Catch up time

I don't even know where to start! I didn't mean to take such an extended break away from the blog but I *think*, in hindsight, I needed it. Sometimes you just need to take a moment to collect your thoughts and focus on other things for a while. I've missed writing so much! I've been writing lots of tarot related things and writing up readings but I've so missed nattering away on the Bluebird & the Robin. This blog is like my baby; I worked so hard on revamping it over the summer, and I'm glad to be back for the winter. 

What exactly have I been doing with my time away?! Well, I 'moved in' with my fiance for three weeks as his family were away and it meant we had the flat to ourselves. I turned into a bit of a domestic goddess! I made some really tasty fresh meals, including a delicious Shepherd's Pie that took me a grand total of, ahem, four hours to prepare! What can I say, peeling potatoes isn't my forte... It was worth it though! I went for quite a few walks as my fiance lives near a lovely park, and I did lots of tarot readings. I've also been hard core wedding planning as the big day is suddenly right around the corner! I had my first dress fitting and the dress fits perfectly, thankfully! I was so worried as I've been non-stop snacking, I swear it's like I have no self control. Well, I do... I just really like chocolate *addicted*

A week or so in to our new domestic routine a close family member was rushed to hospital, and I had absolutely no desire to blog, to be honest. I felt as if I'd become sort of chained to my blogging schedule and had disconnected somewhat from the people around me. Having a family member in hospital was a serious wake-up call, and although it was a difficult time it was wonderful to reconnect with family and spend so much time together. My fiance and I were at the hospital every evening and although it was scary and stressful and I wouldn't want anyone to go through being admitted to hospital, I wouldn't trade those hours now as it really felt like bonding time. Thankfully all is fine now and the family member has made a good recovery. 

During this time I had some really quite incredible experiences with the tarot. One reading in particular was the catalyst for a promise I made to myself about my path. I figured that if a situation unfolded as indicated by the cards, I'd never doubt my abilities or the cards again, and I'd dedicate my life as much as possible to helping others, using tarot as a healing tool. That might sound dramatic, but it really did feel like an epiphany and I feel truly blessed. Keep an eye out for detailed posts coming soon!

I celebrated my 25th birthday last week! It was nice to be pampered and spoiled for the day, and I got some lovely presents including a Benefit makeup kit, Seventeen eyeshadow kit and lip crayon set and some Molten Brown bath and shower gel. I also got some brilliant books that I can't wait to get stuck into, including The Twelve Tribes of Hattie which I've heard so many good things about! Speaking of books and reading, I started my final uni course last week and I'm finding it an exciting yet stressful adventure so far. Anxiety-wise I've been doing really well but I am struggling a little at the moment as I'm putting myself under a lot of pressure, what with it being my final course. I can't seem to help it, but I know it's something I need to work on. I think because I haven't studied in a while I'm feeling nervous about 'forgetting' everything, and whenever I come across something I don't understand I panic and catastrophise! I like getting high marks and I can't stand it if my grades slip, but I know I need to be a little less hard on myself and take it one step at a time. It's a work in progress, like many anxiety related things are! 

I spent some time having a think about the direction of my blog and what I'd like to achieve. I think I'm going to scale back on the beauty reviews as although I love reading other bloggers' reviews I don't always feel as passionate writing them as I do when writing about personal development or tarot. It's likely I'll be introducing regular Anxiety Diaries, tarot and personal development posts and other lifestyle posts here and there. I'm sure there will be some beauty ones too! Just not as many as before. Plus, I'm totally broke at the moment! Every spare penny is going towards the wedding as we're on a very tight budget, so as soon as the bills are paid every month that's it, no spending! I'm so glad I got some beauty bits for my birthday as aside from the odd 'essential' here and there I don't think I'll be buying much over the next few months. Although I'll find a way to get involved in the Boots 3 for 2 Christmas gift offer as I do that every year... It practically makes Christmas, Christmas! ;)

That brings me to the end of my catch up ramble! If you made it this far thanks for having a read! Ooh and I thought I'd add in an extra photo of something I spied when out on a walk a few weeks ago. I wondered why I was so taken by this little tree I kept walking past, and then I realised: it's the Ace of Wands! The potential of creativity and growth, slap bang in the middle of the park. 

Baci e abbracci, 

        

Bloglovin' | Twitter | Instagram

The Lost Ones

At the bottom of my many makeup bags lie beautiful products long forgotten, neglected, forsaken. In my defense I don't necessarily relegate items on purpose... They just sort of end up lost among the many other products I purchase as the weeks roll by. Alas, no more! When rooting around for products to take to my fiance's this week (we're living together, alone, just the two of us for the next three weeks. No, we're not that traditional, we just both happen to live at home still, together really as we see each other every day, but I digress!) I stumbled upon some forgotten gems that I couldn't believe I'd abandoned over the past year or so. These babies are all amazing! I'm taking them out of retirement and giving them another hoorah. 

Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation ~ £33

How I love this foundation! I think it ended up archived because there's only a teeny bit left in the tube and it's really quite expensive so I must have been saving it for a 'special occasion'. I wore this every day last Autumn and Winter after receiving a tube for my birthday, and it's just brilliant. It gives fantastic full coverage without looking at all heavy or cakey, and it feels so smooth and luxurious. If I recall correctly it does require quite a lot of blending as the palest shade ('Cream Ivory') is a little too yellow toned for me, but I can live with that. It also requires powder to set it, or you run the risk of mid morning shine, but again I can live with that, as the coverage and finish is incredible! I've now got my eye on a Laura Mercier primer and Laura Mercier Oil Free foundation as I reckon these might be a brilliant tag team for keeping me matte all day long. If you're looking for more of a luminous finish, you can't go wrong with Silk Creme. 

Revlon Photoready BB Cream ~ £9.99

This is definitely more of a Winter base for me, as it can make me a little shiny when worn during the summer months. It gives quite light coverage but is creamy enough to look and feel satisfyingly 'thorough', and when teamed with a good concealer this is a great option for when you want a healthy 'glow'. The colour ('Light') is perfect and not at all orange or too yellow, and it lasts well throughout the day when set with a light dusting of powder. I really like this for when I don't want to wear as heavy a base as usual, and after watching Lisa Eldridge's video on covering acne prone skin, I'm convinced that a lighter foundation paired with a targeted heavier concealer might be the way to go for faking flawless skin!

Seventeen 'Damson Wine' Blush Powder ~ £3.49

I'm usually a light pink or peach blusher kind of gal but this caught my eye after seeing it mentioned on a blog post (bad blogger here, I can't remember which blog... Sorry!) I've wanted to experiment with a darker blush for a while but didn't want to spend lots, so went with this Seventeen bargain. It's only now it's Autumn that I can see myself reaching for this more, and I was pleasantly surprised to test it out again recently. It adds a nice depth of colour without being too 'plummy' or chalky and it's been fun to discover that I can actually pull off colours other than your standard pinks and peaches! I find Seventeen makeup to be great quality considering the purse friendly prices and I may just have to have a peek at the other shades on offer. 

B. Glowing Shimmer Block Blush 196 ~ £8.99

Now, there is absolutely no excuse for letting this blusher brick slip through the net as it's super gorgeous and works like a dream at brightening up my tired, pale morning face. I haven't seen many reviews of Superdrug's B. makeup and skincare line but I've made quite a few purchases and the quality of every product has been brilliant. I love all of the five shades contained in this blusher compact, from the deepest pink for adding a pop of colour to the white shimmer strip for highlighting. Not at all overly shimmery, this gives a really healthy glow and works in every season. I can't wait to use this throughout Autumn/Winter, it really is a hidden gem and it's also so pretty to look at! The handy mirror is a nice touch, too. 

Sleek 'Storm' I Divine Eyeshadow Palette ~ £7.99

I went through a serious eyeshadow palette phase last year and one of the beauties I picked up, and then swiftly discarded, was Sleek's 'Storm' palette. Until recently I've been all about the neutral eye and never ventured into the world of colour, so I just didn't really get much use out of this beautiful selection. However! When I cracked this open a few days ago and saw the cranberry and pink shadows I was hooked! I'm absolutely obsessed with all things pink, pomegranate, cranberry and plum when it comes to eyes at the moment and I'm so glad to have rediscovered this. To be fair there are also quite a few nude colours in this and they're all shimmery which is my weakness! I'm loving the forest green shade as well. A successful palette all around!

I think I have more lip products than any other beauty item and I was thrilled to find these bad boys hidden away in my stash. From the top we've got RevlonSuper Lustrous Lipstick 'Cherry Blossom' (£7.49), MUA Lip Colour Tint 'Crazy In Love' (£3) and Bobbi Brown Rich Lip Colour 'Pick Peony' (£19). 

Don't let the red bullet deceive you, as 'Cherry Blossom' is actually more of a fuchsia pink when applied. I like to blot this after applying to create more of a stain effect and it's going to be one I reach for frequently throughout Autumn. 

I picked up a couple of MUA's Colour Tint lip crayons a while back and forgot all about 'Crazy in Love' but I'm now head over heels for it. Again, I like to blot this one to give more of a stain, although it can be layered for stronger intensity. Colour wise it's a lovely raspberry red colour with touches of pink, and it makes my teeth look whiter which is a plus! 

