2016

I've been seeing a lot of people saying that Kylie Jenner was right about this year being the year of 'realizing things' and to be honest, I totally agree. Every year I learn some very valuable lessons but there's just something about 2016 that has been the biggest eye opener for me. Last year I did a post on 2015 and it was just me answering questions on what that year had been like for me but this year I want to change that slightly and just talk about the ups and downs of 2016.

This time next year..

Recently I've been thinking about all the things I'd like to achieve in 2017 and I thought it would be a good idea to write down exactly what it is I want to achieve and of course share it with you all. Besides, if I put it out there.. I've gotta stick to it. There's actually a program on TV with this exact title, I also got the inspiration from it and it pretty much does the same thing, were a few people come onto the show and talk about what they want to achieve this time next year; in a years time they come back to share their achievements. I think it's always a good idea when you can give yourself a target to reach by a certain time, whether that's in a year, 6 months or even longer.

My blogging experience.. 1 year on.

On the 28th November I reached my one year anniversary since my blog first started. I'll be very honest in saying, although I was proud of myself for sticking to it for a year and counting, I felt a sense of disappointment because I didn't really see any other big achievement, hence why I didn't post anything on that day to celebrate. I'm a little frustrated at myself for feeling like this because I don't think I give myself enough credit, I reached 10,000 views within less than a year and that is a big achievement in itself. I just want to take the time to share with you some things I've learned in the last year during my blogging experience.

Pixi Beauty Review

So if you read my post on when I went to beautycon recently (check it out here you've missed it), you'll see that I was given a couple goodies from Pixi beauty. I was super excited to try these out as I've heard a lot of great things about this brand.

Favourite Christmas movies!

In honor of it being the most wonderful time of the year, I thought I'd share a little christmasy post with you all and tell you what my favourite Christmas movies are! This will be a very short one but I enjoy seeing other peoples favourite films around this time of the year so I thought why not share mine..

November Favourites..

I almost totally forgot about my November Favourites.. whoops! Better late than never though right? As you can tell from the photo, I have mainly been loving make up products this past month. My make up collection is growing more and more and I love it, I just love getting to create different looks and just play around with different techniques.. it's an art you know lol.

#Beautycon London!

Over the weekend I went to my very first Beautycon event and it was such an exciting build up to the day! Beautycon is an event held every year, not only in London but they have it New York, Los Angels and Dallas too. Many content creators come and take part in panel discussions, do meet and greets and just hang around! A lot of brands participate too, you can buy some products from some of your favourite beauty brands and sometimes even get some free goodies. 

So a friend of mine reached out to me asking if I wanted to go and I was so quick to say yes because I've always wanted to go to Beautycon, I just didn't have anyone to go with until recently. I'll get straight into it because I've got a lot of photos to share!

My top fashion blogger inspirations

When it comes to fashion inspirations, I don't tend to look at celebrities for that. My love for fashion actually came from my mum and other fashion bloggers. I remember when I was younger and watching lots of fashion related videos and following blogs, just thinking to myself how cool it was the way some girls would style certain items. Years later and I'm still inspired by the same people, well.. I've discovered some new ones and I'd like to share with you exactly who inspires me in this fashion thaang.

October favourites..

So I know it's been a while since I did a favourites post, I just haven't really been loving anything new.. until now. October has been a month where I've found a lot of favourites, from beauty products to fashion items and music! 

3 tips to mastering the art of balance in your life

Do you ever feel like everything that's going on in your life just starts to get a bit too much to deal with? And it's getting on top of you? Well, I know this feeling all too well. For so long I've tried to keep a balance between all that goes on in my life, at times I used to think this would be impossible to master but with time, I must say I'm almost there. I just wanted to share some tips with you on how I've stared to master the art of balance.

Autumn vibes..

Oh Autumn.. how I love you. I have been dying to share some autumn outfit looks on here and I'm happy to finally get to share one with you! I know I've been slacking with my posts, I'm just trying to find that balance between blogging and university. Keep a look out on a post I'll be sharing this weekend on 'Mastering the art of balance in your life' but let's get into this outfit..

