Review | All The Bright Places

Another book that I included in my 4 Summer Reads post which I read on my 2 week holiday was All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. I had heard not only Zoe, but many other people saying how good this book was and how important it is to the public views on mental health, so I knew I had to read it.

I don’t suffer from any mental health illnesses myself, but I have come across people in my life who do and I have seen stories on the news etc. about people all over the world with mental health illnesses and I knew how awful it can end for people or how hard it can be to live with. I think Jennifer hits the nail on the head with this book, it shows exactly how hard mental illness is to deal with as well as the extreme result of people going without the help and support they truly needed.

This book follows the story of Theodore Finch and Violet Markey, 2 people who both suffer from mental illnesses and they meet on the top of a clock tower, where they are both about to take their own life. That’s about all I’m going to say about the actual story line because 1. I could never do the story justice trying to tell it myself and 2. I don’t want to ruin it for anyone who has not yet read it and would like to.

The relationship between the 2 characters grows throughout the book, and you feel like you are in that story with them, not just a reader. You get so emotionally attached to the characters in this book it is impossible to put the book down. Every chapter ends with you wanting to move onto the next straight away, because you’re constantly wanting to know more about the 2.

Another thing I love about this book is that it swaps between Theodore and Violet’s point of view throughout the whole story, so it isn’t just from one person’s perspective. You get to know both sides of the story and I think that allows you to become really involved with both Violet and Theodore, because you know what is going on in both their minds, not just one. I think that’s what made this book really interesting for me because most books are just from one person’s point of view or from the point of view on the outside, so you never really get to see inside the mind of more than one character. I think for a book about mental illness this is really important because you see the way the person acts in front of another person, but you also see how that person is feeling inside at each moment which is something totally unique.

Overall I absolutely loved this book and I think it took me about 3 or 4 days to read which shows I clearly enjoyed it as I honestly picked it up at every free moment I had, and then proceeded to struggle to put it down!

This is probably one of my favourite books now and I would definitely read it again, huge recommendation!

Have you read All The Bright Places? What did you think?

Love, Becca

-xoxo

Review | Girl Online

So when I went on holiday, I managed to read all 4 of the books I included in my 4 Summer Reads post within those 2 weeks – I know, I read really fast. And that post got a lot of comments about what people thought of some of the books I included and also that some of you wanted to know my opinion once I had finished them all. Now that I have done just that, I am starting to write my verdict for you, and Zoe’s novel is going to be the first.

Girl Online is everywhere, it was number 1 bestseller and I can totally understand why. Zoe Sugg syndrome is taking over the teenage girls of today, why? Who knows, she’s just a very likeable person I guess! This book sold more copies than that of J.K. Rowling I do believe, in a very short space of time. Again, I can completely understand why.

At first I was really unsure because a few of my friends had started to read this long before me and said they had struggled to get into it and thought it was aimed more at the younger spectrum of Zoe’s fandom. I was really disappointed when I heard this to be honest, but I went ahead and read it anyway because Zoe has been my idol for a really long time now and I really wanted to read her first novel because it was a really proud moment for me as someone who has followed her on this journey since pretty much the beginning.

I know I’m super late to the bandwagon on this book because the second one is coming out very, very soon, but I’ve had this book for ages I just never got round to reading it with revision and exams. However, now I have, here you go!

I absolutely loved it. It’s honestly one of the best books I’ve read, honest. And I’m not just saying that because I love Zoe so much, it was totally unexpected. The blurb says that Noah has a secret that could threaten Penny’s alias but I never imagined Noah’s secret being what it was and that made the book super exciting for me.

It is really your typical teen love novel but I’m a sucker for those! I always have been! I grew up reading Jaqueline Wilson and other authors like her so this book reminded me a lot of those. I think Zoe also read a lot of Jaqueline Wilson growing up if I remember rightly, so maybe she wanted to try and recreate that kind of style in her own way, I don’t know maybe she didn’t.