I received 'Pink Peony' as a birthday present almost a year ago and it's so different to all of the other pinks in my collection. Bobbi Brown describe it as a 'medium toned pink' and it's a lot brighter and stronger when on than in the bullet, so I tend to prefer it to for evenings. It makes a welcome change to my current reds and berries obsession! 

I've spilled my stash, let me know what hidden gems you've found in yours! 

Baci e abbracci, 

                                                       

Bloglovin' | Twitter | Instagram

Nostalgia alert! First Time tag

I'm so nostalgic that there was no chance I was passing up on this wonderful tag! 
I love nothing more than flipping through old photo albums and creating memory scrapbooks, so a First Time blog post is right up my street. I'm also an avid genealogy buff, my love for all things nostalgia reaching as far back as the late 1600s, all in the name of family research! I read through Megan's post with glee, hoping she'd tag me and she did! Thanks doll :) Be sure to check out her post to find out who Sassy Precocious is..! With a name like that I bet you can't resist a peek!

First best friend

In nursery my best friend was a girl named Sinead. I remember spending countless mornings standing together in front of the art table, painting our hands blue and giggling the whole time before being sternly told to rinse our hands off at once! I also remember Sinead's family owning a pub which I thought was pretty cool, as there was always so much room to run around and play. 

My first 'proper' best friend was Alice, who is now my maid of honour! We grew up on the same street and became friends when we were about six before falling out of contact for a few years until we were about twelve. We've been inseparable ever since and have had some interesting adventures together! From our first time drinking alcohol (and suffering an almighty hangover that I haven't repeated since) to supporting each other through heartaches and cheering each other on when falling in love, we've been with each other every step of the way and she's more like a sister to me than a best friend. We speak in our own bizarre language of accents and random noises, which never fails to annoy my long suffering fiance, although he's so used to it now he understands what we're saying even when it sounds like nonsense! I'm so glad I'll have Alice by my side on my wedding day as I know she'll be the best support a girl could ask for. Plus, she's sure to give a rocking speech! 

First kiss

My first kiss, if you can count a quick peck on the lips as part of a very tame game of spin the bottle as a first kiss (!), was with a boy who lived in my neighbourhood. I must have been about eight or nine and our parents used to celebrate New Year's Eve together every year with a bunch of other families from the neighbourhood. To say I was excited would be an understatement, as I was head over heels for this boy and felt on top of the world after! This was a crush that continued long into my teenage years until I realised it wasn't going to be reciprocated *sobs* Still, at least I got my first kiss!

First concert

I'm pretty sure my first concert was to see the Spice Girls when I was in primary school. I went with my best friend at the time, Rebecca, and our mums and we had a blast! I was so excited I didn't sleep the night before and ended up feeling really ill on the day, but I pulled through and had the time of my life. It was right before Geri quit (still traumatised, by the way) so we got to see all of them strutting their stuff. I was a HUGE Spice Girls fan and had all their albums and singles on tape. I made it my mission to learn every word of every song and my friends and I devised all sorts of ridiculous dance routines during break time at school! 

One of my favourite Spice Girls related moments was when I got to try on Geri Halliwell's costumes. Definitely still up there as one of the best days of my life! My Dad worked at the auction house where she auctioned off her Spice Girls outfits and I was lucky enough to be invited to try on a selection of her clothes, including the famous Union Jack Dress. Strangely, her clothes fit me which is a bit worrying as I was about nine at the time! I had an absolute blast and took a ton of seriously cringe worthy photos (evidence below). When the Spice Girls reformed a few years back my friend Lisa booked us tickets and so I got to see them perform live again, and it was seriously the BEST night! I completely lost my voice from screaming and singing along, and I burst into tears countless times from sheer excitement. See, told you I love a bit of nostalgia!

First celeb crush

I must have been quite a logical child when it came to matters of the heart as I didn't 'believe' in celeb crushes. I figured I'd probably never meet them so what was the point?! I did fall head over heels for Zac Efron when High School Musical was released when I was 16, although that was less of a 'crush' and more of an appreciation of his fine form *sigh* I still think he's pretty hot to be honest, he only gets better with age! I was heartbroken when he split with Vanessa Hudgens, as they were the perfect couple and Troy and Gabriella were supposed to be together forever! Yes, I know I'm mixing up real life with fiction, but, in the words of HSM3, 'I want the rest of my life to feel just like a High School Musical' *sob* 

First job

When I was 14 my stepmum's friend offered Alice and I a leaflet dropping gig for her estate agent company. We were paid £20 to walk around South West for two days straight, dropping leaflets in peoples' letterboxes, and it definitely counts as one of the worst jobs I've ever had! Not only did it rain the whole time, but the leaflets were stored in flimsy cardboard boxes, which quickly disintegrated in the rain, meaning we had to shove leaflets in random Sainsburys bags which we took from a Sainsburys local. It was absolutely awful, although at the time £20 seemed like enough to make it worthwhile!

