Why am I applying? Well, really I don’t know what I want to do after college. I thought I wanted to go into teaching and that’s what I just tell people because it’s the easy way to explain it but that’s not really the aim. I want to experience life and that includes uni- a step to self-discovery and find the right path I want to follow in life.

Yeah, I'm obviously choosing courses that interest me and I'm passionate about but I'm not so sure they’ll take me. Don’t get me wrong I really want to go to uni and I work my socks to get the grades I do. I want the chance to learn in depth about my chosen topic.

They say not to say this but I'm going to and you obviously know but choose to ignore that you’re university isn't the only one I'm applying to so I'm trying to five an all-round view of myself. But the hard thing is I'm applying for different courses not just different universities.

One of the universities I found a course and fell in love with the idea; American Literature and Creative Writing. I could lie say I've read a lot of American classic literature but really it stretches as far as Salinger; a book that I along with many others can relate in some way just enjoy the teen angst aspects of Holden’s personality throughout the books that the adult population would just find annoying. I love to write even if I'm not the best. Right now, writing this- I'm enjoying myself. Writing for me is a relief- to get ideas into words and free from my mind so I'm not holding on to a small thought for months on end. I do English at college and while some books really are a drag, I do love analysing texts finding meanings locked behind words- I feel like I'm invading the writer’s personal space but I like it in a non-weird way. It’s like I'm inside their head somehow. Like I said, English and writing I love and so why wouldn't I want to pursue something I love after college?

When everyone wanted to be an astronaut or an ice cream I always wanted o be a therapist. I wanted to be the one there for someone when they needed to some to talk to. It might be because I didn't have that or because people always said I was a good listener- and they say work to your strengths right? I guess I just don’t like the idea of someone going through a terrible time alone. That’s why I took psychology, not for the research methods, but to learn how to treat people and how psychotherapy works.

While I'm not planning on pursuing it at university, I also currently do sociology. I’d definitely recommend it! It might help some of those narrow minded people out there broaden their horizons. I also think that politicians should have to take sociology as a requirement to become a pain in the arse politician because they’ll just be a politician and not blame to less well-off for their behaviour but maybe society for once. Sorry to get all Karl Marx on you, but it’s kind of true.

In an ideal world, I’d actually love to carry on all of this is one brilliant job I haven’t found the job right for that just yet. The closest I've found is educational psychologist. My old history recommended it when I suggest I became a high school English teacher. “It’s the positives of teaching without the negatives”. Yes, it may sound like I'm taking the cowards way out by not enduring the stress of teaching but she actually showed me that that’s my best option in life to teach every once in a while as well as act as a friendly ear to people who need it just like I once did.

So while I'm writing this like I'm going to send this as my real personal statement. I'm just going put somewhere else because if I truly wrote what I wanted to write to get into uni and show my actual personality and not just why I’d love to go to your fantastic establishment, I doubt I’d get in to my top choice.

But if this ever finds its way to you, I hope you enjoyed reading something not full of bullshit but rather the truth of why I want to go to university. 
The only good thing about this that I’m under the 4,000 character cou- oh wait. Oops.


Sarah x
Over my years of blogging, I've come a cross some great websites that have made my blogging life a little easier, my posts a bit better and saved a lot of money by not having to buy expensive software like Photoshop. I've managed to compile a list of a few websites and apps that I thought you may be interested in checking out yourself that may help your blogging in some way. 


GRAPHICS

There's only one website I've come across that is brilliant in helping blog graphics and adding text to photos, as well as having different options to create different graphics and that's Canva- a website you've probably heard of but if not, I'd definitely check it out. I've used it a lot for adding fonts to photos etc. A lot of the aspects are free but there is options to buy photos and other features for around $1. I've never had to buy anything off there to create something I'm happy with but the option's there and it's not too expensive. 

PHOTO EDITING

This where the bulk of my website finds come from. I'll start by saying I do have Adobe Lightroom which isn't as fancy as Adobe Photoshop but has everything I need to edit photos. However, sometimes it can be a bit of a hassle so I prefer to use websites that quicker to load and do what I need. Pic Monkey is one you've probably heard of as well and I think it's great if you're just starting out with photo editing and photography on your blog as well as having some graphics options as well. However, a new found love is Pixlr which is basically a free, online Photoshop that has almost all the same features. I know my way around photoshop so I found using Pixlr fairly easy to use but I could see it being slightly more confusing if you're not use to it but a little xplore around the website and you can probably get use to it!

