23 Things I've Learned at 23

Happy Birthday to me, I have offically made it to 23 years old! It's taken me a long time to get here but I have finally achieved it, I wanted to do a little birthday post a classic 2014 YouTube trend of 23 things i've learnt at 23 i'm not expecting this to be breathtaking for you all or even life changing. I just want to drop the experience bomb. I don't want to make this all philospofic but it might turn into that.

1 | It's okay to say no 

Sometimes you just want to stay at home in bed doing nothing but scrolling through the instagram explore page or going clubbing really isnt your thing. I put myself in a lot of situations that I found difficult or made me anxious for the fear of saying no, I learned a long time ago that it not worth putting myself through something that is going to make me sad just to please others.

2 | Do whatever the hell you like

If you want to post something a little "cringe" on your instagram story, start a blog, become a singer literally anything that you enjoy just do it, the judgement from other people truly isnt worth it. When I first started my blog I was so scared of what people would say about it, or if people would laugh at me so I didnt share it for months barely even letting my closet friends read it until one day I thought fuck it and i'm so glad a did. I still sometimes get that fear when I post something a little out of my comfort zone but in all honesty people who dont care wont read they'll just scroll past and that is okay with me.

3 | You don't need a thousand friends

In school life felt like a popularity game, now I have a handful of close friends that I know are friends for life and I wouldn’t trade any of them for a thousand friends.

4 | Just let it go

It's not worth holding grudges, yes there is people that I don't like and don't agree with some of the things they have done in the past but it's just not worth being caught up over. I'm alsotrying to apply this to myself too, not let myself get caught up in mistakes i've made in the past.

5 | Take as many pictures as possible

The people we see most often are the ones we tend to have the least pictures with, with the creation of snapchat I feel like I capture a lot more moments but I have learnt that there is never enough pictures of you with your loved ones.

6 | Be nice to everyone 

Whether it's a shop assistant, someone on the bus or your best friend in the world. Live life being as nice as you possibly can it makes all the difference to you and everyone else. Negativity attracts negativity.

7 |  It's okay not to be okay 

It can be a little cliche but I think it's true we all get a little sad sometimes and that's okay supressing thoughts and feelings in my experience just makes them worse and harder to deal with in the future. There is no shame in therapy and it can help more than you could imagine.

8 | School isn't the best time of your life

There is no way in hell that school was the best time of my life, I hated it. University might have been the best time in my life so far due to the people, the exprience and I was finally learning infomation about a subject I have a passion for. Don’t feel pressured if school or uni life isn’t going as good as you thought you have forever to have the best time.

9 | Long Distance Friendships Can Work

It can be extremley hard when you can't just text and meet up in an hour but myself and Molly prove that it can work, she is one of my best friends in the world we speak everyday and make a conscious effort to meet up. This is also the case with my uni friends we often communicate with each other about life. You just have to put in the effort, your best friends arent nessecarily the people who live next door.

10 | Read More

Whether it’s books, articles or blogs reading is good for clearing the mind and helping to de-stress but also reading the news and popular articles not just relying on Twitter moments for all of your news helps to broaden your knowledge and understanding as to what is happening around us. (Edit; the world right now is scary but twitter is where the real stories are being exposed not the news)

11 | Spend Less Time on Social Media 
I can not deny that social media is amazing! I have met some of my best friends in the world online and started my own photography business using social media as my main business platform however, there is also a lot of negatives that social media brings from body image to not being in the moment. Try spend even an hour less a day on your phone, you’ll feel the difference.

12 | Try Not to Judge One Another

First impressions matter I can’t dispute that but I try super hard everyday to just let people live, what others do tends to not effect or concern you. Let people do what they wanna do and be who they wanna be you’ll be a much better person for it.

13 | Not Drinking Alcohol is Totally Fine

After my anxiety issues alcohol was a big no no for me, the thought of clubbing was just too much and I wasn’t sure how alcohol would affect me and that worried me a lot. A couple of years later and I know I can have a pint or a couple of gins every once in a while but I don’t feel pressured to drink if I don’t want to. Throughout university I would often just stay home and have a movie night for one whilst my friends went out drinking because I didn’t enjoy it so I didn’t want to go and that’s totally cool! Don’t let anyone force you to drink and don’t force yourself it’s just not worth it.

14 | Write A List

 Personally setting myself little goals and ticking them off gives me a feeling of being productive. Keeping your life organised can help to keep your brain organised too. It can often get a little hectic and even a list can’t solve it but it’s a start.

15 | Work As Hard As You Can No Matter What Job You’re Working 

You are being paid so naturally you should work hard but sometimes when you’re in a job you hate that feels impossible but it’s important to work as hard as you can! This builds a strong work ethic that you will eventually take to a job you enjoy (or at-least don’t hate) it will also give you more job satisfaction when you walk out the door knowing you did all you could.

16 | I Love You 

This has became part of my everyday vocabulary I am always telling my family and friends that I love them I think it’s important, some people find it difficult to say and that’s okay but a little love and appreciation never hurt nobody. I often felt ashamed for being “too much” but now I’m cool with how loving I am and that is called growth!


17 | “Nobody Knows What They’re Doing”

This is a phrase I have heard over and over again but it’s true being in your twenties is a weird time for everyone, some people are off getting married whilst others are moving across the world. Everyone is on different life paths but no one knows where they’re gonna end up or if they’re doing the right thing, life is a personally journey not a group race.

