MY SISTER GOES TO UNI AND NOW I'M SAD

Today has been a pretty emotional day; my sister Hannah moved away to university. Although she's only about an hour and a half drive away and probably half that distance from where I work, it was still very sad to see her go and to now be sat at home without her to talk to feels very lonely. I kind of wanted to film today as a 'vlog' but you can see how much Hannah hates me in these photos just by quickly trying to take photos on my phone, so any filming would have most definitely resulted in me not seeing my 22nd birthday... *p.s sorry for the photos I did manage to get, Hannah!*

The journey up to her uni was pretty straightforward and the only issue we had was my crazy nan. She was either doubting the sat nav's ability to do its one job, or flirting with the poor young guys at the uni, dropping the words 'darling' and 'sweetie' in as often as possible. Whenever an older man tried helping her with directions she would moan that he's way too old. The poor guys were probably late 40's or early 50's and she's 72... 

My crazy nan, camera shy - maybe that's where Hannah gets it from.

I think Hannah must have been the favourite child as there is no way I was bought as much stuff as she was; I'm sure she has enough food to feed the whole of her flat for the rest of the first year. Her room was pretty standard and basic, it was smaller than mine but it's still a decent size. Her kitchen is a lot worse than mine was, it's pretty small and old fashioned, even though I think the building is supposedly new... It surprised me that it already looked filthy and it didn't even have an oven which we all thought was very weird. Are uni students not known for just shoving pizzas and chips into the oven?! 

Like me, she wasn't too excited for uni as she also went mostly because it seemed the thing to do and she didn't know what else to do. I tried to say it's okay if you don't go straight away and there's so much time later on if you want to wait a year but she ended up going anyway. After setting up her room and fully stocking her cupboards and fridge space, we emotionally said goodbye. She was already very teary and I didn't want to make her worse so I tried to stay strong and not tear at all, (although a little one may have escaped), like I've said on my fresher's advice posts, I told her to just get straight in there and talk to whoever she can find as it completely takes your mind off any home sickness.

I'm going to miss her being around so much as we get on really well and it's like just having a friend around all the time. I know she'll probably be back fairly regularly as it's not too far to drive and it's also a pretty easy and fairly reasonably priced train journey. It was sad to leave her on her own but it now feels better that she's met people and is now apparently playing the good old drinking game of ring of fire! I  feel like I've lost a part of me and now all that remains is her two cats that I get to look after, that I'm not always the biggest fan of, as they are probably the most annoying cats that I have ever met.

It was very surreal taking Hannah to uni as I feel like I'm still at uni myself, having only graduated this July. For some reason I still feel like I am her age, when I think that she's 19 next year I think that's still pretty much my age, when really I'm 3 years older and have already graduated from university and now receive letters asking if I want to join a pension programme - yes kids time really does fly!

A long, long time ago & still my favourite person.  

Are any of your siblings away at uni atm? 

If you're a fresher, you can check out my fresher's guide to survival 'here' 

NEW BARRY M A/W GELLY NAIL PAINTS | SWATCHES

I've completely forgot that we ever had a summer and I wouldn't even blame you if you didn't even realise we did, as it was definitely easy to miss! I am completely ready for Autumn and have already started craving hot chocolates and Autumn fashion - which I feel like I need to stock up on. I came across Barry M's new A/W collection a couple of weeks ago and knew that I needed to add some more colours to my ever growing-already too big- collection. I initially saw the shades Mustard and Paprika and instantly knew I needed them, but then I saw the rest and as it was 3 for 2, I just had to. The only shade that I didn't get was the poor green shade which I sadly neglected;I even chose a different colour from an older collection as the free nail varnish in the offer over the green. 

As with all of the Barry M nail paints, these shades apply really smoothly, give a lovely shiny finish and look good after either one heavier coat or two layers for a completely opaque finish. I find that they last well on the nails and hardly chip; mostly I find that they still look reasonable after a weeks wear and I normally change the colour every week. 

I absolutely love the colours that they chose to release and feel that they really are quite unique in the nail varnish world. Even the red and orange shades, aren't your typical shades and instead have the perfect Autumn tone to them; the red shade (chilli), is a darker deep brown red shade and the orange (Paprika) also has the brown deepness to it. I love the Mustard shade and really have not seen anything like it before. Although grey (Chai), sounds pretty boring, it's such an easy and sophisticated shade to wear. The dark brown shade (Cocoa), looked gorgeous in the store, but looking back on it now I did wonder why I bought a brown nail varnish. I do like it on but I'm still not completely sure on it as I wear a lot of black which may not go too well. 

 So, that's nails sorted now I need to sort out my wardrobe for Autumn and Winter!

 At the moment Superdrug have a 3 for 2 offer on all Barry M and Boots have a buy 1 get 2nd half price - yes, I've done my research! What's your favourite shade from the collection?