INSPIRATION

Pinterest is my main source of photography inspiration but I also love exploring Weheartit where I can also find inspiration. If you're starting out with blogging and don't have a way of taking photos, you could use photos off WeHeartit and as long as you add  the original source to your post, I don't think they'd be a problem and you'd have a great photo to go along with you blog post. 

APPS

I've spoken a lot about apps on my blog and I am planning on doing one dedicated to photography apps but for now I'll mention some well known photo editing apps that I love; Snapseed and VSCO. VSCO is amazing for filters and Snapseed is great fro tweaking my photos whether it's increasing the contrast or lowing the exposure.  There are a lot of helpful apps that, if you'd like, I can share with you soon!

So there are just a few resources that I use for my blogging and I would love to know if you know any great websites to help bloggers!
Hope you're doing great,
Sarah x

I've gone through my fair share of blemish busting kits with some being great but others to be missed in my opinion. While some I've loved, they've never helped really fight my spots once and or all so when the chance arose for me to receive and trial the new Proactiv+ deluxe core kit* on a 8-10 week trial I was eager to give it ago.

Over the next 8 weeks, I'll be using the Proactive+ products and nothing else(apart from maybe a stronger moisturiser) to try and help battle my blemishes with a 3 part routine with a little added extra.


STEP 1: SKIN SMOOTHING DEFOLIATOR FACIAL CLEANSER

This is a usual spot fighting cleanser with small exfoliating beads that, from what I've used so far, aren't too vigorous which I'm happy about especially if I'm to use it twice a day: morning and night. It contains salicylic acid which is great for attacking those spots.

STEP 2: PORE TARGETING TREATMENT FACIAL CREAM

This is supposed to be the most effective product of the lot with a "smart target technology" which helps get into the pores to remove bacteria and oil. With spot fighting products, I'm always nervous about my skin getting dried out but this promises that, while removing access oil and also containing salicylic acid, it minimises dryness and irritation. 

STEP 3: COMPLEXION PERFECTING HYDRATOR FACIAL MOISTURISER

This last step is to hydrate and refine which is designed to help leave your skin smooth, even and bright. This also contains salicylic acid to keep pores clear and small. I will say now, that I usually need quite a rich moisturiser and so, while I will still apply this, I might have to use my own moisturiser as well but I really don't think that will effect my experience of the trial. 

SKIN PURIFYING FACIAL MASK 

This can be used as an all over face mask or to just target certain areas of the face and even a single spot and is designed to stop new spots from forming.


So there the products and I can't wait to get things under way because I have high hopes with the brand having such a big following as well as the products being paraben free and dermatologist tested for all skin types. You can buy the 3 system kit on the Proactive website for just £19.99 which I don't think is too bad for 3 products that contain great spot fighting ingredients. 

This is just the start of the 8 weeks and I'll be keeping it updated on twitter as well as having an overall review of the kit at the end of the 8 weeks where I will hopefully be reporting back with great results. 

Hope you're doing great,
Sarah x
Back last year, I wrote a post entitled "Too Pale for Beauty?" where I expressed I feel strongly that I shouldn't have splash out on high end foundations that may not be right for my skin just because they are able to expand their shade range further. That post was followed that followed by a "Pale Appreciation Post" where I shared with you some affordable products for us pale skin people. I've thought it was time for me to share some more affordable find for the paler people.

Rimmel Stay Match Foundation 

The shade range of Rimmel's foundation I've actually never found to be the best but I was pleasantly surprised when I found a shade perfect for my pale skin. It is quite pink toned as many brands presume fairer skinned people tend to be but it works for me. I've spoke in depth recently about this foundation in "The Foundations" post so if you're interested in learning a little more about that foundation and seeing if it would be great for your skin type I'd give that a quick look.

L'oreal Infallible Stay Fresh Foundation

I personally think L'oreal's shade ranges in most of their products especially their foundations are great and, while the range isn't as big as their True Match foundation, the re released Infallible range has a great offering for those who are even paler that the True Match offerings. I have Rose Ivory in True Match and Porcelain in the Infallible and I've found it to be even paler and suit my skin tone even better. As mentioned, many brands seem to presume the pale skinned have cool tones where as this range as more neutral/yellow undertones so is great if you fit into that category. I've only had this foundation a few weeks but I'm really enjoying using it and the shade is an added bonus to my new love of this foundation. The shade range isn't as wide as the True Match but it may expand in the future!

