One Last Post and New Blog

Hello Lovely Girls,

Very long time no speak!! I have been completely MIA for months now and want to apologise for my absence. Since starting university I have not exactly been a dedicated blogger and have come to terms with the fact that I am not very good at beauty and fashion blogging unlike my lovely sister Chloe!!

I have however, decided to start a new blog that will be a completely different format to life-sparkles, my new blog is called lessonsivelearnt.blogspot.co.uk, the name says it all really, but I will be talking about just that, lessons that I have learnt through school, university, work, friendships and life in general. If any of you would like to check it out you are more than welcome!

I just wanted to say a HUGE thank you to all of you lovely ladies that have supported this blog, some of whom I have even formed friendships with. I am going to make it one of my new years resolutions to read more posts so always feel free to let me know when you have a new one!!!

Stay Beautiful,

Hannah xx

LUSH Haul

Hello beauties,

Hope you all had a fab weekend! I had a lovely time seeing my family with Chloe, before returning to Uni Sunday afternoon!

As I have such lovely friends, they purchased me some Lush goodies as a belated birthday present as well as a couple of bits I picked up myself! So here we go - I will link the products for you lovely ladies!

• Rub Rub Rub Shower Scrub - £7.95 - This was one of the products I purchased for myself as I had heard a lot of good things about it. The scrub contains very small sea salt crystals and smells of lemons. The woman in the store demoed this on me and it left my skin feeling so so soft! She also said that she uses it in her hair to give texture and volume which I thought was interesting, but she had amazing hair so I'm looking forward to trying it out for myself!
• Brazened Honey Face Mask - £5.95 - Firstly this face mask smells wonderful if you are a honey lover like myself! This face mask is apparently perfect for stress relief and tired skin, which I will most definitely be needing over the next couple of weeks during exam time! 
• Dream Cream - £10.95 - Now I did not actually purchase this product, the lovely sales assistant in the Canterbury store gave me two sample pots of this to try out. As this is Lush's number one product I have been meaning to try it for the longest time, it is meant to be fantastic for eczema sufferers and those with sensitive skin. Plus it smells great (oats, cocoa butter and rose oil!) 
• FUN Green - £5.00 - Fun is one of Lush's latest products, and was given to me as a gift! The green one has a citrusy smell that reminds me of starburst!! Even though I haven't used it for all of it's uses yet (shower gel, bubble bath, shampoo, hand wash) me and my flatmates have had a fab time using it as playdoh! 
• Each Peach Massage Bar - £5.50 - An old favourite that I reviewed maybe just over a year ago! I love to used this in the summer as it smells very fruity, and was told by a member of staff that it is great for keeping mosquito's away!! 
• Think Pink Bath Bomb - £2.50 - I'm sure loads of you have already tried this bath bomb, it's such a girly scent! I cannot wait to use this when I return home for summer and actually have a bath in the house haha! I love the vanilla scent and the hearts that come out when put in the water!
• Phoenix Rising Bath Bomb - £3.20 - First things first, I think this bath bomb looks gorgeous. It's actually one of the few that I haven't tried, so was pleasantly surprised when I received it! This has a cinnamon scent, which I personally love and contains cocoa butter.
• Ro's Argan Body Conditioner - £15.50 - I actually got this as part of a set so I have a slightly smaller tub, but oh my this may be one of my favourite Lush scents ever - it contains almond, rose, lemon and brazil nut oil, vanilla, shea butter, argan oil and cocoa butter. You are supposed to used this product in the same way you use conditioner in your hair, but on your body, it leaves the skin feeling so soft and wonderful!
• Buffy Body Butter - £5.95 - I have been meaning to try a solid body butter for quite some time, and buffy seemed like a good choice! It contains lots of lovely ingredients and I was told that it is good for toning you skin as well!

I hope you enjoyed this post! Let me know what your favourite Lush products are and if there are any I should try out!

Stay Beautiful,

Hannah xx

Girly Candle Haul - Lily Flame

Hello Sweeties,

As I'm sure a lot of you are, I am a huge fan of candles! Now much to my dismay Slatkin and Co. candles are not available here in the UK, but one brand that I am absolutely obsessed with is Lily Flame, which I'm sure many of you have heard of, especially since the names of the scents are so cute!

Living in student accommodation, it is a big no no to burn candles in our rooms - a hair dryer even set off the fire alarms once - much to the security guards annoyance!!! So, in celebration of the end of the academic year, and a new house next term, I asked for some Lily Flame candles for my birthday! They are all £8.50 each, and are available online or in John Lewis / Waitrose I believe!

Fairy Dust

This is my favourite scent of the three, I actually got this one as one of my Mum's Mothers Days gifts a few months back and decided I needed one for myself! It has a very feminine and powdery smell, that is also very relaxing. 

Dolly Rocker

Once again an extremely girly scent with an even girlier name to match! This candle is stronger than fairy dust, but still has a powdery smell to it and I think also some floral notes in there. I cannot wait for my bedroom to smell like this!