I think along with anyone else who has read this book fell in love with Noah. He is just the dream boy in a love story and I think most teenage girls would fall for that character. I also felt like I could relate to Penny in some ways. Of course Penny has extreme anxiety which is where her blog started and I am lucky to not suffer from anxiety to this extremity, but the blogging thing and her not wanting people to find out about it, I could really relate to that part. When I first started my blog I didn’t want anyone to find out, Penny didn’t want anyone to know about hers either. I think most people who are blog owners probably felt this way at the very begging, or even still now. So it’s very relatable to people of the blogging world. I think that allows you to get closer to the character and become more a part of the story than just someone sitting watching from a distance.

I think it took me about 4 days to read this book in total, so you could say I enjoyed it a little bit. I honestly couldn’t take my head out of it! I don’t want to say too much about the story itself because I don’t want to ruin it for anyone who hasn’t yet read this incredible book, but if you haven’t I highly recommend you do.

As for the thing I said earlier about it being aimed at the younger spectrum of Zoe’s audience, I think she has had to be careful and very wary of the age of a lot of her viewers. Zoe’s videos are so popular and she has such a broad range of people watching, and a lot of them are very young. Zoe will have had to think a lot about this while she was writing this book because she can’t make it too mature as you can guarantee these younger viewers will want to read her book. However, she has still catered for the teenage viewers in my opinion, because in places it’s quite an adult/teenage love story, but not in a way that it’s inappropriate for her younger viewers. What I’m trying to say here is yes I can understand if you maybe found this book a little immature for your age if your about 15 or 16 like me, but she has of course had to be careful about the adult content she included.

As for Girl Online On Tour, I am super excited to read it and I honestly can’t wait for it to come out! Girl Online doesn’t end on a cliff-hanger as such, it just leaves you wanting to know more about the lives of Penny and Noah and what happens to them afterwards. Thank you Zoe for writing a second book and not leaving us clueless as to where the pair goes after Girl Online.

That’s about all I have to say about Girl Online but as I say, if you haven’t yet read it and you like a good teenage romance, I recommend this book to you because I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Until next time!

Have you read Girl Online? What did you think? 

Love, Becca

-xoxo

Summer Holiday Toiletries and Makeup Essentials

So following on from my general summer holiday essentials post, I decided to do toiletries and makeup essentials too because this blog is full of beauty stuff so it would make sense to do this too. 

Some of the stuff I have put in this may not be things I choose for every trip as the things I take always depend on where I'm going. I have however, based this post on a hot climate so bear that in mind when you're reading through this post. 

So these are the 2 bags that I like to use when I need to carry quite a lot of stuff because they're big. I believe the pink spotty wash bag is from Argos and the one with the guinea pig on is from Zoella Beauty, but I probably didn't need to tell you that.

This is the bag where I keep more of the toiletry things rather than makeup because it's bigger.

The first 2 things I think are super important for going on holiday because who wants to smell of BO? Not me. I really like the Dove Cucumber and Green Tea deodorant because it's a really fresh scent and it works really well. You can buy this from just about anywhere, supermarkets, drugstores etc. For perfume I chose One Direction's One Moment which I believe is the original one, I think they have 2 or 3 scents now if I'm thinking right. I really like the smell of this and it has sentimental value to me so it's perfect for going away.

2 hair products that I will be taking away with me other than shampoo and conditioner is heat protectant and a gravitiser cream. The heat protectant is by Clynol and the Gravitiser Sleekening Cream is by Richard Ward. Heat protectant is obviously for when I straighten my hair which I do a lot when I'm away, more so on the evenings and then the cream is just to help with the humidity because I don't fancy looking like I've been electrocuted the whole holiday.

Moving onto a couple of body products now. I would also have body wash but I didn't feel the need to include that. I chose these 2 Sanctuary Spa products because they are miniature travel sized products which makes them super handy for travel. They also smell really fresh and body butters and scrubs are essential in the summer because the sun will dry your skin out so to keep that tan you've got to keep your skincare up!