MY HOLIDAY TO CORFU

It's now been a couple of weeks since I got back from a very relaxing week in Corfu and returning home to full time work just makes the holiday blues even more intense. I went to Corfu with my sister Hannah, we only went for a week, which really is not long enough as a week just goes by way too quickly! 

Most of the holiday was spent relaxing by the pool, soaking up the much needed sun and then trying to hide from it when you remember that your poor English skin isn't really used to anything but the cold and rain and it needs protecting! It was such a hot week in Corfu so it was really nice to be able to jump into the pool to cool down whenever you felt like you were melting. The pool was an infinity pool, which I think was the main reason Hannah decided to book this hotel. It over looked the sea, which was just so beautiful as you could relax in the pool while looking out at the sea, rather than just having the view of everyone else sun bathing. 

This was the view from our room which was pretty amazing as we hadn't even specifically booked a sea view - I could definitely wake up to this view every morning! All of the rooms were like little apartment buildings which was nice as you're more spaced out than being crammed into one huge hotel block. The hotel seemed to have a few dogs which just strolled around all day, one followed us all the way to the pool one morning and then back to our room and if he had his own way, into our room! Luckily that didn't happen as we quickly rushed in and closed the door before he could get in. 

It was so nice to just be able to relax for a whole week and have all of your food cooked for you , *note to self* must get rich and hire a chef, actually a house keeper would be better. The hotel was built up on a hill so as you can expect we did a lot of up hill walking, which was slightly tiring, especially in the heat, but probably very beneficial on the legs and essential after a couple of ice creams each day and three course meals... 

The only down side of the week was for Hannah, who somehow managed to get stung by a wasp twice in the space of about 5 minutes. It looked like either the same wasp had come back for round 2 or it's friend came to join in on the fun. Apparently, on a scale of 1-10, wasp stings are a 16... so I've been told. 

 

If you look to the left of the plant pots you may be in for a little creepy surprise - it's some kind of lizard reptile, which were actually pretty big and not something that I would feel comfortable about getting too close to. 

Obviously we had to have a selfie session, which was pretty fun. We have a thing about buying t-shirts from everywhere we go, where possible, so we bought matching Corfu shirts from one of the shops in the hotel. 

Overall, it was a great week and really nice to be able to spend the whole week with my sister as she's leaving for university very soon so it was nice to get some sister quality time in. 

I now want to go on holiday again asap and I'm already thinking about where to go next year, so where are your favourite holiday destinations? 

WHAT'S IN MY TRAVEL MAKE UP BAG

I don't normally use a make up bag at home and prefer to keep all of my make up in my draws, as I just have far too much for any make up bag to handle. Last week I had the dreaded task of having to decide which make up products to take with me on holiday - which honestly felt like I was choosing which child I wanted to take with me. I was also terrified that things would get broken during the journey, so it took me a lot longer than I'd like to admit to choose between my beloved eye shadows. 

I did take quite a bit more than what is photographed but these were the only products that I used. First, I used MAC's Prep + Prime Skin Base Visage for my primer as it is really hydrating and spending all day out in the sun means you can't get enough hydration to your skin. For my foundation I used Bare Minerals Ready foundation as it's so quick and easy to apply, gives great coverage but still doesn't look or feel heavy on the skin. I set my foundation with Bare Minerals Mineral Veil to control any extra shine, so I didn't look like a hot mess in the equally hot weather. I used MAC's Pro Longwear concealer under the eyes and on any imperfections. I also used MAC's Prep + Prime Highlighter in Radiant Rose under the eyes and as always MAC's Emphasize powder to set it. I used Bare Minerals Stroke of Light to highlight areas of my face, to look more glowy and summery. To bronze my face I used Bare Minerals The First Resort bronzer, there is also a highlight shade in there which I used as a blush and highlight. 

For my eyes I used MAC's Painterly Paint pot as a base. As I was on holiday I decided to experiment a bit more with some colour, so decided to bring Sleek's Del Mar Palette and managed to use the green, blue and the coral and orange shades.  I also used Urban Decay's Naked Basics palette to compliment the brighter shades and also used the dark brown and black on my brows. When I wasn't feeling too colourful I stuck with my trusty Make up Geek eyeshadows, in Peach Smoothie, Coco Bear, Creme Brule, Cosmopolitan and Mocha. For mascara, I like to bring a waterproof one as I'm one of those girls that does apply a little make up throughout the day, so waterproof is essential. I chose Maybelline's The Falsies mascara, as we all know Tanya Burr raves about it so I thought it would be a good time to try it. I liked it but I wouldn't rate it as highly as she does. 

I love a bright lip for summer but I didn't want to deal with applying lipstick and then worrying about eating and drinking at dinner, so I just used a tiny amount of Bare Minerals Go the Distance lipstick, by just dabbing it on my lips to give a slight stain of colour. 

Finally, The Urban Decay Chill setting spray came in very handy, both when setting my make up and to use just to refresh and cool me down throughout the day. 

Have you been away lately? What are your holiday make up must haves?