Mental Health Awareness Day - My Story

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Day, I really want to talk on this very important topic that is actually very dear to my heart. Just a quick back ground on Mental Health Awareness Day, it is held on the 10th October every year and each year is a different theme, this years theme is psychological first aid and the support people can provide to those in distress. Find out more about it here. 

Afternoon tea at Crazy Bear

Last week me and one of my friends I went to primary school with met up for afternoon tea at Crazy Bear in Beaconsfield. I had heard a lot about this place so I was really excited to go. I had never actually seen this place whenever I'd go to Beaconsfield and it's a very small town, turns out it's right in the town, as you enter coming from High Wycombe.

The world is my catwalk...

The world is my catwalk! I really loved this sassy slogan printed across this t-shirt when I saw it in Zara and it was on sale at the time too so of course I had to get it. This is such a casual outfit but as you can see, I've slightly dressed it up by pairing it with these red heels, hoop earrings and a red lip. I thought it'd be a great way to add a pop of colour to the whole look. 

Lipkit by Kylie - Review

Since Kylie Jenner released her lip kits I vowed to not fall into the hype but this was only until she released her latest Matte Liquid lipstick shades which I instantly fell in love with! Don't get me wrong, I've always liked her shades for the mattes, lip glosses and metallics but I didn't just want to buy them because of who's name was on it and especially if I could find the exact same shade for cheaper. Once her latest shades for the mattes were released I was so quick to order them, so lets get into my thoughts on the product. 

What I love about Autumn..

Goodbye Summer and hello Autumn! We have finally reached my favourite season.. Autumn and Winter are definitely my kind of weather. I've mentioned this before and I know it might be weird for someone to look forward to the cold weather and grey clouds but I just love it. Today is the official start of Autumn and I wanted to share with you what exactly I love about this season.

August favourites

At last, I have some favourites to share with you guys! I don't know how some bloggers manage to have new favourite items every month but I've definitely found some new loves during the month of August. Oh and how crazy is it that it's now September? From now till December is my favourite time of the year but we'll get into that in another post lol.

New In

It was pay day on Friday so I felt the need to do a bit of shopping and I'd like to share with you just a few items I bought.. 

Bournemouth Beach snapshots..

Last weekend, me and my family took a trip down to Bournemouth and spent the afternoon at the beach! I was so looking forward to going as I haven't been to the beach in years, I've also been wanting to go for ages so finally being here was great. The weather was perfect too, it was nice getting to just relax whilst you heard the waves of the ocean, I wish I lived a bit closer to the beach, it's such a great way to just chill. I took some photos that I of course had to share with you guys so take a look :)

Work Experience

As you may know, I'm currently studying Law at university and last week I had my first work experience at a law firm in London and I'd like to share my experience with you guys. The law firm I worked for was Howe and Co Solicitors, this law firm has been working in partnership with my university to hold a student law clinic, which I joined a little earlier this year. They were kind enough to offer us work experience during summer holidays as it's very important to get as much experience as you can as a law student, so I definitely took on this opportunity. 

I was only there for 3 days, which isn't much but it's better than nothing. On my first day I was greeted by one of the solicitors who has been working at the law clinic at my university and shown around all the meeting rooms and then was taken up to the offices to meet the other solicitors. Everyone there was super friendly and very helpful. During my time there I was doing research on a case that one of the solicitors was working on, before starting I wasn't too sure what exactly I would to be doing during my time there but I'm really glad to have been given the task of helping out on a case. 

It was quite surreal at first, I was actually working along side other solicitors, dealing with a real case! I mean, I've worked on real cases whilst being at the law clinic at university but there was something about being in the environment of a law firm.. it was so exciting lol. 