A couple of face products I wanted to include here because they are also travel sized/sample sized products so they are again perfect for travelling. The SASS Intimate Purifying Cleanser and the L'Occitane Essential Water are 2 lovely products to keep the skin clean and fresh. A moisturiser would also go with these but I didn't include that either, although it is super important in the summer.

I mostly wear eye makeup when I'm on holiday because I tend not to bother with skin makeup too much unless I really need it due to the heat so, these Quickies eye makeup remover pads are perfect for a holiday. They are also really small and compact so they don't take up much space and it leaves you with more liquid space if you were to put this in your hand luggage!

Sun protection - the most important thing when you go somewhere hot! Here I have included the Green People SPF 30 sun lotion and a SPF 20 lip balm I received for free at a music festival a couple of summers ago. I always forget that you can burn your lips and when it happens, it hurts so just protect them from the start and then you won't have that problem! 

And now onto the makeup which I keep in my Zoella bag! 

In case on any of the evenings I feel a little fancy and decide that I want a little bit of colour on my eyes, this is the smallest eye shadow palette that I own and it is super handy and super pretty so it is perfect to take away. This is the Undressed palette so it has some really nice neutral colours in which I think are perfect for a summer holiday.

A range of brushes to apply the products that I plan to take with me! This ranges from Bare Minerals to Real Techniques to e.l.f. and I love them all. I tend to only pack the brushes that I need to apply the products I am taking so I don't end up taking brushes I don't need.

I would also pack my Estee Lauder All-Over Face Compact because it has 3 blushes and a bronzer and it is really compact making it perfect for travel. It also means I have a choice of blushes without cluttering up my makeup bag. 

Powder is a holiday makeup must for me because I have really quite oily skin to begin with but in the heat and humidity, makeup is even harder to keep on so a little slick of powder over the top of whatever I fancy putting on solves the problem.

 I prefer to take BB cream away and I prefer to wear BB cream in the summer months over foundation because it is much lighter and therefore tends to stay on better. This is by Witch and it has witch hazel extracts as well as an SPF 12 so that just makes things even better for summer really doesn't it!

Concealer is also a must for me because even if I don't want to put BB cream all over my face, there might be a few pesky spots or blemishes that I want to cover up so concealer is the perfect thing to use without having to have a full face of makeup.

Mascara just has to come. I can't live without mascara. I think if I had to live with only 1 makeup product for the rest of my life I would pick mascara because it just opens up my eyes so much more and I feel much more comfortable with mascara on. Most days on holidays I only wear mascara, because there's no point in putting anything else on down to the heat. A waterproof mascara would be best especially if you're planning on going for a swim but I tend not to wear makeup if I know I'm going swimming because I personally don't see the point, even if it is waterproof. But that's just me.

I may or may not use eyeliner, but I'm one of those people who likes to have the option available in case I do want it because you can guarantee that if I didn't take it I would want it. I'm weird I know but it's just something I have to do, it's like a comfort thing. 

Now onto lippies, now you may think I have way too many here but lipstick is what I will probably wear most of on a holiday because I don't wear face makeup, just eyes and lips most of the time unless I want a little more coverage. But, as a result of that I like to have a choice so there's a few. The first one is my Burberry Kisses sample that I received a while ago in the colour Nude Pink. This is a really pretty and very subtle colour and I think it will look pretty good with a tan.

Next up is my only MAC lipstick and I've never worn it out because it's so bright. However, I feel that a holiday is the perfect oportunity to wear it out because no one cares on holiday lets be honest. This is in the colour Candy Yum Yum and it is one of the matte shades. I love the formula I just find the colour really difficult to wear. 

The MUA Power Pouts are my favourite at the moment, I have them in Rendezvous and Justify and they are both really nice colours Justify looks super duper almost radioactive orange, but it doesn't go on the lips anywhere near that colour.Rendezvous goes on a nice pinky nude colour.

