this Clarins Instant Light Radiance Boosting Complexion Base. Phew, what's with all the long names though. I picked it up in the colour 02 champagne.

It both illuminates and corrects the skin and can be worn on its own or under foundation. I tend to just wear it alone and with a bit of concealer wherever I need to. I think it's a great option to wear in Summer, as it's just a light base, but still makes you look awake and radiant.

It doesn't really give a lot of coverage,  so to cover up any dark circles or blemishes you will have to use a concealer. Easy fix though. If you have oily skin, I would also use a powder to keep shine at bay.

To me the biggest advantage though, is that it comes with a pump. I was so surprised by it because I thought it was just a tube and things were going to get messy and I would end up spilling half of it, but none of that. Score.

Do you use a lighter base in Summer? Have you tried this one?

be inspired by your own existence

I'm not one to blog - or just write in general - when I'm feeling angry or upset. Right now, I'm more upset than angry and I'm not sure how to feel about that or how to change that.

Let me fill you in a bit more first.

The last couple of weeks have most certainly not been the best. I don't mean to complain or ask for your pity, I just want to get things off of my chest.

Turning 18 and graduating high school was a great thing, but also such a very confusing time. I never knew what I wanted to do when I grew up. Well, I did, but I was always told that that would never happen and that I should be smart and do what was expected of me.

And so I did. I went to university to study arts and literature. This wasn't the major that was hoped for, but my parents settled because "I was at least going to uni".

A couple of months in I knew that university wasn't for me. But instead of quitting I changed my major after the first year. Maybe hoping that communications and media would be more suitable for me.

And that it was. But it still didn't feel completely right.

Fast forward the year and here we are now. A couple of resits, more than I hoped for, but manageable and pretty alright considering it's not what I want to do.

But what do I want to do then, you may ask. Well frankly, I have no clue anymore.

I feel like I lost sight of what I want in doing the things that were expected of me, I never got to explore more of the things that I liked.

I feel like I've become too scared to go after the things that (might) make me happy.

And that sucks.

Because I feel trapped.

And useless.

And it doesn't really help that my mom called me a disappointment and an embarrassment either.

Because after two years of doing something that makes you unhappy you just want people to support you. You need people to support you. Or at least those close to you.

Don't get me wrong, I am extremely, hugely grateful that I got the opportunity to go to university, because I know a lot of people don't get that chance, but if I know it's not for me, is it so wrong to want something different? Does that make me ungrateful?

Right now, I don't know what to do.

I could stay in uni, get a degree and possibly get a job with that.

Or I could leave uni, get a job and make money whilst I figure out what it is that I really want to do with my life.

The first one seems like the easy option, the latter seems so scary.

Every time I read a quote on how we only get this one life and it's too short not to go after what we want I get inspired. But oh, if only I just knew!

All I want is to be happy and healthy. Simples.

I don't want to come home to an empty flat, all stressed out by a job I don't even like.

And I do know that I'm oh so young and have got plenty of time to figure things out, I just don't want to be unhappy in the process.

"Feel inspired by your own existence."

A healthier lifestyle

Photo found on Pinterest

Being healthy or obtaining a healthy lifestyle definitely isn't one of my strong points. Sure, I've tried making efforts before (hello New Years resolutions), but never quite stuck to it.. I am sad about that because I really really want to be more healthy! But then there's pizza.

But then there's also healthy pizza, right? Or at least healthy-ish.

What I think is important is that I won't try to switch to a completely healthy lifestyle, but will try to change it up here and there. If I would switch everything all at once, I just don't think that I will stick to it. But we can always work up to that of course :)

Recently I've been really trying my best to work out more, but I've got a post on this coming up in the next week or so. I drink two liters of water almost every day and I try to get a bit more sleep now than the usual six-seven hours. My biggest problem is the food.

I want to cut down on sugar. It will make me feel less bloated, I will feel way more energised and obviously it will benefit my skin (hooray). So no more Kinder Bueno for breakfast, no more crisps as a snack in front of the tv or whatever.

The reason I think why I'm more likely to go for the unhealthy option is because it just seems so much easier, it's ready in no time, and most of the time it tastes good. But I have been pinning away (as you do) and there are so many delicious looking alternatives! Let's hope they taste as good as they look, haha.

Are you a healthy eater? If so, link me to some recipes :)

SPF for sesitive skin

Whether you're lying on the beach or in your garden or having lunch in the park, when the sun's out, you have to protect your skin. I know most foundations have SPF in them, but if you want to be extra safe with higher protection or if you're having a makeup free day, a seperate SPF face cream is a must. It will protect your skin from the sun, so there's no excuses not to wear it.

Because I have sensitive and acne prone skin, I have to be careful as to which products I put on my face. The lady in the store recommended me the Clinique SPF 30 face cream. It has high protection and I've not had any breakouts so that's good.

I'm not sure what else there is to say about SPF other than it's very important. I know we can all be a bit lazy, but we should definitely make an effort to apply this when you go out in the sun. I chose this product because it suits my skintype, it has pretty high protection and it came at a very reasonable price. :)

A priming duo from heaven.

It took me a while to discover primers, but ever since I have, there is no going back. I am in love. No really.

For the longest time - or what seems like that anyway - I thought it was just a useless step in your makeup routine, and being my lazy self, I didn't bother with it. That was until about a year ago. Clinique had brought out their super primers and after reading some good reviews on them, I (impulsively) bought one.

I picked up the colour corrects dullness primer (pink), and because I was so impressed by it, I recently went and bought the colour corrects discolourations one (orange). Both are a dream to apply and my foundation just glides on afterwards. Use the pink primer for when or where you need a bit more radiance and the orange primer for when or where you want to correct discolourations (doh) and blemish marks.

Now if there's one thing that could be better than using a good primer, it would be to double prime, no? Ever since Kate introduced me to this concept, I have been doing it all the time and I'm loving the results.

As a second primer I use the Revlon photoready skinlights face illuminator -yikes, quite the mouthful then. But it does a fantastic job. I apply this after one of the two superprimers. Not too much though, as it has a bit of shimmer in it and we don't want to look like a disco ball, now do we? In all seriousness though, this has been a life changer. I didn't use to like being in photographs because I didn't like the way I looked, and I know it sounds weird or crazy, but since using this, my skin looks a lot better on camera. Yay. Thanks for that.

A little bit more info on primers: other than prepping your face for makeup application, it also makes your makeup last longer, so really it's a win-win.

Do you use primers? Or even double prime?

Welcome back breakfast.

It's been a bit quiet on the blog lately. Some might have even noticed I deleted all of my previous posts but one. There is a reason for that, but I've decided I won't elaborate on that. It's not interesting to you and I'm just not very good at explaining.

Blogging and I have this sort of love/hate relationship, if that makes sense. It's not actually that, but I don't really know what else to call it. I love writing, I do. It's just that I don't always have the inspiration, or find the right words. Like a -I have loads of ideas but no talent- kinda thing. Frustrating, but I'm working on it. I truly am trying to get better at it :)

I've taken blogging breaks before and every time I would come back after a couple of weeks to say 'I'm back', just to end up taking another break later. There is absolutely no reason why you should believe that I am back now, and I can't promise there won't be any breaks in the future, but I am more serious about it now. I've made lists and everything (I do hope you are proud of that). 

I'm not sure why I've included my breakfast into this.. It just sounded nice? But I had pancakes with nutella, whipped cream and strawberries :) Mmm! 

Happy Sunday!