Things That Make You Go Oooooo (April 2012)

April is now over and it's quickly becoming summer once again, after another rather strange but busy month I'm excited to see what May brings for me and finally start putting some plans into action for my epic summer getaway, so here's a few things that have been keeping me inspired and amused this month...

♥ Finding the Keys to Your Happiness - Some great tips on staying happy even when it seems the world is against you!

♥ More Than $1K Of Clothes I'll never Wear Again

♥ 13 Simple Steps to Get You Through a Rough Day - Even more helpful ways to get you though through horrible days!

♥ Old Age, Wrinkles & The Earlybird Special: Are You Afraid Of Aging? - I'm not too concerned with getting old any more only that I may not be able to do all those things I want to when I reach a certain age but I know if I keep myself fit and healthy now that when I do reach my "twilight years" I'll still be partying like it's 1999!

♥ 50 Online Tools to Better Your Blog

♥ Five Hundred New Fairytales Discovered in Germany - I love me some fairytales and I'm so intrigued by these and if there was a reason why they were locked away and hidden for so long...

♥ How To Make A Dream Life Love List - Such great advice at getting you one step closer to your dreams

♥ Uplifting Depression: 15 Unexpected Lessons From Adversity

♥ Happy Spring Equinox - There's nothing like a good de-clutter metaphorical and physical to get you in a great mood for Spring!

♥ Thoughts On Style - I love how much your style can evolve and change through personal growth.

♥ Dealing with Uncertainty: 5 Tips to Create Trust and Patience

♥ Tips For Great Outfit Photos - Now the weather is much brighter for much longer I definitely want to get more snaps off my outfits so these should come in useful.

by huynhlina

♥ DC Comic x Converse - I'm loving the new Wonder Woman shoes, I actually already have a pair of the Joker Hi-tops which I really should make an effort to wear more often!

♥ Being Connected

♥ I Love Doing Social Stuff Alone - I totally agree going to the cinema alone is awesome plus you don't have to share the popcorn!

by frenchnavyfc

♥ How To Deal With Rude People - We all encounter rude people at some point in our lives ad this is a great way to deal with them!

♥ Take A Deep Breath and Remember...

♥ Seven Reasons You Should Reach Out To Every Person Ever - These are all some very true, great points a beautiful read

by tintanaveia

♥ Is there a failure more immediately public than trying to look beautiful and falling short? - An interesting article which I'm sure we can all relate to

♥ A Short Lesson in Perspective

♥ When You Realise You’ve Said Yes Too Often: Trying To Avoid Burnout - Nothing is worth making yourself ill over sometimes the best option is just to say no.

Crystals & Cupcakes

Cate

xoxo

D.I.Y. Fashion Tutorial: How to Paint on a Leather Jacket

I've been wanting to paint a design on this jacket for the longest time but had no idea what paint to use, but after a recommendation from my crafting buddy Yume Ninja I got myself some Angelus paint and set to work on what's now known as Project Direwolf or Project Direwolves on EVERYTHING!!! This is my first time doing anything like this and although it didn't come out 100% perfect I absolutely adore it, it was so much fun to do and I can't wait to do something like this again!

House Stark Forever!

Dreams & Direwolves

Cate

xoxo

Beauty Blitz: 5 April Faves

by LoveInMist

The weather has started to change  now as we're approaching spring and so is my skin, I'm finding I don't need to use those heavy products like I do in the colder months and I've been opting for more lighter, fresher, and a more delicate routine. Fresh fruity scents have been a bit thing for me this month to and have really been getting me in the mood for summer and days of endless sunshine.

Clean & Clear Morning Burst Facial Scrub

After having some success with Clean & Clear's other scrubs I had heard good things about this one so when I saw it on special offer I decided to try it out. I love this one even more than the other scrub I was using as it leaves my skin feeling so fresh and tingly and smells so nice, it's become a regular in my morning routine!

Visionary Lemongrass Soap

I've been loving citrus scents recently and was looking for a soap with a bit of roughness to exfoliate my skin, needless to say this one had both and I'd used it up in a couple weeks so definitely one I will be adding to my re-purchase list!

L'Occitane Citrus Verbena Daily Use Conditioner

I was gifted a sample of this a long time ago and had completely forgotten about it until I found it in one of my travel beauty bags and decided to give it a try and OMG I'm in love! Lemon is one of my favourite fragrances and it does and excellent job at conditioning my hair and leaves it feeling so soft and silky, in fact I've tried using it as a hair mask and leaving it in my hair overnight to help my split dry ends and I can definitely see an improvement as my hair seems a lot softer and shiny now.

MAC Prep & Prime Skin Refined Zone Treatment 

This has been in my make-up box for the longest time and now I've actually tired it out (re: used it up!) I can't believe I let it sit around for so long. It really does reduce the size of your pores and makes a really great make-up base to, I've got so many complements on how smooth my make-up looks lately that it really must be making a difference to my skin!

John Frieda Frizz Ease Thermal Protection Hair Serum

I've been trying not to use my straighteners and hair dryer as much recently to help repair the damage caused by bleaching to the ends of my hair and this is one of the products which I believe has helped ease some of that damage and kept my hair looking healthy. Although it's designed to protect your hair from heat styling products, which is also does a good job of, it's also great to use on dry damaged hair to keep it looking soft and healthy without making it limp or greasy.

