Sunday 22 June 2014

A little about me.

My name's Sarah. I'm a 19 year old full time student studying Business and Marketing at university. I'm not sure if this is what I want to do for the rest of my life but for now I feel getting a degree would be a good start. I'm beauty and fashion obsessed, I am always watching youtube videos on beauty products or lookbooks or shopping. Home decor is also a love of mine, buying new things to make a house a home. Due to being a student I have to do this on a budget which isn't always easy.

I write this blog because I love writing! I took English Literature and Language at A-level and it's something I wished I could do more, so I started writing about things that I love. I like sharing my experiences and reading of others. I'm hoping that I can keep doing this throughout my time at university whilst I continue to take a course that I don't exactly love just to give me something to enjoy doing.

There's a lot more to hear about me but that's for a later time. Thanks for reading.


Love Sarah 



Friday 20 June 2014

Frugal Fridays!

Every Friday I'm going to do a give tips on how to make your itty student funds go that just bit further as I know when you're a student you can be very strapped for cash.

Firstly do your shopping in advance, you have no idea how much of a difference it'll make. My boyfriend and I are able to spend somewhere between £70-100 on our food for a month because we plan out our meals and eat the fresh food first, and the food that we know we will not have time to eat we freeze so that we do not waste anything. By doing this we don't spend money on food we don't eat and don't end up having to go to the local shop late at night to spend a lot more on dinner than we would've if we had bought it online. We do our food shopping with ocado. They have offers for inviting friends which we've also done. ;P

Secondly is plan out a budget for clothes and stick to it, you'd be surprised during the sales how much you'll get for your money. Also always check if your student discount works on sale items, you'll be missing out if you don't as a lot of times it does. Also with makeup buy in bulk if it's on deals, okay at the time when you're paying out £25.00 for foundation that will be expensive, but say it's buy 2 get one free and one bottle lasts you 2-3 months you'll be good for 9 months if you're lucky! That's a saving. 

Get a bite card and a 16-25 card! A 16-25 card costs £30 and it'll save you a third on rail prices and if you connect it to your oyster card it'll get a third off that travel too. It's great, especially for long journeys to see friends on the other side of the country. It's also good to buy your tickets in advance, I buy mine on redspottedhanky and that has saved me a lot. A bite card is a free card that you can sign up for that will get you 20% off at a ton of rail station brands which is great when you're traveling, even if it's just a trip home and you fancy a burger, and it's free!

My last tip is about saving. I opened a savings account last year and by paying in a small amount on a regular basis when you need the money, may it be for your rent or just a treat for yourself when you're feeling down you'll have the money. It's a great reassurance for those months when you're struggling for funds to know that you have some money to back you up if you need it. I'm saving for home things and my utilities next month so therefore I'll be able to buy myself some new summer clothes when I have the time. A good one to have is the post office one.


And that's all my tips for this week, I'll be back with more discounts, sales and way to stretch that loan!

Love Sarah 


Thursday 19 June 2014

You Beauty Discovery box review! June 2014.


It's review time! This is my second month getting this box, I also get glossy and latest in beauty but reviews will be done on them at another time. These boxes cost £6.95, including delivery which is much less than a lot of boxes. That being said you do get a lot less, two items that you can choose and two 'free' items.


The first item I chose was the l'oreal paris infalliable 24h lip colour in 110 timeless rose. This retails for £9.99 and it a new product on the market. Which is much better than a lot of the products I've previously received in boxes which companies are just trying to get rid of. I also love the colour, there was a much brighter colour but I figured I'd get more use out of this one. I do think the lasting power is great but it's not exactly a life changing product. Maybe as I use it more I will love it more, either way it was a good value considering how much I paid for the box.



The next product I chose was the Her Haircare Rituals 300 Trecento Reinvitialising Hair Treatment that you put on before you wash your hair.  I got a little pot with a 75ml sample.You put dampen your hair, put the treatment in  leave in for 5 minutes, 300 seconds, before rinsing and washing your hair as normal. It aims to create a protective layer to 'restore resilience, strength and elasticity to minimise frizz, enhancing health and shine'. I'm all for products like this because I don't have the best relationship with my hair, haha. I've had problems with my scalp and my ends and it's so hard to deal with, especially since a lot of it is caused by the hard water which I can't get away from! After one use of this product I have seen some changes. Since I can only use this at most 2 times a week; I use it every other hair wash so that's once a week, I haven't seen dramatic ones, but I'm hoping that if I continue to consistently use it my hair will improve further. I'm not sure I like it enough though to pay the £30 for 200ml. 