I'm glad to have been given this opportunity, I had spent some time trying to get work experience but couldn't seem to secure anything. I had a part to play in that though because I didn't apply to enough places soon enough (I'm a very last minute person, I know.. I need to sort that out) but I began getting very disheartened and almost having to accept the fact that I wouldn't be getting any work experience this summer. I am so thankful that Howe and Co were able to take me on and I'm hoping I can return during the Christmas holidays as well. For those who are also studying law, make sure you apply for plenty of work experience. One thing our lectures keep telling us at university is that once you graduate and go looking for a job, recruiters want to see what experience you've had, not just how good your grades are, which is of course important but so is actually getting some sort of experience. 

So there you have it! You'll definitely be seeing more posts any other work experience I do in the future.

Love Sham x 

Brunch at Fego

Yesterday me and my boyfriend went to a small cafe in Marlow for brunch. My best friend has recommended this place to me for a while now so it was about time I went! Besides, me and boyfriend love trying out new places so we were excited to be coming here. I'm surprised I've never seen this cafe before as it's right along the high street but as it's quite small, without an obvious sign, you might just miss it. After walking up and down the high street, with the help of google maps we found it in the end lol.

Yauatcha Soho

Last Saturday me and my family went out to London for my brothers birthday meal.. he is now 19 and I can't believe it, he's almost in his 20s and as the older sibling that freaks me out! Lol. He had found this restaurant on google just at random and we decided to book it straight away due to the great reviews and rating. 

Do something about it!

I've been wanting to get this post up for the past couple of weeks and I'm happy to finally be taking the time out to write it. I've really been slacking with my posts lately and let me explain why.. For some time I've been feeling really low about my appearance, this has effected my mood massively. I was feeling down constantly not really knowing why, I became so unproductive with a lot, I wasn't in the right mindset to blog, I felt unhappy all the time.. all because I was no longer confident in my body and purely just unhappy with it.

Steam and Rye

Yesterday I went out in London for my friend's 21st birthday, we went out for a meal and then out to a club after. The place we went to is something I just had to share on my blog, it's called Steam and Rye and it's 1920s themed.. cool right? I've always wanted to go to some sort of event thats 1920s related, I just love how glamorous that era was so I was really excited to go. 

Not Summer just yet..

The weather here in the UK hasn't been great, especially considering it's suppose to be summer! As much as I'm not the biggest fan of summer, it would be nice to have some sunshine throughout the day without there being rain in the same day lol. 

Lunch at Bills

Bit of a quick post.. Last week Thursday, me and my friend met up for lunch and to shoot some photos for my blog and her Instagram! She actually has her own YouTube channel now (check her out here). We were originally going to go to Nandos but when we got there she mentioned she wanted to go to Bills so I immediately turned around and headed for the door lol. It was her first time going there and my first time trying out their lunch menu. Let me just say, I am so glad we ended up going here! 

June Favourites

It's Julyyyyy! We're officially half way through the year.. ALREADY. Let's get straight into these favourites, these 4 products are what really stood out to me this month, not a lot I know. 

Bloggers Ball Outfit

This is the outfit I wore to the Bloggers Ball. Can you believe that I bought this a day before the event? It was such a risk because I was panicking thinking I wouldn't find anything. I knew from at least a month or so in advance that I wanted to wear a jumpsuit, just to be different. It was so hard finding that perfect one until I came across this god sent! 

I was in New Look and saw this jumpsuit, I didn't buy it instantly (no money lol) but I knew it would be a great alternative if all fails. So since I hadn't bought anything yet I went back to New Look and bought it. It's actually by AX Paris, they have their own little collection in the New Look store in my area. The material is very light, not too thin and perfect for the summer. I'm loving the culotte style jumpsuits at the moment, I definitely need to invest in at least another jumpsuit in this style.. a second option is always great right? ;) 

Bloggers Ball - Attending My First Bloggers Event

So last weekend I went to the Bloggers Ball. This is an event held by Scarlett Dixon (check out her blog here scarlettlondon.com)  she also has her own blog and has become very successful through it. She holds events for bloggers throughout the year and I had heard nothing but great things about them prior to this so I was looking forward to it. 

Update!

