Summer haul

Hello lovelies!

I hope you’ve all had good weeks. Today I thought I would show you a few things that I have bought over the last few weeks in preparation for summer!

1.) Little black bag

I found this bag in the sale in Zara for £12 and it was just what I was looking for! I have already used it lots as its a really good size for putting all my bits and pieces in. I will also be taking it to Newday (which starts tomorrow!), a festival that over 7000 Christian teenagers will be attending! I will probably post some photos from it when I get back, so keep your eyes peeled. [If you want to find out more about Newday, check out their website]
2.)  A new notebook and some pretty pens!

I love pretty stationery far too much haha, it makes going back to school in September much more exciting! I bought these bits for taking notes during talks at Newday, but I will definitely continue to use them afterwards. I love the pen colours so much! The notebook was from Home Bargains and the pens are from ASDA.

 

3.) Floral blue summer dress

I bought this dress a few weeks ago in H&M for about £12 and I have worn it so many times! It is so pretty and is perfect for hot sunny days, or for wearing with a long navy cardigan on slightly cooler ones.

 

4.) Halterneck yellow top

I saw this in New Look for £7 and totally fell in love with it as yellow is my favourite colour and I loved the cut of the top, but I didn’t have enough money on me to buy it! However, I saw it a few weekends ago in Bluewater in the sale section for only £4! I knew that I had to pick it up and I love it, especially tucked into denim shorts [like the ones featured in this post which I bought last year!]. Yellow is my favourite colour and I love this halterneck style 🙂

 

5.) Denim pinafore dress

This was also in the sale in Newlook and was down to £14.99, which I thought was quite good! I LOVE pinafore dresses, (I also have the burgundy corduroy one from Topshop!) so when I saw this I thought it would be perfect for summer. It is quite long, but I think that makes it more fun and quirky! Staple items like this are great as, depending on the weather and your mood, you can pair them with lots of different tops.

 

6.) Purple floral dress

My parents bought this for my from a shop called Apricot which we found at Bluewater. I tried on 4 different dresses in there and loved all of them, they just seemed to fit me really nicely and were all really flattering! If you are looking for a dress for a nice occasion like a wedding or a party then I would definitely recommend looking in Apricot as they had lots of lovely items 🙂

Over to you…

Which of my buys is your favourite? Do you also have a love for stationery or pinafore dresses? What have been your favourite things so far this summer? Have you done a similar post recently? Let me know in the comments, I love chatting to you guys!

Lots of love,

Graciellen xx

Autumnal Makeup💛

Hello lovelies!

Today I’m going to be sharing with you the makeup routine that I’ve been loving recently, and I think that (complete with gold eyeshadow and berry lips) it is rather autumnal! My makeup routine has changed quite a lot from my last post HERE, so I thought I would do a new one!

I was considering changing this just for this post, but I’m going to admit to you, I have a very strange order when it comes to makeup. This is just how it seems to work better for me, so, please don’t judge haha!

Also, this post is partly in the past tense because this was a look I did for a wedding last weekend, and not the kind of the thing I do everyday. Enjoy!

First of all, everyday before I do my makeup and before I go to bed I use the Nivea Refreshingly Soft Moisturising Cream, and squirt a bit onto my fingers before rubbing that all of my face and massaging it in. This stops my skin from getting dry and crusty (yuck!)

Then I curl eyelashes with my trusty £1 eyelash curler (what a bargain!) from Tiger (which is like, the best shop. Ever.) I do this for 30 seconds on each eye, because my lashes are super short and have no curl whatsoever, so without my curler I have no idea where I would be!

Next I apply the Maybelline Big Eyes mascara, which I have been lovinggggg recently as it makes my lashes look super long and voluminous! This normally costs £8.99 in Boots and Superdrug, but I managed to get it in some crazy deal thing for £3 in ASDA, which was amazing! I especially love how there are two halves, one for upper lashes and one for lower lashes, with different brushes, as my bottom lashes often go a bit clumpy when I use other mascaras on them.

I then use the Boots Natural Collection Cover-Up Cream concealer, and pop that under my eyes and on any blemishes. When I bought this concealer I was actually looking for the Collection Lasting Perfection one (as I know how much everyone raves about it!) but, confused about the whole Collection vs Natural Collection thing I managed to buy the wrong one haha! However, the Natural Collection concealer from Boots also works really well, and is only £1.99 which is good!

