What To Do When You Are Feeling Funky.

We all get that feeling every now and again. Sometimes it's just pure waves of sadness and we are not entirely sure why. Sometimes it's just a mixture of all of those types of emotions and they just make you sort of feel as I call it, Funky. It's not the nicest of feelings so I thought I would create and share this list with you all that help me during my time of need.

Listen to a certain song or playlist that you know boosts your mood and productivity. 

Music is the key to emotions. Some genres of music can increase productivity and staying focus, while others can create an ambience that relaxes you. I find listening to music that makes you feel happy and/or is tied with happy memories, helps in slowly getting you out of the funk you are feeling. It's not an instant fix, as sometimes funks can last for a while. For me, I find listening to the ABBA soundtrack boosts my mood and makes me feel productive to do the tasks on my to-do list.

Get up go out and breathe.

Studies have shown that leaving the place where you are feeling stressed or anxious and going outside even if it’s just for five minutes or going on a walk makes you feel at peace and calmer within your surroundings. For me, I find walking helps clear my mind and understand a situation and how to deal with it to reduce the amount of stress I was experiencing. I’m very much known as a stress head in my everyday life and a bit (my friends would say more like a lot) as a worrier. So anything I can do to help ground myself instead of running around like a headless chicken is appreciated.

Exercise. Move your body around.

Exercising for half an hour to an hour a day it really beneficial not only for your physical well-being but your mental health also. Exercising releases endorphins, the happy drug and gets your blood pumping inside your body. Whenever my head is in a weird headspace I find exercising helps clear my head. Tidy mind tidy workspace is a quote I’ve stuck towards for most of my life. Dancing is something I enjoy doing on the regular but stretching//Yoga or Pilates is another two forms of exercise that I find I really enjoy. Exercise and the words happy and enjoy are not what a lot of people associate with each other.

Relax. Light a candle and have a soak or just have a quick shower.

Whenever I'm feeling down, I find relaxing and taking a bath also helps if I don't have any prompting tasks to complete. I find giving myself the time to be able to really think over what I need to do and sort it out in the near future helps put things into perspective. However, an option, if I have a lot of prompting tasks that need to be done that day, is to take a quick shower to make you feel refreshed and clear your mind and be ready to reduce your mood funk.

Read a book and I'm not talking about an academic one for your University. 
Taking time to enjoy things you love, like for me reading can help reduce the mood funk you are in. When I don't take time out for myself and I'm just constantly working working working, has a massive damaging impact on my mental health and mood. So I like to take a step back every now and again and really look at my work/life/social/hobbies life balance.

I hope you enjoyed reading this week's blogpost! What are your tips/ what do you feel when you are in a bit of a 'funk'?

Toodlepip lovelies! 

Lucy 

x

A Glossybox Review // October 'Devil' Themed.

A Glossybox delivery day is the favourite day of the month right? I know it's been literal MONTHS since I have shared one with you but I felt like this October themed Glossybox was too good to not I love how every monthly is packaged with a little bow and tissue paper with the goodies wrapped inside of them. It's like a little present and I wish my wrapping skills were just as good. 

This October's box came in two different styles of either A Angel themed box or the one I received the Devil themed box. The content inside of course matches the outside packaging style. So let's get into the goodies! 
                                                                                                                           

 A Sweet Treat - Whittard's Sticky Toffee Pudding Hot Chocolate.
I will say this now and to be honest, it will come to no surprise to anyone but I never say no to a sweet treat, whether that be a hot chocolate that came within this month's Glossybox or a bar of chocolate in the previous month's box. However, I didn't even get a look in as my boyfriend's hands went straight to pulling the hot chocolate out of the box as soon as I had just about lifted the lid off it. Despite this, I asked for his verdict on the chocolately goodness and he says it is one of the best Whittard hot chocolate flavours they have made! I think adding an edible/ drinkable treat within the box every month is a massive hit.

Lord And Berry Lip Crayon in 'Devil's Red'.
 I love a good lip product, and something which I love the most about a good lip product is how easy it is to apply. I tend to find crayons and lip liners are the easiest application as opposed to an actual lipstick so you can imagine my excitement when I found this within my Glossybox this month. I've not heard much about Lord and Berry before and it's a brand I've not really bought anything from before however, I loved this lipstick and how intense the colour red it is. I don't tend to wear red lipsticks which is a shame due to it reflecting well against my pale skin. But I get incredibly worried about smearing it when it's on! It is something I do want to get more confident within my life.

Stylondon Eyeshadow Pallette.
There are two things I love the most about this palette, the colours are obviously a statement and a favourite the other being that this palette is a mineral-based, a product that is filled with Vitamin E and Vegan-friendly. Ever since my skin has been breaking out quite a lot (at the age of 21 I thought it would have calmed down now) I have been preferring applying mineral-based products to my skin more. Although let's go back to talking about the colours before in the pan they look so gorgeous especially the orange and pink glitters in the top row. Although when I swatched them on my skin they looked worse out of the pan than in. Which is a shame due to the colours are perfect for autumn. I am yet to try them out on my eyelids but expect a more in-depth look at this palette in a future blog post soon. 