Hey guys! Apologies for the lack of posts recently, I decided to take a bit of time off from my blog.. not too long of a break though as I've been itching to post some content! 

Summer evening walks

This is a bit of random post but I still wanted to blog it lol. Yesterday evening me and my mum went for a walk at our local park, we had gone to church in the morning but spent the rest of the day at home.. the weather was gorgeous! It was a day wasted.. kinda. We decided to go for a walk in the evening specifically because it wouldn't be too hot and there would be that cool summer evening weather. I bought my camera along with me to take a few shots of the park, so here are the photos :)

Spa time and China Town

The 31st of May was my best friend, Jasmine's 21st birthday and as a present I got us a good deal online from Virgin Experience Days for a spa day at the Mandara Spa at the Park Plaza Hotel in Westminster London. We've both been wanting to go to a spa for the longest so I thought why not get us a deal to go to one? We managed to get there pretty easy, just as you leave Waterloo Station it's a 10 min walk to the spa. 


As we took the lift down to the spa and the doors opened, there was this lovely sign in front of us saying Mandara Spa, it was pretty. We went towards the reception area and the atmosphere of the place was really nice, we were greeted by one of the staff who handed us our gown and slippers (very friendly staff here). We got into the changing rooms, put on our swimming costumes and headed for the pool area, where we sat on these comfy long chairs and just.... relaxed. It was honestly so nice to just take some time out and relax, I didn't bring my camera with me so I relied on my iPhone to take some decent photos, I wish I took more photos though. We had a little swim, tried to nap but failed lol and sat in the sauna to end our session. Jasmine really enjoyed it too which was great! 

Wedding Guest Outfit Ideas - Missguided Edition

QUICK NOTE: It's the 1st of June so I would normally post my May Favourites but I haven't really been loving anything new throughout the month of May so I thought I'd post something different.

Orange

So this is the outfit I wore to the Sky Garden. I am loving bardot tops this summer, they give you a very flattering look and can actually dress up a simple outfit in my opinion. This one is from Zara and I've had it for over a year now, I want to invest in some more to build up the collection, there are so many pretty ones I've come across already. I'm lucky the sun came out later on in the day because I was freezing when we got to London, it was grey and windy! I also really like how the colour orange looks on my skin tone and again I want to try invest in some more clothes with this colour.

Sky Garden

Yesterday me and my boyfriend went to the Sky Garden in London. We have been wanting to go for months now and getting a booking isn't easy, it's free to book therefore you can only imagine how busy it must get.. especially at the weekends! If you've never been and want to go, follow their account on twitter @SG_SkyGarden to see when they announce their availability; it's the best option instead of constantly checking their website. I booked this 3 weeks ago and we've been looking forward to it since, as you may know going on days out in London is one of my absolute favourite things to do. I'm such a tourist for someone who's visited London multiple times lol.

So we arrived at the area at around 12, our booking was for 12:30 so we had to wait about 25 minutes before we went in. Once we got into the building and went up to the 35th floor, we were so amazed at how nice the place was, the atmosphere is very chilled and relaxed. 

Lunch at Giraffe

I thought I'd share with you a quick post from today's events. Today me, my mum and my brother went to London for a family photo shoot. We had booked this as a birthday present for my mum because this is something she has wanted us to do for years so it was nice to surprise her with this. The photo shoot was based in Shoreditch, this has become an area of London I love to visit, it's got this quirkiness to it yet quite modern. I want to come back and explore it a bit more so I can get proper photos here. 

After 3 hours of being in the studio, you can only imagine how hungry we were.. We left in the morning without having breakfast so by the time we finished at the shoot, we.. were.. HANGRY! (hungry-angry lol). The area where the photo shoot was was luckily right next to a bunch of restaurants, we stumbled across Giraffe which is actually one of our favourite restaurants to go to. I absolutely love this place, the menu has such a nice variety, although they've changed it so a lot of the food isn't there anymore *cries*. This is actually one place where I always try something new, I've never had the same thing twice. I had the chilli beef burrito which was lovely, my brother had the thai duck stir fry and my mum had the rodeo chicken burger. 

