My November Goals.

This year been a weird one for me, in some ways I feel I’ve been very accomplished in what I’ve got out of this year. Passing my first year of university to name a few. However, with only two months left in this year, I really want to try and make more of an effort to be more productive and proactive. So I've compiled a list of things I want to get done.

Participate in many a holiday activity or tradition.

With November comes Christmas light switch on and fireworks. Pub quizzes and festive dinners. I wanna make more of an effort to make plans with friends. To go out and see and do things a lot more. I love surrounding myself with good energy and friends and this month I want to really engage.

Take up a new hobby.

This month and October I’ve really taken a personal reflection upon scheduling myself and making sure I’m not spending hours upon hours on the university to the put that the sheer amount of work I am doing is counterproductive and I end up getting less done than one had thought. So now I have a bunch of free time opened up for me that I really want to use this time to invest in doing things I love. Aside from getting back into reading for pleasure and not for my degree. I want to learn a new hobby whether that be learning to play the piano or getting back into yoga we shall see. Spend more time committing to my blog and writing in general. I’ve been a bit sporadic when it comes to writing on here, sometimes I’ve been able to write once a week others I’ve not posted in a few months. I really want to stick with posting regularly whether that be once a week or twice a week. I am yet to decide what I do but stick around for what comes next. Really look after my skin.
I suffer from spots quite badly. I eat sweets I get a spot. I don’t drink enough water that day, I get spots. So I really want to focus on what I’m putting in my body and making sure i get back on track with my healthy eating and working out. Something I’ve been neglecting during my bad mental health days. I see a real improvement in myself when I’m stretching and working out every other day.

Making more time for myself.
Alongside the hobby and scheduling my work//home life balance I want to make sure I have a lot more free time and what free time I do have I use for doing things I actually enjoy. A lot of the time I come home from work and I end up telling myself I’ll spend a bit of time working on my uni work which normally results in me spending hours and it’s already 8 o’clock in the evening and the time has just flown by. So for me, it’s really important that I manage my time more effectively.

I hope you enjoyed reading this little blog post today and I’ll for you to share some goals or things you need to tackle upon your to-do list for this month.

Toodlepip lovelies

Lucy x

A October Round Up // Laughter, Tears and Friends.

I'm an extrovert by nature, but my anxiety causes me to be an introvert. Anxiety is something I have been living with for many years, but it never really gets any easier. My anxiety causes many a controlling tendency and fills me with a lot of self-doubts. Self-doubt is something I very struggle to deal with. I spend a lot of my time focused upon my University degree and going to work I don't leave a lot of time for my friends or any free time for myself in general. During October, I decided to try and change that nagging voice within my head and create some sort of balance. I call this my 'Zen'  Mindset.

This month I've tackled with building a built-in wardrobe with my boyfriend, unblocking our drain twice, a lot of crying, a hyperventilating panic attack, planing a Halloween party and celebrating my 21st Birthday. Things have gone wrong for sure, I've not managed to control my excessive mood swings or the anxiety funky feeling I get when I'm on my own but I've accomplished a hell of a lot. I've managed to throw a Halloween party, work towards my university deadlines and slowly start feeling more not only body confident but confident in the person I am growing up to become.

I'm not saying i'm totally happy with where I am. There is a lot more I need to do, and there is a lot more I need to work out with inside of myself but I'm certainly going in the right direction. I'm so happy to be surrounded around the people I' have and I'm lucky to call them my friends. I especially am grateful for the man I lucky to call my boyfriend who sticks with me through many tears and crying and also all the happy memories I'm lucky to share with him. 

The future looks bright my friends.

Thank you for reading this little spontaneous blogpost! 

Toodlepip lovelies! 

Lucy x 

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

A Monthly Round Up // August.

I've never really done anything like this before. I've not sat back and reflected the month that just went past and all of the events that were in it. Although, I thought I would change that and reflect. Reflection is always good when you are trying to really make yourself and present the best version of yourself you can. I think these monthly round-ups will be more for me though as opposed to you readers. I want to see it as a way I can look back in years to come.  I would love to start a scrapbook of some relation to this and maybe that can be a goal for me in the New year.

August for me started off with a firework amount of shows, I took my boyfriend to watch Rocky Horror Picture Show. Which is unlike any theatre show he's seen before. I won't lie to you I was very nervous but it was an amazing performance and a show like I have never seen before. We saw it in Southend as well, which is amazing and wonderful that we have this venue where west end performances grace the stage.