First phone

I had your average brick phone to begin with, when I was about twelve, one that sent texts and received calls and that was about it! I remember constantly running out of credit texting my friends in the evening after school, much to my mum's annoyance. I then progressed to a small Samsung flip phone when I was a teenager which I thought was awesome as, duh, it was a flip phone! I ran up a huge £150 bill one evening on the phone to my first 'boyfriend' (we saw each other three times in the space of two months before deciding to 'go on a break'!) which my Dad wasn't best pleased with! Now I have an IPhone and am predictably, boringly addicted to all of it's wonderful functions. I take all my blog pictures with it and am constantly on Twitter and Instagram chatting to friends and fellow bloggers. It's crazy how much time I spend on my phone! It's sort of difficult to remember what life was like without it...

First music I bought

Tape wise, the first music I bought (or rather, was given) was the Spice Girls Spice album, as well as various other pop albums such as B*Witched and Steps. The first CD I remember owning was Corona's 'The Rhythm of the Night' which for some reason I was obsessed with! I also remember absolutely loving an M People album, haha, eclectic taste I guess! I've always loved buying CDs and even though I have an ipod I rarely use it, to be honest. I have shelves packed full of CDs from the past fifteen years or so and I can't bring myself to discard any of them, even the weird random singles and CDs that came free with magazines! I'm just not one for downloading, I love the feel of a new CD in my hands and I always enjoy leafing through the booklet that comes in each case (even better if the words to the songs are included!)

First tweet

Before my current Twitter account I had a different one but decided to merge the two. I have no idea what my first tweet was! I'm pretty sure my first tweet on my current account was about tarot, as I started the account primarily to tweet and blog about tarot. There are too many to scroll back through!

First makeup 

I've always been a makeup obsessive, and I remember buying Shout magazine from the age of 8 primarily for the free makeup attached! I had a peach blusher, Collection 2000 frosted pink lipstick, black eyeliner pencil and Collection 2000 black mascara, to name a few freebies. Before my magazine obsession kicked in I had makeup from Woolworths, usually linked to a brand, such as a Polly Pocket fuchsia pink lipstick and a pack of pink and red peel-off nail varnishes. When I first started buying makeup with my pocket money it was usually from Spectacular (remember the white nail varnish?!) and Secret Weapon at Superdrug, home of the glittery green hair mascara and gold flecked roll-on body glitter. I also had quite a collection of 99p fruit flavoured roll-on lipglosses from the local market and of course various hand-me-downs from my mum, including a L'Oreal mascara that I remember being obsessed with, and a shimmery beige Rimmel eyeshadow that came in a plastic maroon coloured case. I also loved Collection 2000 products, especially the lipgloss wands, clear mascara and eyeshadow trios. Who didn't own the blues, browns and greens palettes?! 

First word

I just asked my mum what my first word was and she replied 'I have no idea', which says a lot really... Second child syndrome! I have a baby record book somewhere but I can't find it, so who knows?! Haha, my mum is the best mum ever but she's not overly sentimental or nostalgic, much like my grandma. I'm not sure where I get it from!

First pet

Now, this one I do know! My first pet was a goldfish who I named Armband. The story goes that I was about three years old and my parents asked me what I'd like to call my new pet. I immediately said 'Armband' and the name stuck. Hey, it's sort of logical! It's water related, at least!

After Armband I didn't have another pet until I was about eight, when we adopted a little black and white cat who we called Dusty. He was the greatest cat ever, I promise you, he was truly the best cat in the whole world. He was so gentle, snuggly and calm and he loved sitting on my lap for cuddles. Unfortunately he developed a string of health problems later in life, including going blind, but you couldn't tell! He still prowled around outside and moved around the house as usual, using his ultra incredible sense of smell to guide him! He passed away a few years ago and I've never felt heart break like it. I think it's because pets are so innocent and sweet and just lovely that it hurts in a very unique way when they die. I cried for days and still get a little upset now and again but I'm eager to adopt a little kitten as it's so nice having a little creature wandering around the house! Pets are the best, I can't imagine never having another one. 

Right, that's me done! I'd love to see the following bloggers have a go at the First Time Tag as it's so much fun and I'm such a nosy person that I'd love to read more tales of nostalgia! In fact I'd love to read any and every First Time post so if you're not 'tagged' don't let that put you off! Go ahead and get nostalgic, and leave me a link to your post!

Michaela from The Life and Times of Michaela Lydon
Becci from Only Becci
Meaghan from XOXO Meaghan
Jessica from The Mod Mermaid

Baci e abbracci, 

                                                         

Bloglovin' | Twitter | Instagram