Fitness plans for summer!

Hello! After what feels like an absolute age here I am with a blog post. So having embarked on my first year of university which has been completely amazing, involving drinking my weight in jager bombs and vodka lemonades here I am with a massive long summer ahead with no summer job... So until I find one I am taking up my time getting all fit. First thing I bought a monthly membership at the gym instead of pay as you go so I simply have to get to the gym! I've been going 5 times a week and sticking to trying to eat pretty well consisting of 1 slice of toast usually with hummus for breakfast (Love me some hummus) salad for lunch and whatever my lovely mother cooks for dinner, with occasional snacking on fruit. And I feel so amazing for it.

Primark survival guide!

I am a massive lover of Primark, or as I like to call it Primarni darling. However, a lot of people may be put off shopping there for a number of reasons. Sometimes a trip to Primark really can feel like venturing through a war zone. So here I am about to set out some golden rules so you too can enjoy the pure delights of Primark!

1. Find your Primark!: By this I mean find your favorite Primark in your local area. In my experience, the branch you go to can really affect the experience of shopping in Primark. In my area, there are only two Primark's I will venture into that is the one in Ealing Boadway and in Tottenham court road. There are also some Primark's in my area that I hate even stepping foot into due to the complete mess of the place. So search around and find a nice, organised store.

2. Check tags: One of the things that people love so much about primark is the cheap price tag, however it is very common in primark for the size on the hanger to differ to the actual size of the item found on the tag. So always, always make sure you've double checked the sizing before you blissfully walk a way with something 6 sizes too big.

3. Things to look out for!: Okay so there a certain items that primark are awesome at selling. For example thier basic items. If your looking for some vests, shorts etc for holiday Primark is your best bet. some shorts can be on the pricier side for primark- around the £12 mark but they have plenty of shorts for £5 or under which is such a steal. Their vest tops which I love are usually around £1, also a steal! Primark also have an array of very lovely pj's and nightwear which I adore for such a small price. However there are a few things I'd probably not go to primark for, such as shoes which are almost the same price as New Look shoes but the quality isn't as good, plus new look to student discount so for inexpensive shoes I'd recommend hitting up new look (Especially the Oxford street one were a whole floor is dedicated to shoes!)

4. Sizing: Now one down side to having such cheap products is the sizings can be off, way off. I'd always recomend trying on outfits in an array of different sizes as honestly, you never know with Primark.

5. Don't just buy everything you see!: Now this is a big one for me. Right so set the scene you are in primark and seeing a bargain after bargain after bargain. But trust me those £3 t-shirts add up and that skirt that you wouldn't normally wear but you are tempted to buy because its only £2 IS NOT WORTH IT! Honestly the amount of stuff I have purchased from Primark not because I needed it, but simply because I thought it was a good deal is embarrassing. So although the deals can look amazing, stop and think to yourself. Do I need this? and do I like this?

6. Find the reduced section! It's there in every primark, lurking, waiting to be found. Honestly some of my favourite primark purchases have been from this section of the shop. I once even picked up a top for 50p two years ago, that I still wear now! You can really get some amazing deals in this section, but again make sure you actually like the stuff.

7. Disheartened by huge crowds? If you are someone who dislikes large groups of people in a hot and sweaty shop then find a quieter time to go. I recommend first thing on Monday morning! Whilst most normal folk are nursing a hangover or enjoying a lie in, you can be a primark shopping queen or king and enjoy a quieter less disorientating experience! Another good time to go is a school or work day in the morning. If your not one for crowds i'd definitely recommend avoiding Saturdays and bank holidays!

8. Sieve through the junk: Now there is no getting away from the fact that primark can sell some junk, however there are many gems within the junk. Many people ask me how I ever find nice things in there and the truth is there are a ton of nice things. Primark is the fastest store to get new trends from the catwalk into their stores. They also tend to do replicas of other, more expensive stores clothes such as topshop for a fraction of the price so it is always worth looking through the racks to find these gems. If you think something may look nice try it on! You never know it could become your next staple item.

9. Be prepared to wait in a long queue: I mean this shouldn't be too hard, it's British culture after all. We queue for everything! However yes in Primark, although they usually have a load of cashieres on at once it's just so busy you will be queuing for a bit... or more than a bit, but it is 100% worth it for the absoloute bargains you have just picked up. All I'm saying is don't think you can pop into Primark for 5 minutes if you have somewhere you have to be after, it takes dedicating some time!