Blush!

Finally is the lovely Blush! The tin says - The first kiss - of the night! It's definitely a stronger scent, that is once again incredibly feminine, with a more fruity and perfume like smell than the others. I'm in love!

I hope you enjoyed this post! Let me know if there are any candles you think I should try!

Stay Beautiful, 

Hannah xx

Guess Who's Back?! - Catch Up Time

Hello lovely bloggers!

So I think I owe you all an explanation as I have most definitely been MIA for the past 10 months. As some of you may know if you follow me on twitter you will know that A LOT had changed in my life since the last time we spoke. The biggest change being that I have moved from Essex to the lovely city of Canterbury to go to university!

I currently live with seven girls who are all wonderful, five of whom I am going to live with for the next two years! I thought I'd do some updates in picture form!

(Left to Right)

1. Some of my flatmates - with mustaches and attractive faces. 2. Myself and my twin Chloe on Christmas day 2012! 3.Last Friday my Mum, her friend and I went to see BBC 3 show Sweat the Small Stuff be filmed in London, we met the very friendly comedian Sean Walsh! 4. This Easter my Mum and I went to Portugal, this was the gorgeous beach. 5. My bedroom door at uni, we all have Disney princesses on our doors :) 6. About two weeks after we began uni we had our first flat inspection. We failed. Moral of the story - do not have a party the night before!! 7. Planet Hollywood with my lovely mum, sister and family friends. 8. The drawing round of our pub quiz, our team chose to draw Nicki Minaj and we won no points! Robbed? I think so. 9. Night out with my lovely friends!

(Left to Right)

1 + 4. Being the mature 19 year old I am, I went to the zoo with my friend Shannon instead of revising, I met a Zebra and a Cheetah! 2. Last week my flatmates and I played Articulate, needless to say my team lost! 3. Wearing a wristband for a week can only result in ridiculous tan burn lines. 5. Chloe thought it would be funny to request Domino's to draw a cat on our box. Much to our amusement they did. 6. Our journey home from uni took a detour through Brentwood when there was an accident on the M25. This resulted in meeting Harry from TOWIE in his shop!! 7. My lovely flatmate Amy and I sitting front row at Take Me Out last December. 8. The chalkboard in our kitchen with Charlotte's wonderful sea monkeys drawing "They are not toys or pets, they're family". 9. Winter Wonderland with some of my besties!

So I hope you have enjoyed this little update! I hope to be posting more regularly from now on. I'll be doing a mixture of posts from beauty, to life updates, and even advice posts if you're interested!

If you are reading this thank you for sticking with me through my rather long absence! Speak to you all soon!

Stay Beautiful,

Hannah xx

Tag: Dirty Little Secrets

Hello Lovelies!

I hope you are all well and are having a lovely summer! I was at work almost every day for the past two weeks which is why I haven't been blogging, but after a lovely trip to Alton Towers yesterday and today I am back and ready to blog! So I thought I would start with this fun tag that the lovely Ariel from chiclookxo just posted!

1. What TV/Film show do you secretly watch?

I haven't watched it for a while but I used to love iCarly :') I am also becoming obsessed with The Hills again!

2. What song do you secretly know all the words to? 

This answer is the same as Ariel but Super Bass by Nicki Minaj haha! I also know all of the words to Good Time by Carly Rae Jepsen and Owl City or SOS by the Jonas Brothers haha!!

3. Who is the one "non-famous" person you'd secretly like to meet?

(Blogger/YouTuber related)

I can't say one so I am going to make a list!

For bloggers I'd like to meet Ariel, Alona, Maria, Lauren, Perdi and Cerys :) To be honest I would love to meet you all! <3

For youtube I'd love to meet the Shaytards or Tanya Burr :) I also love Boyce Avenue but I got to see them in London really recently!

4. What is your worst bad habit?

Injuring myself / clumsiness. I hurt myself all the time in the space of 24hours I managed to burn my neck on my ghd's, smash my toe on the door of Esquires (a coffee shop) and trip over a box at work!!!

5. What is the most expensive thing you own? Do you regret buying it?

The most expensive thing I have bought with my own money was a Guess bag a couple of years ago in Florida, I'd been saving money for that holiday so I didn't regret buying it, in fact I use it all the time :) Anything more expensive I have received as a gift so I can't say I regret buying it haha! 

6. What is your biggest pet peeve?

When people come into my room and the door is shut but leave it open when they leave!!

7. What do you secretly like the smell of?

I don't secretly like the smell of anything :') But I like the smell of BBQ's because they remind me of summer!

8. What are you secretly lusting after?

The Olympics!!!! I am seriously obsessed, maybe because it's  half an hour away in London, maybe it's because I like to look at the athletes (I never watch sports!) but I have been glued to the screen for the past two weeks! I am actually going to the Paralympic Athletics in the Olympic Stadium with my Dad and Chloe in a few weeks - I am SO excited! It has also become mine and my friends mission to get tickets to see Tom Dayley dive on Friday!!!!  