Be sure to share some of the beauty products you've been loving this month in the comments

Rose Petals & Clovers

Cate

xoxo

A Lomo View On... Spring!

I feel like I can finally breathe again now Spring is here, I love the milder weather, the sunshine and the smell of fresh flowers in the air and I can open up all those windows in my house and clean out all that dust and let in some clean, crisp fresh air again.

I love photographing flowers it's a very girly thing but I just think they're beautiful and they instantly bring me warm feelings about Spring and Summer. The photos above were actually taken with my dad's old Pentax ME which I borrowed briefly last year, can you believe that camera is nearly 40 years old? It takes such amazing photos I hope he lets me borrow it again.

Some people may not like the fact that the Holga lets light in but I love the haunting effect that these light leaks can give and also the splash of colour they bring to an otherwise mundane photo, when I look back at some of the photos I took with my Holga it does make me miss it but I'm hoping that my Diana Mini will more than make up for it.

I visited a farm in Thailand a few years back and they had this field full of huge sunflowers, I knew sunflowers grew tall but I'd never seen ones quite this big before so had to take a photo of them despite the incoming rain storm but I love how the gloomy skies are contrasted with this bright pop of colour.

Colour is something I like to experiment with in my lomo shots and I often use coloured gels over the flash to enhance my photos. Perhaps one of the reasons I photograph flowers so much is because of their vibrancy in photos which works amazingly on film and now it's spring again I'm sure I'll be taking out my cameras to play more often so watch this space!

Shutter Bugs & Lomo Love

Cate

xoxo

Related Links

♥ My Lomography Collection on Flickr

Inspirational Quotes #25

I'm going to do what I want to do. I'm going to be who I really am. I'm going to figure out what that is.
- Emma Watson

Beauty Blitz: FAB First Aid Beauty

After my rave review on First Aid Beauty's Ultra Repair Cream last year I was recently contacted and asked if I would like to try out some of their other products that have recently become available to buy in the UK. This news excited me immensely as I've been trying to ration my tube of Ultra Repair Cream ever since my return from the states last summer.

I was sent 3 products the Detox Eye Roller, Smooth Shave Cream and 5 In 1 Eye Cream to try out and I have been using them religiously for the past few weeks!

Smooth Shave Cream

When it comes to shaving my legs I'm pretty much a soap and water girl which is no doubt why my legs are so dry and now the sun is out and spring is in the air it's probably about time I treat my legs to some of that fresh air to! You only need to use a small amount of this to cover your whole leg, which is great value for money, and as promised on the tube I didn't nic or cut myself, I didn't get any razor burn and my legs definitely felt softer and more moisturised, in fact even my mother commented on how smooth my legs looked and she's my biggest critic, so I'm converted no more will I be using nasty soap and water I'm switching to this smooth shave cream.

5 In 1 Eye Cream

I've only recently started investing in eye cream just using it at night to keep my eyes hydrated and to prevent those wrinkles, some seem to dry out my eyes but this one definitely keeps them smooth and moisturised. After applying the tiniest amount to my eye area at night when I woke in the morning I found my eyes to still be soft and moisturised, sometimes my lids can dry out but this seemed to keep them hydrated and they even feel a bit tighter to, of course I'm only in my twenties so can't really comment on it's anti-aging properties but it did seem to help me and I will definitely continue to use it.

 Detox Eye Roller

This has to be my absolute favourite product out of the three and made a major difference to my dark circles after only using it for a short amount of time. I had a particularly busy week when I started to use this so was functioning on a minimal amount of sleep and usually my eyes look really dark and baggy but whilst I was using this I didn't look tired at all even without make-up and concealer, amazing! I love the little roller ball as it's like giving your eyes a mini massage, it feels quite tingly and cool when it first goes on which was strange at first but really soothing for tired eyes. I love this stuff and it's going straight into my travel make-up bag as it'll be perfect for those long haul flight, definitely one to try if you suffer from bags or dark circles!

Love & Candy

Cate

xoxo

How to Have a Lovely Day

by Julia Dávila Lampe

Love & Sunshine

Cate

xoxo

Daily Outfit: Night Gathers, And Now My Watch Begins

I haven't done an outfit post since last July so I thought it only right I come back with something epic and you don't get much more epic than Game of Thrones, so in honour of Game of Thrones Day and its return to our screens tonight here's a celebratory outfit.

I think it's safe to say I'm Direwolf obsessed, I've already made myself a Ghost scarf and after a sudden pang of inspiration decided to forever pledge my allegiance to House Stark and paint their Direwolf sigil on my jacket (tutorial coming soon!) and of course no Direwolf collection would be complete without Longclaw, the newest and most awesome addition to my Game of Thrones collection!

♥ Jacket - D.I.Y.
♥ Skeleton Dress - Rodarte for Target
♥ Skirt - Zara
♥ Socks - eBay
♥ Boots - Dr Martens

See you beyond The Wall!

Fire & Ice

Cate

xoxo