10 Look at Primark hauls on youtube: Now Primark have such a quick turnover in clothes you can go one time and they will have completly different stock two weeks later. If you are planning a primark trip I would recomend searching for a Primark haul on youtube. Search the filters to within the same week or month so you can have a look exactly what is in stock at the moment and see if you fancy any of it!

So this is my primark survival guide. Primark can be such a great store. Yes the quality isn't as great as other stores but 80% of the time I am not looking for amazing quality just something that looks nice that I can wear for 6 months- a year for a fraction of the price of other stores. I have lost count of the times I have seen something in Topshop for £75 but bagged the exact same product in Primark for under a tenner!

Rachel x

Low price life savers!

Okay so as a student whose just finished A levels and about to start university in September it's safe to say I am pretty damn skint. So there are a few things that I have come up with that are absolute lifesavers for me that I think may help a fellow sister or brother out.

Boohoo.com
Hands down I adore boohoo. I even brought my prom dress from there for £15 (Steal I know!) the clothes are so reasonably priced with outfits for all occasions. Their casual clothes a great and good quality for the price and their formal wear is stunning for such affordable prices. They often have sales and deals on their postage and packaging and their returns are simple and easy. Could not recommend them more!

Charity shops
Only recently have I really got into the delights of charity shopping and I would urge everyone to give it a go. You can really find some great gems for such good prices, plus you are helping out a charity! And not only for clothes, books and dvds are normally dead cheap as well.

Look online before you buy!
So especially for things like makeup always look online first. You know when you run out of foundation or shampoo and want to nip to the drug store and buy the same brand? Well first check the websites of superdrug, boots, savers, Tesco etc and see which shop is selling it for the cheapest before you go, this way you can be sure you are getting the best offer.

Self tanning
This is aimed at you people who fork out a load on getting a spray tan. I have been using the same amazing self tanner for the past 2 years and I am delighted to inform you it costs £3 for such a lovely finish. It's the st Moriz tanner that you can get from boots and Tesco. It's very similar to the st Tropez tanner but for a fraction of the price. I would recommend getting it in the dark shade. This fake tan does wonders, it doesn't go streaky or look orange but instead gives a lovely brown natural tan glow. Youtube has a ton of different videos on the best way to apply it which I would definitely recommend you watch!

Find out where you can cut spending
For example stop buying food and just bring it from home! Or stop buying all the coffee's and bring one in a flask. These simple steps can save so much money you wouldn't even realise you are spending. This means you can save the money from this and put it towards things you really need or something you will really enjoy!


So I hope my little tips help you out!
Rachel x

Time to get fit!

So, exam season is finally over (Thank God) so now I actually have time to go out and do and achieve things and first on my list? To get fit. During exam season my eating went tits up and I barely went running. I've decided that now I'm on summer and have two and a half months till I start university what better time than to get fit. I've decided to set some goals for myself, with the idea it may inspire some of you lovely people. 

-Run daily: Running is something I've been very on and off with. I go through periods of a few weeks of loving running round my streets in West London and then sinking back into the old 'Oh it's raining' 'Oh I'm too tired' excuse laden ways. However I am now determined to go running everyday so I can built up by strength especially since half of my course is in drama which I will need to keep fit and healthy for. 

-Drink more water: I am ridiculously bad at remembering to drink. This may sound idiotic but I swear I just don't feel thirst I can go a whole day without feeling the need to drink which is obviously not good, especially if I go out drinking alcohol later on. Drinking more water will not only flush out toxins in  your body but give you lovely clear skin and keep you healthy and energized so I really need to up my water intake

-Stop eating chocolate/sweets: Obvious one right? Just stop eating the sugary stuff that has no nutritional benefit to your body. It's probably the most obvious and hardest rule to implement but I have to. 

-Take up yoga every other day- Not only can yoga aid with weight loss and toning but it's also healthy for the mind. I find yoga relaxing and a great thing to put into a daily routine. Just search for a quick video on youtube and get started!

So those are my four basic rules, if any of you are joining in then let me know and I hope I've helped you! I'll update on my progress later

Rachel x

Current affordable skin care routine

Hello everyone! Long time no see, hey? So I have finally switched up my skin routine. I do confess my skin care had been somewhat lacking, only consisting of me wiping my makeup off with super cheap makeup wipes, and using a random face wash... If I was really pushing the boat out! So in an attempt to change my ways I recently hit up superdrug and boots to actually buy some new products (Huzzah) and scrap the old makeup wipes I was torturing my skin with! I know skincare can seem absolutely daunting with hundreds of different products on the shelf all promising similar things. So I picked up a bunch and thought I'd review them for you. This is definitely an affordable skin care routine as I am 16 and unfortunately was not blessed with a billionaire father. All these products can be found in most UK drugstores. This blog post was not sponsored, and all opinions are my own.