5 Things I'm Grateful For

A lot of the time we like to moan about the things that aren't going right in our lives or the things we don't have. We can get so consumed by this that we forget about the things we do have and the things that are going right in our lives. As a Christian, you learn to give thanks to God for all the blessings in your life but even sometimes, I forget to do this. I was reading a blog post by InTheFrow (Victoria) and she recently did a post on 5 things she's grateful for which is what inspired me to write this post. I of course know personally the things I'm grateful for in my life right now but I'd like to share them with you all. 

Polka Dots

It's another gorgeous, sunny Sunday here in the UK. I've been waiting to pull out this jumpsuit from my wardrobe and today I finally had the chance! My auntie's church was holding a street party in celebration of the Queen's 90th birthday. The dress code was colours of the Union Jack which are red, white and blue. At first I was struggling to come up with an outfit until I remembered I have this white and blue polka dot jumpsuit which I haven't worn since last summer! I decided to pair it with my white gladiator sandals, a sun hat and my fav.. a red lip! This is definitely another one of my favourite outfits to put together during the warm weather. It's such a comfy, casual look and you can certainly dress it up with a pair of heels if you want. 

Sunglasses Wishlist!

So I briefly mentioned in my previous post that I never used to like wearing sunglasses before this year. I loved the different styles and the idea of how they would look on me but when it actually came to putting them on, I just wasn't feeling it. I'm still wearing the Topshop sunnies that I've been loving so far and it's made me want to invest in some more!

April Favourites

It's May! I know this is up a little over the first week of this month but revision and exams have been taking over!

I've been loving lots this month, I know from the picture there doesn't seem to be many items but it's a lot more than any other monthly favourites I've done so far haha. 

Met Gala 2016 - My fav outfits!

So last night was the Met Gala event and I have been dying to share with you my favourite outfits of the night! There were such lovely ones and some not so lovely lol. For those of you who are not too familiar with the Met Gala, let me briefly explain.. It's an annual fund raising gala for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum's of Art's Costume Institute in New York City. Each years event celebrates the theme of that years Costume Institute Exhibition. The exhibition sets the tone for the formal dress of the night and guests are expected to choose their outfits to match the theme of the night. This years theme was 'Fashion In An Age of Technology'.

Blake Lively 

THANK YOU!!!

I want to say thank you to everyone who has been viewing my blog. I started this blog back in December and my goal was to reach 5,000 views by June.. It's now May 1st and I've reached over that goal! I honestly did not expect to get this many views this quick, to some this may not be a big deal but for someone like me it's huge lol. I don't know who exactly is viewing my blog or who has remained viewing each post but I'm just grateful to those who have just taken the time to even click on the link. 

Blogging was something I procrastinated doing for so long, I was worried about what kind of reaction I'd get from people but I've received such positive feedback from not only friends and family but people I don't even know! 

Thank you once again, I can't wait to share more with you all!

Love Sham x 

What's in my bag?

Hey guys! I thought I'd do the 'What's in my bag' tag, I don't know why but I love watching these tags on YouTube.. I guess I'm just really nosey lol. 

Spring Outfit #3

So this is yet again another casual Spring outfit, today was actually quite chilly and windy but this look would be perfect for warm weather. 

I'm wearing a ribbed crop top which I've had for a couple years now. These were so popular when they came out in Topshop, I remember a lot of people having them and I managed to get myself this baby blue colour.. I definitely wish I got it more colours. These high waisted trousers are from Ralph Lauren but my mum bought them from a charity shop (bargain!) and again I've had them for ages now. They were actually just regular trousers at first but because they were so long, I managed to convince my mum to turn them into high waisted trousers and they've been my favourite piece of clothing for the longest! My denim jacket is from Next and is a staple piece of mine when the warm weather comes around. My hat is from H&M, these style of hats are everywhere! 

I always come back to this specific outfit when Spring/Summer comes around, it's definitely one of my favourite outfit combinations.