Next I do a (rather strange) thing to apply Miss Sporty So Clear foundation, by squeezing a tiny blob onto each of my fingers, and then blobbing each finger onto different parts of my face (making me look like some kind of tribal aztec warrior haha!) I then rub it all in with my hands or a brush, depending on my mood. Although I realise this method is super weird, I actually find that it results in a really nice look, so it’s worth the weirdness! I love this foundation (which I think is more of a BB cream to be honest) because it makes my skin look really lovely and smooth, but also quite natural.

Then I brushed my lovely Rimmel Stay Matte powder in the shade 004-Sandstorm  over my face, to make sure I don’t get too yucky and oily during the day. I’m sorry for the awful photo, I’ve had this powder for quite a while and it looks rather worst for wear!

I then applied the sparkly gold shade in the H&M NUDES palette (sadly it doesn’t have a name!), and the brown sparkly shade in the creases, and blended those into each other to create a kind of subtle sparkly gold smoky eye. I like the colours in this palette but I don’t find the colours very pigmented, but unfortunately its the only eyes hadow palette I own *gasp* so it’s the best I’ve got haha!

Next I used the Rimmel Lasting Finish Mono Blush in the shade Live Pink, which is a beautiful blusher with a hint of sparkliness, which is gorgeous!

I then used the New York Colour (NYC) lipstick in the shade 404B-Air Kiss. I don’t normally buy things from New York Colour, but this was a present and it works perfectly well, although when I wear it I only use a little bit as I find really strong lips don’t really suit me haha!

Finally I applied a little lipgloss in the same sort of shade to give a nice shine and to finish off the look! I was actually given this lipstick about 5 years ago (yes, when I was 9!) from one of my friends’ mums as part of a set for my birthday! I know that it is from M&S but I guess its kind of a kids lipgloss if that makes sense, but its absolutely gorgeous so I love wearing it haha.

And voila, your beautiful Autumnal makeup look is complete!

I hope you enjoyed this post, I actually really enjoyed writing it and I don’t really do too many beauty posts so it was lots of fun to write!

Over To You…

What did you think of this post? Do you have any of these products? What is your favourite Autumnal look or product? Done a post like this recently? Why not leave a link in the comments so I can have a nice little read of it? It would be lovely if you could leave a comment along with anything else you would like to add!

Lots of love,

Graciellen xx

National siblings day- siblings tag with my sister!

Hello everyone!

As today is National Siblings Day I thought I would do a post for you with my lovely sister! I hope you enjoy it, please tell me in the comments if you enjoyed reading it or anything about your siblings! Also if you want to do your own siblings tag please let me know in the comments on this post so I can have a look!

How old are you both?

I’m 14 and Lily is 12!

Any nicknames?

Lily calls me ‘Graciemellonbottom’ and ‘Gra’ (pronounced grey if you were wondering!) and I call her ‘Lilzo’ and ‘Swagster’ 😂

Funniest memory?

We have a lot…we once made a stop go animation with playmobil of a girl going to the toilet and we found it pretty hilarious at the time haha!!

Most memorable argument?

We don’t argue that often but…yesterday we fell out over emptying the dishwasher hehe!

Most cherished memory?

Making up synchronised swimming dance routines in the sea in Cornwall last year ☺️

In jokes that no one else understands?

‘Yo Lil…’

‘Yo Gra…’

‘Go fish in der ponddd’

*followed by hysteric laughter*

Last thing we talked about?

That joke ^^^

Are we close?

Yes, most of the time were very close ❤️

What annoys us the most about each other?

Me: Lily can be really crazy and weird in public…

Lily: Grace always sings in public…

Last text you sent each other?

Lily: I am coming I just need the toilet

Grace: okay hurry up xx

Lily: coming

And before that…(cause I just wanted to put this in!)

Grace: All the sixth formers are staring at you like you’re weird 😂

Grace: that Polly/Holly/Golly or whatnot girl gets on my nerves!!

Lily: sorry yeah

What do you have in common?

We look really similar, loads of people think we are twins! We also both love chocolate and reading 😂❤️

How are you different?