Garnier Micella Cleansing water

1. So first up we have the Garnier micella cleansing water, and this is what it looks like

First up I had heard so much about this product before I brought it, mainly good things so when I saw the price I had to snatch it up. I brought this for £3.33 in boots which is pretty good for a 400ml bottle especially as you get 200 uses out of it! so is actually way more cost effective than the pack of 25 £1.00 make up wipes I used to torture my skin with. So from someone, lets face it not that great at taking care of her skin, it's a great deal. This product is essential a knock off the more expensive makeup removers from the high end products such as Clinique, but for a fraction of the price, and in my opinion it works almost, if not just as good as the more expensive brands.I love how gentle it is on my skin as I do have sensitive skin and have had no troubles with it irritating my skin. It's also great for skincare novice's like myself as one bottle takes off a whole face of makeup including skin, lips and eyes so it takes up a lot less time, money and effort. It's fragrance free so all though no, it doesn't have a gorgeous smell of roses, it's good for your skin and is lesss likely to be an irritant, and I guess at the end of the day that's ore important right? It certainly removes my makeup way better than my old makeup wipes did. For me I use it twice a day and the bottle is barely dented! Rate: 5/5

Neutrogena Visibly Clear Pink Grapefruit Facial Wash

2. So next we have the Neutrogena visibly clear pink grapefruit facial wash and it looks like this 

I hadn't looked into this too much before I brought it and got it on impulse. I have to say it smells amazing, however I maybe a touch biased as one of my favourite scents happens to be pink grapefruit, which if I'm honest is what first brought me to the product. I have got to say it got to work right away, I woke up the next day and my skin was already clearer and less red which I was really pleasantly surprised with as I don't believe I have ever experienced that with a face wash. However this is not without a catch unfortunately. It is quite drying. Personally my skin was only a tad dry from it however I have heard some horror stories where some people found their face being completely dried out and sore. So proceed with caution! although my own experience with it was reasonably good be warned! It is also sold at a low-average high street face wash price of £3.29

Rate: 3/5 (for the dryness)

Garnier clean & invigorating Toner

3.  So next on my list is the garnier clean& invigorating toner that happens to look like this 

So confession time. I have never used a toner so don't have a lot of experience in this department. First up I love the refreshing feel of this. It has a faint smell but really wakes you up in the early morning. I put a bit on a cotton pad and spread it around my face and it's kind of like that feeling when you jump into a swimming pool if that makes any sense at all! Just a really refreshing and revitalising feeling. I haven't really seen much difference in the appearance of my skin from this but I will say it does a great job removing leftover makeup so it has it's purposes. I picked it up at superdrug for £2.10 which I thought was a pretty decent price. 

Rate: 3/5

Superdrug tea tree spot stick 

4. So now we come to the superdrug tea tree spot stick. Hmmm, it looks like this 

Okay so it's pretty safe to say I did not love this product. In fact I hated it. I really like the superdrug tea tree oil foam facial wash and am aware of how tea tree is a great natural fight against spots, and I personally adore the smell so when I saw this I thought it sounded perfect, tee tree oil with an applicator so you can apply it directly to spots. Sounds great! however I was very wrong! First up, it's extremely unhygienic. The applicator is similar to one from a concealer stick that you apply to spots then put back in again. Therefore just spreading round the bacteria. Not good. Also this was incredibly drying which I understand is to dry out my spots but somehow it did nothing to clear my skin, in fact it made it worse by making my skin appear more red. Also when I first applied it the sensation was tingling verging on burning. I know tea tree is meant to tingle when first applied but this was irritating my skin. In my opinion definitely not worth the £3.29 I payed for it. 

Rate: 0/5 (Sorry superdrug)

Theatre review!