Rimmel Sun Shimmer Bronzer

This has been a summer staple and have mentioned it previously on my blog. This is probably supposed to be darker than it is but it's pigmentation isn't too strong and so I've found it works very well on my skin tone and also works great as a contour as it's not too orange. I also find it great for every day for a subtle bronze and to add a bit of extra colour. And, while the name would suggest shimmer, it's fairly matte so, again, great for contour.

L'oreal Glam Bronze

Are you starting to sense a brand pattern hear? This was my holy grail bronzer for about a year and I absolutely loved it! It was great if I wanted a stronger all over bronze and, while more on the orange side than the Rimmel bronzer, I felt it still worked with my fair skin and I still really enjoy using it. I do seem to favour the Rimmel one for a more subtle look, I still believe this a good bronzer and may work on some pale skin tones but not all. 


Garnier Moisturising Lotion Light Sun-kissed Look 

I mentioned in my Too Pale For Beauty post that I'm not OK with wearing fake tan just to match a certain foundation shade (and I stand by that) fake tan to wear to look a little more summer ready and, for me it can be a confidence boost. This Garnier moisturiser is great for my skin tone as it is for the lighter skin tones and so doesn't look extremely fake when applied and developed but does make you look sun-kissed and that you have naturally tanned and not like you bought the wrong shade of fake tan or had one too many coats of the spray tan. If you are a fake tan, tinted body lotion fan and you haven't checked this out, I would!

So here are just a few pale products in shops at the moment and from the products I've found, it's clear to see the brands best for the pale skin tones. It's sad, I feel, that these are the only products 
I've managed to find since the last post but fingers crossed, more products for fairer skin will be coming out soon and I'll be sure to share those with you when they do!

Do you have any good recommendations for paler skin? 
Hope you're doing great,
Sarah x



I've been lacking so much on the reading front over the past couple of months. A lot of the books I put on my "Summer Booket List", didn't interest me enough to read and I didn't want to really buy any new books so I've had a little bit of time off reading but this September I want to slowly get back into reading more each month and so I thought I'd share with you the books I plan on reading.

There is only three of them, two of which are for my English A level and that is Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett and King Lear by William Shakespeare. They are both plays we are going to be studying and are the types of books I will read if necessary but don't understand really what's going on but, thankfully I found the film and play on YouTube for the books and with them being plays the film and plays are almost word for word and so they were great as acting a a sort of audio book that I could read along with. I've started both plays already and am going to finish them today!

For the rest of the month, I'm not being too ambitious and I'm going to finally read the first in Percy Jackson series: Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief. Four of the books in the series were on Ebay for a ridiculously cheap price so I thought why not finally buy them and rad them. I'm aware they appear in the children's section at Waterstones but I love the films and think the series is very much like Harry Potter in the way it's aimed at such a wide audience. I am really looking forward to reading this and rewarding myself after my compulsory play reading. 

Hopefully, this TBR will give me a bit of encouragement to actually finish these books this month even though it is only small. But fingers crossed and hopefully I can read more in the following month!

What books do you plan on reading?
Hope you're doing great,
Sarah x

The lazy days summer consisted of and after only being back in college, two days, I'm fully submerged it homework and reading already. I don't know whether I'm glad to be back but I'm definitely not angry. I mean, the quicker this year is over and done with the better but I doubt it will be easy with the amount of work needed to be done this year. 

I don't think I ever told you what I got in my AS results; 3 As and a C. I was over the moon with the As obviously but disappointment did come slightly with the C especially with it being in English- the subject that I needed for the course I want to pursue at University. I made the decision to carry on what I wanted and decided to drop photography and carry on English, Psychology and Sociology into A levels. 
I'm going to resit my English at the end of the year hoping that I can pull it out of the bag and get into the uni and course that I want to. 

I've realised that college won't last forever and the endless amount of hours spent with the friends around me won't last forever with us all having separate and very different plans for what we want to do after college that aren't just over the country but the world. This year, I want to make sure I make time for my friends and do what I can to plan everything well so I can fit in revision as well as a social life. 

I've still not got a job, Most of my friends now do and it's pushing me to get one even though this year is going to be a busy one. My sister think it might help me; having more structure and having to plan exactly when I need to revise around work and it can be a place to take a breather form the college stress and I agree. I think it'll be nice to get out in to a new environment and make a bit of money while I'm there.

It's another college year and I feel ready for the pressure and the stress of college this time around- I feel like I've had enough practice. Among uni open days, revision, writing personal statements and making decisions for my future,  I want to make the most of this year and come out of it happy and feeling like I had another great year at college.

Have you gone back to school or college yet?
Sarah x