Lily is much more hands on and practical, she likes destroying the garden and putting up IKEA flat packs and things like that, where as I’m more creative, I like writing, drawing and baking!

Who takes longer getting ready?

Grace. Definitely.

One thing each of you can do that the other can’t?

Lily can play flute, guitar and piano (she’s the musical one!) where as I can’t do any of those! However Lily says I’m amazing at baking and fashion designing (aw thanks Lil!) but admits those aren’t her strong points hehe!!

Describe each other in five words

I think Lily is…funny, kind, loving, beautiful, crazy

Lily thinks I am…just amazingly totally the best (nawwww!☺️)

I hope you enjoyed reading this post, we had loads of fun answering the questions and writing a post together which we haven’t done before! Remember to tell me in the comments if you enjoyed this or about your sibling tag!

Lots of love,

Graciellen xx

Also here’s a little message from Lily!

Hi guys

Now I want to see if you love me more than Grace so I thought why not see how many peeps will put in the comments “hey Lily!” Because u know I’m swaggy and who doesn’t want to say hi to me?

Popularity?

  

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all well! Thank you so much for your ever kindness and supportiveness, you make me so happy 🙂 (sorry for saying this a lot!)

Today I want to talk about popularity, and if its okay to always want to be popular or not. I think this is a quite a big and difficult topic for a lot of people, but especially teenage girls. Everyone wants to feel loved and have lots of friends, but we don’t want to be so driven to be popular that we put it before anything else.

‘Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.’

1 John 2:15-17

I’ll admit, this is quite a hard verse to read! However, this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t love our friends and family or things in the world, but simply that we should put God first in our lives. We should love God more than anything else, because ultimately everything in the world will pass away, but our relationshp with God will last forever. We don’t want to be so caught up in trying to be popular that we forget the most important thing in our lives, Jesus!

Also, being popular doesn’t necessarily mean having the best friends. Surely it is better to have a smaller group of lovely friends who really care about us, than hundreds of friends who don’t really care at all. 

Overall, I don’t think popularity or wanting to be popular is a bad thing at all, as long as we put God first in our hearts and find people who do genuinely love us. 

But what do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts about popularity in the comments! 💕

Lots of love,

Graciellen xxx

A huge huge thank you and introducing two new things!



Hello everyone!

Today I just want to thank you all so so so so much for following me!! When I originally planned this post it was to celebrate me reaching 50 followers, however now I have 63 which is absolutely amazing! I am so suprised and excited that so many of you enjoy reading what I write and want to join me on my crazy journey in life 🙂 

Thank you all so incredibly much for every comment and like, I literally have a little party in my mind every time I have a WordPress notification! Also every single comment I have had on my blog has been so kind and lovely, you all make me so so happy 😊😊

To show you guys just how much I love you all and am thankful to you, I thought I would introduce two things which I am really excited about, to show you how thankful I am to you and how much I love you! So firstly, let me introduce…*drumroll please*

Follower of the Month

This will basically just be a way for me to show you all how much I love you, and to say thank you for how kind you have been to me 😊☺️😘 

Each month I will chose one (very lucky!) follower who has given me some lovely comments and feedback to be my Follower of the Month! As follower of the month you will be featured in my side bar on my blog with a nice little message about your blog (if you have one!) and why you are my follower of the month 😊 

I will also write a short post on the first day of each month telling everyone how lovely you are 😘

To be chosen for Follower of the Month you must be following me (otherwise you wouldn’t be a follower…duh..😂) and have maybe left at least one comment on my blog! As I thought it was a bit unfair for the first person chosen to only have half a month I will be starting on the 1st of April (and no this isn’t an April fools joke!).

Also, (if you weren’t excited already!) I’m super duper excited to be introducing Graciellen’s Little Blessings! 

This is another way for me to show you all how thankful I am to you and to show you God’s love! As part of my Little Blessings to you guys I will email every one who wants to join in the fun lots of little encouragements! These will be Bible verses, picture edits I have made and lots of other nice little blessings to brighten your day 😊 I will try to email you as often and spontaneously as I can!!

If you would like to participate in Graciellen’s Little Blessings please comment below saying “I’m in!” or something similar and your email address!

I’m so so excited about these two things I am introducing, I hope you are too!

Lots of love,

Graciellen xxx