I TAG YOU ALL!! :)

Also here's a little video of me embarrassing myself zorbing the other day with my Dad! I almost kicked the poor man working there in the face after he specifically asked me not to!!!!

Hopefully that made you giggle as much as my sister in the background!!!

Let me know which country you are supporting for the Olympics! (Go Team GB!!!)

Stay Beautiful,

Hannah xx

New Uni Series - Applying to University (Part One)

Hello my lovelies!

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend, it's finally looking a bit like summer here in Essex!

I have a spare couple of hours so I thought I'd start my new University series, these posts will vary as and when things happen but I thought I'd write a quick little post on my experience with the application process which will be part one, and I will do another post in the future on writing a personal statement because that's a whole other story haha! Hopefully those of you who will be applying withing the next couple of years will find this helpful, I am by no means an expert but I found other peoples experiences and advice so useful so I thought I'd share mine with you! 

1. Do I actually want to go to University?

So this is the obvious first question! University has always been something that I wanted to do since I was a young girl, I've always been fairly academic so the choice was fairly easy for me, however, I know that some of my friends have struggled with making the same decision. Tuition fees for a lot of Uni's have now risen to £9000 per year, and my year group is the first in the UK to have to pay the risen fees which can seem really off-putting! However, when you look more deeply into it you won't start paying anything back until you are earning £21,000 a year I believe, and your tuition fees are payed for automatically from your student loan. I won't go into too much depth with student finance because that would end up being a whole different post altogether!! What I am trying to say is that university is affordable for almost everyone so don't let tuition fees scare you!

Another factor to take into account is whether or not you want to go. Please do not let anyone whether it be pushy teachers, friends or your parents make this decision for you, but at the same time do not let nerves or fears stop you from going. As long as you are willing to spend three or more years in education, studying a subject you love then I'd say go for it! But if you do not want to, maybe take a gap year or look for some other form of employment or apprenticeship :)

2. Which subject should I take?

As some of you may know I am going to be doing a joint honors degree in Sociology and Social Science with Applied Criminology (It's a bit of a mouthful haha!) When deciding which subject to take I thought about my A Levels and which subject I enjoyed the most - which in my case was Sociology, a subject that I love and I am fairly good at, I also studied crime and deviance as one of my units and found that really interesting too which helped me to come to my decision. The other for universities I applied to, I chose Sociology and Criminology, but the university I liked best offered the degree above which is a bit more varied, offering elements of psychology etc. 

So my best advice for you guys is to pick a subject you already or know you will enjoy and are interested in, as well as picking a subject you are good at. If you are really good at something but hate doing it, then you won't want to spend three years purely studying that subject! If like me you like a little variety, then a joint honors degree might be for you!

3. Which universities should I apply to?

There's three main ways to cut the hundreds of universities down in my opinion :)

• Will you be moving out or staying at home? - If you would like to stay at home while studying at university, then you will obviously have to focus on researching universities that you can realistically get to, this will help to cut down your choices :)
• How far away am I willing to move? - If you are (like me) going to move out, you need to decide how far away from home you are willing to be away from home, and also where you would like to live. I have decided on a university that is about a 2 hour drive away! You need to not only choose a university you feel comfortable in, but also a town / city that you will be happy living in!
• What are my predicted grades? - One way to pick is by looking at universities entry requirements, and comparing that to your predicted grades to see whether you would realistically get in. The advice often given is that you should pick 2/3 uni's that meet your predicted grades 1 with lower requirements and one with higher. 

Another piece of advice I would give is to visit universities!!!! It is honestly the best way to decide where to go, you will automatically get a feel for the place and will be able to see whether you will feel comfortable going there! I thought I'd love some places, but when I actually visited them I wasn't so keen!

I hope some of you found this helpful! Please let me know if you have any questions and would like to see more of these posts :)

Stay Beautiful,

Hannah xx

Long Time No Speak + Your Opinions

Hello Lovely Bloggers!

I think I owe everyone a bit of an explanation seeing as I have been MIA for the past month and a half! (Sorry!!!)

As some of you may remember I was in my final year of college taking my final A Level exams, which meant I have been studying like crazy - I am one of those people who panics about just about every exam I take so I along with the majority of my friends became completely antisocial for the first three weeks of June while revising! Anyway, my exams are finally over, I have left college and am preparing myself this summer to start university in September, which means I will have a lot more free time to blog - I am finally back and ready to start posting what ever you would like to see!

In the run up to starting university I was wondering if you guys would like to see any advice posts, possibly starting with the application process as I have already completed it :) I might also blog my experiences as they happen if you guys would be interested?

Anyway, sorry for the quick post, I promise I will get better!

Stay Beautiful,

Hannah
xx