MCoBeauty Crayon EyeLiner. 
Again, like my comment previously I have never heard of the brand MCoBeauty. But that's a thing I love about Glossybox in general. You are able to try out new brands you have never heard of before while also enjoying brands you already love. I don't wear eyeliner often, simply because I'm not very good at it or makeup in general but I love the effect black liner has against red or orange eyeshadow. For me, I just do a simple line on my lid as opposed to a wing. Whenever I do a winged eyeliner they come out super wonky! I get incredibly jealous of people who can.

Bubble T Devil Dust Foaming Bath Powder. 
There isn't often a bath product that I do not love. Ranging from Lush bath bombs to bubble bars.
However, this was the first product I have tried from Bubble T, and I'm sad to say I was rather disappointed with the outcome of this. I felt it didn't produce as many bubbles as I expected compared to some bath powders // bubble baths I have used before, which kind of ruined my entire bath situation. There wasn't an overall powerful fragrance to the bath powder which I was grateful for as often I find a fragrance heavy product irritates my skin too much. The colour that was in the water as soon as you put the bath powder disappeared as the bath filled up.

Que Bella Professional Plumping Gold Peel Off Mask.
When it comes to facemasks I'm incredibly picky, I have sensitive spot prone skin so often I have to be to avoid a bad flare-up. I also don't often like single-use masks as well as I am very much an advocate for helping out the planet whenever I can. However, seeming this came within my Glossybox I thought it was something I'll try and see if my mind was changed. It's not too many people's surprise I didn't enjoy it much. I found it took forever to peel off and came off in small chunks. I find the whole concept of a peel-off mask frustrating and didn't see many after-effects to my skin to warrant using this.

I hoped you enjoyed this week's blog post. 

What was your favourite part of this month's Glossybox? Are there any products you have//haven't tried? 

Until next week lovelies.

Toodlepip 

Lucy x

Autumn Fashion Pieces.

October is one of my favourites months of the year, not just simply because my birthday falls within this month but because of it being included in the season of Autumn. Autumn for me means pumpkins cosy nights in and candles, but while not forgetting the best part of autumn. Fashion. Do not misunderstand me here I love fashion all year round (and that's including you there summer I have not left you out). However, there is just something special about being able to wrap yourself up in jumpers coats neatly wrapped with scarfs and cosy patterned tights. So without further ado, I decided to share with you pretties my favourites for this time of year. I do not in any means call myself a fashion guru or 'stylish' like some YouTubers and bloggers that live on this side of the internet. But none of the less it won't stop me sharing what pieces I do love even if I can't tell you how to style them in a cool way. 

Firstly, Patterned Trousers. Who doesn't love a good pair of trousers? Stylish, much more comfortable than a pair of jeans, styling these with a good old plain white T-shirt or a cosy jumper, I feel like these checked trousers specifically from Collectif. A vintage-inspired store who I love for their retro clothes feel will make you look like a actual walking pumpkin. But I'm here for that and it's exactly the vibe I am loving in Autumn. These checked trousers tick all of my autumnal boxes. 

Now for my second fashion choice is a blouse. I feel blouses dress up any type of outfit that being underneath a jumper for a day time look or paired with some high waisted jeans and chunked under a coat for the evening time. Blouses are effortlessly stylish. The one I have picked out today to show is this black silked polka-dotted blouse from Topshop. I actually stumbled upon this fashion gem while watching Eve Bennett's youtube video she made in collaboration with Topshop and just had to buy it. 

Now don't get me wrong I love dressing up, but being comfortable is where it's at for me and cardigans are the perfect middle man between being chic and comfortable at the very same time. I'm currently loving this boohoo number and who says pink can not be an autumnal colour? For me, it's a yearly trend. You can not beat a pink number within your wardrobe, especially when it is something as cozy as this. You can even pair it with a cute pair of high waisted black jeans and some white converses or black Chelsea boots for a cute 'just running some errands' outfit. 

Now, Bags can either make or break an outfit. They tie the outfit all together with their matching tones of colour or in some cases of it being a full black on black outfit adding a pop of colour. While browsing the Cath Kidston I spotted this adorable autumnal inspired handbag which I just instantly fell in love with. Patterned with floral accents and burgundy mustard and navy colour trends. This bag literally just screams autumn to me.

To pair with the mustard accents of the Cath Kidston handbag, these ASOS mustard tights are an autumn trend for me. Who doesn't think of Blair Waldorf in Gossip girl whenever they see patterned or coloured tights though? She made them iconic and I'm very much following in her footsteps with these as they are certainly something that she would wear. I can not wait to wear these with every outfit that I wear in Autumn now. 

Lastly, we can not forget the jackets. It would not be a proper autumn fashion blogpost without the mention of either a  jacket or a coat. I could not decide what one I wanted to mention this so I decided to add in both because the more the merrier is what they always say. The first being my most recent purchase and maybe my favourite purchase of all time, A Aviator jacket. I've been searching for one for quite a while and I actually found mine on Depop from a lovely seller! Although I tried searching for the exact one I had purchased It was the last season jacket and I couldn't find it, however, I found this one of the Hollister website that looked very similar. The second coat being this lovely teddy bear coat from New Look. I love how warm and cosy this coat is and I love layering jumpers underneath coats so sometimes it's best to go up a size!

I hope you enjoyed this little blog post and what is your favourite autumn fashion piece for the colder months? 

Toodlepip lovelies 

Lucy x