Spring Outfit #2

So here's another Spring outfit for you guys. Nothing major, this is such a casual look, you can never go wrong with simplicity. Once again, the weather was lovely today although it has been very on and off as usual. I don't know what it is about Sundays but I swear the sun is always out.. sometimes lol. 

I've had this cropped jumper for a few years and I've only ever worn it out once! I don't know why I was always hesitant of wearing it and besides the weather needs to be warm as you can't really put a coat or jumper over it because of how loose the sleeves are. It's a gorgeous bright yellow colour and quite versatile.. I've already had some other outfits planned around this cropped jumper. My jeans are new, they're a high waisted light denim with the perfect fit! I swear I've never had a more perfect fitting pair of jeans before lol.

Time to de-stress!

With exam season around the corner, the stress levels are rising for a lot of us. It's so important to find ways for you to de-stress and not allow all the pressure to consume you or affect your revision sessions. This is something I've been struggling with personally, I hate saying "I'm stressed" but sometimes you can't help whats obvious. I mentioned briefly in my post on my university experience so far how the second year has been the hardest for me, mentally and physically and the stress has put me in some of the worst moods and has stopped me from actually getting any work done. I had to find ways to de-stress or else things would get worse and I'm glad I have a few things that have helped that I'd like to share so I can also help at least someone out there. 

So let's get into it..

Day out in London - Birthday celebrations!

Last week Saturday was my boyfriends 21st birthday, unfortunately I wasn't able to see him so we had to reschedule for the weekend after (this weekend). I had been planning a bit of a surprise for him and wanted to do something we've never even spoken about doing before! One website I have fallen in love with is the Virgin Experience Days website, it's like Wowcher or Groupon and it has some amazing deals.. Some options are bit more on the luxurious side but the deals are great. As I was scrolling through looking to find something for us to do, I came across the City Cruise which goes along the River Thames. It was perfect! Instantly I knew this was the going to be the perfect thing as I mentioned before we had never spoken about doing this. The price for it was very reasonable as it was a deal for two people. 

March Favourites

Is it me or did March drag a little? I don't know what it is but I really felt like March was such a slow month and I'm happy it's now finally April. I have a few things to look forward to this month which I'm so excited for and of course will be sharing with you all on here.

So let's get into my March Favourites. I struggled trying to find what products I was loving but remembered there are a couple I forgot to mention in previous favourites because I've been using them for months now so here they are..

Easter Sunday Lunch

I know I'm a day late but Happy Easter everyone and I hope you all had a lovely easter weekend. 

I was in Kingston visiting some family for the weekend and it was a much needed mini break away from studying lol. Yesterday afternoon we went to Holiday Inn for their Easter Sunday Lunch, it was an all you can eat buffet, Sunday roast to be exact! I really enjoyed the food and the atmosphere was lovely too, just a room full of families spending quality time together on a Easter afternoon.

Spring outfit #1

Today definitely felt like Spring! The sun was shining, there was a cool breeze and it's put me in such a good mood. I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to take some photos as the weather hasn't been nice for a while.. we've had sunshine here and there but it hasn't been consistent throughout the day like today. 

This is just a quick outfit I put together which is great for this weather, the blazer is light but not too bad that you'll get super cold if there's a breeze. I love the colour combination as well, you can't go wrong with pastel colours during a time like this. 

Reunion

Yesterday I reunited with 3 good friends of mine who I haven't seen in 6 years! We couldn't help but reminisce on all the good times we had and just how young we were when we last saw each other. We decided to do some shopping in Westfields and go for dinner afterwards, we had dinner at TGI Fridays which was really good. I took a few photos at the restaurant and we had a photo taken for old times sake lol. 

It's officially Spring!

I know I haven't posted in almost 2 weeks.. apologies! Things are getting so busy at university right now, I have an exam very soon and a few more in May so you can only imagine how busy I have been. It's currently Easter holiday now and I've got a few things coming up which I'll be sharing with you here. Let's just say I'm in need of a weekend away and good company!