The first free item I got was an heart expandable face cloth. I don't know what there is to say about this, it does it's job and the heart shape was adorable. It's great to be used to with the next product that I got. The other free item was a Dead Sea Mud Spa mask by Montagne Jeunesse. These masks aren't particularly expensive but I have a long time love for them. The come in so many different scents to help  different skin types. My boyfriend and I have had nights were we've had a spa night and put them on and he loves them also. That being said this mask doesn't disappoint. I love the the fact it's a spa mask and I found it luxurious and a nice little treat. :)



Overall I think that this has been a good value box and whilst I may not also be able to pay the price of a birch or glossy box I will keep getting this one as it's a nice little treat to get once a month. 


Love Sarah 


Tuesday 17 June 2014

Bedroom inspirations!

This is going to be a similar post to be living room inspirations one, explaining what I've bought and what I plan on doing to make the place feel more like a home.

Unlike the living room this room is very very small, which gives me little space to play with. I also spent a large amount on a Jack Wills duvet cover last Christmas, and as a student I can't really afford to just go out and spend a ton of money on another, so that's going to have to stay also. This being said the colours of the room have been decided from this duvet cover. The duvet cover is primarily navy with pink flowers, luckily navy and pink are my favourite colours.


 The first thing I purchased to go with this bedding with this cushion from George, it's Navy and says 'love' on it in a cursive font. I decided that the navy would go with the bedding and the white would give me a chance to bring more of that into the room.


The blanket I plain on purchasing is the same as everyone has; the IKEA Ofelia. I love how it's white and so it will draw some light in and away from the dark navy of the duvet. The white will also contrast well with the white on the cushion.


The bedside lights were purchased a while ago, because when I first moved into student accommodation I had no light so on my first food shopping trip I purchased a pink one, which I ended up never using and so I kept it and recently purchased another so they matched on either side of the bed. The pink is a similar colour to the pink of the duvet cover.


I plain on keeping the navy in the room to a minimum and instead focusing on white and pink to draw colour in and make the room feel bigger than it is. Luckily I don't need to purchase wardrobes since they are built in, and there is a set in the other room too giving us a wardrobe each. I do however need to decide on bedside tables, I think that this will need to be decided once we can see how much room we have and I'm still trying to figure out what to do about curtains, obviously I would want them to be pink or white but the style and such is still unknown.  

I'm sure when I've moved in and put the room together I'll post more pictures of how it's come together.  


Love Sarah 

Monday 16 June 2014

HomeSense haul!

I realise I haven't posted in what seems like forever but May could have just been the craziest month of the year so far. I ended up with a severe kidney infection leading me to being in hospital on two separate occasions, it was not fun. That being said I want to get blogging again because writing is something I've always enjoyed doing and recently I was lucky enough to go to HomeSense which is somewhere I've wanted to go to for the longest time ever after seeing it in vlogs, and because of my incredible love for TKmaxx. I was not disappointed!

As said before on the 1st July I will be moving into a house with my boyfriend for the next student year, and so throughout the last couple of months we've been buying things that we are going to need. I must admit I am absolutely addicted to home-ware, usually my love is with clothing or makeup but recently all I want to buy is home things!

The first thing I bought was probably the least necessary of them all, but for a girl who loves carrot and houmous, pepper and houmous, cucumber and houmous, anything and houmous, it was needed. I mean how have I been eating my dips for all this time without the amazing invention of a dipping cone. It has two sections, one for the dip and one for the crudities. The dip section comes out making it easy to clean and I love it! It makes dipping even more fun. ;)


The next thing is more necessary, for my birthday my friend bought me the pastel whisk from Tesco from that amazing range, since then I have been committed to ensuring that all my baking tools are within that colour range, pastel only. In the clearance section I noticed a very thick sturdy pastel purple bowl with a spout, it's the prettiest colour and it was only £3 which to me seems like a bit of a steal. 




I also bought a pizza slicer which is so bo-oring! But who doesn't love pizza! It's just not the same cutting it with a knife, it's a stainless steel one and I'm hoping it'll last us quite a while.


My boyfriend seems to have this hate for plastic in the kitchen but to be honest I find it easier to clean and less likely to break when I drop it, which I do on a daily basis, because of this we'd been looking for ages for wooden salad tongs but none of them were right so I just caved and spent £2 on a lovely pink pair, he can complain but they were so cheap that even if we barely use them it doesn't matter.


One of the things I was happiest with were some pyrex measuring beakers? I guess you could call them. I know measuring beakers, you're so excited right now. I just think they are so cool because it means I can measure, rice, sugar, flour and liquids which to me is great because I'm too lazy to always use scales. I guess the silliest of things make me happy.


The last thing is more decorative, when I saw this frame I fell in love. Homesense have the best selection of frames I have ever seen, every colour and style, it was incredible. This one just drew my attention the minute I saw it though and none of them compared. It has the prettiest little flowers within the pattern and I can't wait to find a lovely picture to fill it. 


I hope you enjoyed this haul and I'll be posting more as the house comes together.   


Love Sarah