18 | Learn How To Be Alone

I am still very much working on this I struggled a lot to be in my own company especially when I first moved back from university I’d gone from a house of five people to me and my mum. We have established that I am a clingy friend but I am slowly learning to be able to have a good time on my own, from taking myself shopping to going to the cinema on my own it’s good to be able to do things alone I’m happy I’m on the way to improving my needy-ness.

19 | There’s Some Amazing TV Shows & Films Make Time To Watch 

Again this is something I want to continue to do and make more time for there is some incredible entertainment out there especially coming from Netflix and Amazon Prime. Make time to sit down and watch them, be entertained and you never know might learn something.

20 | Everyone Can Benefit From Therapy

Everyone has baggage they need to unpack.

21 | Dogs & Pets Make The World A Better Place 

Unfortunately right now it's not fair for me to have a dog, I work full time and live with my Mum but eventually I will have a little pooch to call my own but for now I can make do with visiting friends who currently own a doggy. Just being around animals makes me so happy even as simple as seeing a cute dog across the street fills my heart with joy.

22 | Not Everyone Is Going To Like You

Personally I don't want everyone to like me, if that was the case I would feel like a robot woman with no personality of my own. The people who like me I truly value with my entire heart and I want in my life, I don't need everyone to like me.

23 | Life Is Long

I am a big believer in take opportunities life gives you and treat every month or so as your last (treat everyday like your last doesn't work for me I don't want my last day to be me at work) and live life to the fullest as much as you can and want to.
That being said, there is endless time to figure life out. You don't have to know exactly what you want to do by the time your 18 just try everything. Fail, fail and then fail again.



Well that ended up being quite deep sorry about that didn't plan it that way. I really enjoyed writing this post and thinking about what I wish I knew when I was about 15.
I'm off to celebrate my birthday now!

Skin Care Routine | Beauty

It’s safe to say I am culprit number one of not taking care of my skin. In all honestly it was something I just couldn’t be bothered to do, felt like another thing stopping me from walking in the door and clambering into bed but near the end of 2019 I sat myself down and said “look girl somethings gotta change you can’t just use and make up wipe and be done with it” so I went out and bought some new face stuff to motivate me to take care of my skin. I’m well aware it shouldn’t have taken for me to buy a new face wash to want to clean my face but it did so let’s move on.

I have always been blessed with quite nice skin, yes I get spots and blemishes but I am very lucky that I’m not prone to acne and I took that for granted. I often will roll out of bed in the morning and just do eye make up and eyebrows and not worry about face make up, I feel quite confident that I don’t need foundation but it does make my face look a lot better let’s be real.


I wasn’t quite ready to splash the cash just yet so I went for your standard drug store products. I’m going to try and explain to you my “skin care routine” if you want a name for it. I start off by taking the majority if not all of my make up off using micellar water. I’d always been that person who used a couple of make up wipes and was done with it but if I’m honest with myself my face was never fully clean but since using this B. Pure Micellar Water I truly feel like it gets the majority of my make up off. I got this bottle maybe a month ago and as you can see I’ve nearly used it all as I like to make double sure I’ve got as much off as I can, trip to the shops soon I don’t want to take my make up off with anything else now.

One time Beth told me that I shouldn't use micellar water to take my eye make up off and I thought to myself "no way am I buying another thing and added another step to my routine" but then when I went to Superdrug there was a buy one get one free offer on so I decided to get an eye make up remover. I really like this one, I chose the same brand simply for the offer but it works really well, honestly not sure if its better or worse than just using the micellar water but I am conforming to the skin care etiquette of buying more than you need and just going with it. I might update you one day at what I prefer but for now I'm using the B. Pure Eye Make Remover.

Once I’ve taken as much make up off as I possibly can I move into the bathroom and wash my face. When I was in boots I had no idea what face wash to get I just sort of stood there asking myself “do I have oily skin? Maybe it’s dry?” I was clueless so I settled on a pink one I like the smell of and I don’t regret doing that, could of been there for hours.

When I finally decided on a pink face wash that smelt like grapefruit I picked up Neutrogena's Refreshingly Clear Facial Wash and the Refreshingly Clear Moisturiser both in the pink grapefruit scent.
From my memory I don't think I have ever used anything by Neutrogena before but I knew it was a good brand from things I’ve heard down the blogging grapevine. I also picked up the moisturiser from the same range and something I have done for a long time is moisture my face so this tale is not all neglect. I wanted to get the same range for both products as I thought it would present the best results, I use both products twice a day (morning and night) and I am really happy with the results. After my first couple of uses I knew I liked it, the pink grapefruit scent is very refreshing and I really do feel how clean and soft my skin is.
I decided to use a glove to wash my face with instead of my hands there’s a deadly virus don’t you know as I although I often wash and sanitise my hands there will always be more germs than a glove - I believe this is an eco-tools exfoliating glove, I want to make it clear I don’t press super hard to exfoliate my skin but it does feel super soft after I use it so maybe every morning I’m slowing exfoliating my face away.

Who doesn't love a face mask? I obviously don't do this every night but I try to use a face mask at least once a week the one I have been using is L'oreal Pure Clay Red Algae Glow can you tell I gravitate towards pink things...
I really like this brand so far I mean I haven't had outstanding results as soon as I use it but my mum did say my skin was glowing and I am certainly not with child. I leave this mask on for about 20 minutes just standard whilst I read my book, watch TV or just do whatever I need to do walking around like I have no idea of my foundation shade and I often forget I have it on.

 That's it really, I try and that's all that matters right now. I hope you enjoyed this more traditional blogger post, I am trying to inject a little more me back into this blog so bare with me while I try things a little outside of my comfort zone.