The summer days were hot and filled with friends and laughter and little trips to the pub. I feel really blessed to have the people I do around me and really felt happy in myself for the first time in a while. I spent less time at work due to it not being very busy as it's the summer and we don't tend to have a lot of shows on which meant I had a lot of time to spend with myself.

It was then Christopher my boyfriend's birthday week. It was a very hectic week filled with fun, shows and friends. We had a game and cake night the day before his birthday and sang songs until we couldn't guess them anymore. I love that Chris and I share our special group of friends together as when we do spend time together it's better. We then spent his actual birthday in the pouring rain watching Evita at the Open Air Theatre in London. The only show I saw this month that I didn't write a review for My rocky horror show review and Les Mis is up on my blog already! This is simply for the fact of I was very disappointed with the theatre performance. I'm not one to talk negatively when it comes to shows and theatres, and I've never been to a show I have openly disliked apart from Evita. I really hope it was just the performance night we saw it, as with the rain pouring it is hard for your best foot to put across the stage. Especially when they have to stop the performance every 5 minutes to wipe the stage, it can put anybody off. 

On a more positive note, at the end of the week, we met up with my brother and his mother to watch the Les Mis concert. As said earlier my review for this is already up on my blog if you wish to check it out. 

The month ended a lot of admin and personal bits I wanted to tick off my list. Going to the hairdressers and having my hair completely transformed into a gorgeous shade of blonde really helped boost my confidence and make me feel like a new girl. This especially was very much needed for me as throughout the month I suffered a lot with losing a sense of myself and feeling huge amounts of burn out. But I feel I'm on the more positive side of that matter now luckily!

I would love to hear how your August went and what you got up too.

Thank you so much for reading!

Toodlepip lovelies

Lucy x

A Les Miserables Stage Concert // Theatre Review.

It's the most talked-about show of the summer. A classic well-known piece of theatre that's been changed into an all-star staged concert for only 16 weeks! This is due to the Queens Theatre which is now being called the Sodieum theatre is being refurbished. Performances for Les Miserables The All Staged Concert is at the Gielguld Theatre just next door!

I mean let's just take a moment to talk about the casting for a second. The casting within this musical is probably the best, and I hold myself to this now and forevermore I have ever been lucky to have a chance to see. With the likes of Michael Ball, Alfie Boe, Matt Lucas, and Carrie Hope Fletcher There is certainly no room for complaints. This casting choice did not disappoint in the slightest, as soon as Alfie Boe came out to sing the crowd was already cheering. Although I'm a huge fangirl for my big named West end stars, Matt Lucas personally stole the show for me. With his hilariously witty remarks both in and out of a script. Including his singing had us all within fits of laughter whenever his presence graced the stage.

Although the show was titled as Les Miserables. The atmosphere that filled the theatre was of a totally different level of vibe.  With it being an all-star staged concert, the production differed to the normal style Les Mis is normally seen as. The show was filled with the cast singing songs from the show and acting was kept to a minimum. Although like in much Les Mis tradition, the marching during 'Do You Hear The People Sing' had to be kept in. So, in this case, the stage production was of such a lower-end scale as compared to the previous version of the show itself.

Special mentions had to definitely go to Carrie Hope Fletcher singing 'I Dreamed A Dream'. I wasn't very sure of how Carrie would fit into the role of Fantine. But a casting choice here was so right. It felt like the emotion her character was feeling at that particular time was pouring through every word she sang. Let's just say I got very emotional. Another special mention has to go to Alfie Boe during 'Bring Him Home' because again just like Carrie, the singing took me away with emotions and I am pretty sure every single person felt the same as the cheering he received after was out of this world.

Another thing I would like to add is Shan Ako playing Éponine, was a phenomenal choice. Her voice was just as strong as the Éponine's before her. She's a real hidden gem. Much like her co-star Lily Kerhoas playing Cossette. Her innocent and sweet singing voice and acting really helped her make the role her own.

I have never seen a crowd react in such a way after the performance had finished. If anything it was such a blessing to be able to see such a star-studded cast, from new performers to older performers. This performance was one to definitely last a life time in my memories and I wish I could do it all again.

Have you seen this particular version of Les Miserables or seen it before? I would love to know!

Until next time. Thank you for reading!

Toodlepip lovelies

Lucy x