If any of you know me you probably know that I love theatre. Recntly me and some lovely people from school went along to see a piece of shakespearan theatre in an unused car park in Peckham. Yep it definetly sounds like an unusual place to have a peice of shakespeare performed but it strangely worked
After jumping on the train to peckham after school we made our way to the car park. The play we were about to watch was Titus, one of Shakespeares first plays and possiably one of his most gruesome? At the very top of the car park was a rustic looking bar which overlooked London. It was slightly dark outside when we got there so it was a really nice expereince looking over the bar. Soon the play started and it was mesmorising from the very start. It involved physical theatre and a lot of movement. The fighting scenes were really well choragraphed and a few of the actors were phenomenal. The audeicne were encouraged to move around to different sections with the actors as the play progressed which really broke down the fourth wall between performer and audience which I find helps you connect more to the performance.
They modinised the play to an extent, me being a bit of a shakespeare nut am not normally keen on mordinsaing Shakespeare as it completly takes it out of the context, changes the meaning and it never quite works for me however they did not change the dialogue but incorparted cars and at one point put the decapiated heads into morrisons bags but it worked. It was a low budget production but the actors managed to still pull of a professional production.

My experience on NCS-The Challenege

Hello there beautiful people. Sorry I haven't written a blog in a long while. I have been rather busy with it being summer and all. So I thought I would delve into a little bit of what I have been up to this summer. A little warning this might be a long un. The main thing would be NCS The Challenge. You may have heard of this by some youtubers promoting it as "NCS just say yes"
When I first signed up I had no idea what a wonderful and exciting opportunity it would be that has actually changed my mindset for the better. I started off on the 14th of July. We were told to meet at a local college. I was going with my friend Cara so I wasn't really that nervous although to be honest I was not expecting great things let alone the amazing experience that was in store for me. I was told that Cara and I were to be in Team Reiss which is the drama group (Waheyy) and after being given a very comfy NCS hoody we headed of to our teams room. We were introduced to our team leader and group and soon we set off the beautiful Wales. When we arrived out our hostel we were told there would be no Wifi but instead this gorgeous view.

I found out I was sharing with 4 other lovely girls who were in my team. Our team bonded so quickly and I was close to all of them. We then unpacked and went downstairs for dinner. We then had an evening session with our team leader and group. We went through some rules and signed a contract. We then chatted for a while and played some games. We had to be in bed by 10:45 for the next day. The following few days went very quickly. The first day we had a few group trust exercises doing things like assembling our selves on a beam in height order without talking and trying to fit all 13 of us on a small wooden square. Then it was time for abseiling. I am absolutely terrified of heights and to make things worse  BBC Wales were there to film it.  I got to the top of the tower and I was shaking. I just couldn't let myself drop. The instructor was being so nice to me but it still didn't help my nerves. I was constantly hearing cheers of support from my team at the bottom and a BBC camera was right in my face the whole time after about literally 15 minutes (Felt like an hour) I finally got to the bottom. If you want to see a very unflattering picture of me abseiling and a voice recording of the whole thing head to this link:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-28391667
It felt amazing to actually get to the bottom though! Over the next few days we participated in rock climbing, canoeing, hiking up mount Snowdon and camping. During camping we made a huge fire and roasted marshmallows on it. The week was truly amazing and waking up to the gorgeous view every morning was brilliant.
We then had the weekend to rest and catch up with friends then we were off to Brunel university for the second week. The first day was spent learning how to be a good public speaker. It was quite fun and we all learnt something. We also had to live like uni students for a week... without the alcohol. We had to cook for ourselves which was actually pretty fun. We all shared a flat with the girls in Team Reiss and I got on with all of them so it was great. In the evening session our team leader started to play the guitar and we all made up our own song which is pretty cool. We then had to do things like make human pyramids. On the second day we headed down to an elderly peoples home with people suffering from dementia. To be honest the experience there wasn't too great. It was very depressing but I guess that's what to be expected and it made us all realise that we should take all opportunities we have in life. When we got back to university we started working on our talent show sketch. Ours basically involved us mocking all the other team leaders in a short play we made up. We then also played some games and sung round the guitar. The third day we had to head back to the elderly peoples home. This time we played some old songs for them which they really enjoyed. It was then time for the talent show which was really fun and everyone really liked our sketch. During the week we also had drama lessons which I really enjoyed as I'm really into acting. On the last day we did a showcase displaying what the elderly peoples home was like.
Then the third week rolled a round. This one we stayed at home for which was a downside as I loved staying with everyone but we were at college 10 am-5 pm everyday. We had to start a campaign. We chose ours to be about the education system and how we need to have more passionate teachers. We pitched our ideas to the dragons in a dragons den like situation and we got full funding. So we will be working on our project in September.
Overall it is an amazing experience which I think every 16-17 year old should go on. It is only £30-£50 for the whole 3 weeks and I really loved it. If you want to go but are worried you might be out of your comfort zone please do it! You really will not regret it!