This is the Revlon Colour Burst Lip Butter in 'Juicy Papaya'. This is a gorgeous coral colour and it has a wonderful consistency, it's not really a lipstick obviously being a lip butter, but I find it feels more like a gloss on the lips. It looks a lot brighter here in the image but once it's on the lips, it doesn't really change the colour of your lips too much, it's just enough to know you have something on. Gorgeous colour for summer.

I feel like a red lipstick is just a must for going anywhere, who's with me? This is Seventeen's Stay Pout in 'infared' and it's quite a dull red rather than a bright red, and I think that's why I like it so much. I'm not really the girl to be extremely adventurous with lips although I am trying, so a dull red is much more suited to me. It is matte but it lasts quite a long time as I find it stains the lips a little bit which I think is good because it makes it last longer. A black dress with a tan on a night time would be a perfect moment for this one.

And of course, nail varnish and a nail file. This is my favourite summer nail colour, it's one of the Barry M Gelly polishes and it is in the colour 'Greenberry'. It's such a lovely colour for summer and it looks fantastic with a tan, can I just say. I love Barry M polishes though I find they chip quite easily, the choice of colours is fab. However, the Gelly ones are much better quality I find as they do stay on a good bit longer than the normal Barry M range. 

And that's everything in my makeup bag for holly jollys! I hope you enjoyed this post and I will see you all again in a couple of days! 

What are your summer holiday essentials?

Love, Becca

-xoxo

This post is part of a little blogger series I'm taking part in called the "Secret Blogger Project 2015" run by teen bloggers Emily, Rebekka and Charlotte. About 30 of us will be writing twice a week on selected little lifestyle topics and you can also go onto the Twitter and Instagram hashtag "#secretbp2015" to have a little chat and view everyone's posts. If you would like to join or know more (we'd love to have you!) Instagram DM @theperks0fbeingemily or if you don't have Instagram, send a quick email to rebekkarosebeautyxo@gmail.com.

Summer Holiday Essentials

Today I want to list all of the things I think are 100% necessary to take on holiday whether you're only going a hundred or so miles down the country or flying across the globe. 

I'm not going to go into beauty essentials as such because I'm going to do a separate post about that which you will see very soon!

Most of these things would probably go in the hand luggage, but there probably will be a few things that would be much more suited in the suitcase. Maybe a better title for this would have been travel essentials... Oh well!

One thing that I always take on holiday is a book. I know I'm extremely late on the Girl Online bandwagon but hey, at least I'm joining it! I've had this since my birthday but with GCSEs I haven't had the time to read it! So, now that they're finished I will have plenty of time to get reading! No matter where you are in the world there is always time for reading.

I also take my Kindle. Side note: apologies for my reflection but I didn't really have another option! You might think, well why would she take that anywhere if she's already taking a book? I am a very quick reader ladies and gentlemen, so I need more than one book to keep me going! I can also go on the internet etc. on this as it's the Kindle Fire which is always a bonus, allows me to stay in contact with the world as long as I have WiFi! 

If it's a summer holiday, even if it's in the UK, you can pretty much guarantee there will be some sun at some point, well, hopefully... I always carry sunglasses around - often on top of my head which means I forget about them - because it's just satisfying to know that they are there if it gets a wee bit bright! And if you're going to a foreign country, then chances are you'll definitely need a pair of these! 

It is unbelievably hard to photograph a hat... Like so hard! But anyways, this might be more of a foreign country thing because I don't think I would need this in the UK weather at the moment, but I guess it all depends on your style! When I bought this I pictured myself in my black bikini, with my black sunglasses and this hat sitting by the pool looking fabulous... A girl can dream.

Who leaves the house without their purse? Not me! I don't go anywhere without mine anymore, often it's empty, but that's beside the point. I think most people save up a little bit of extra cash before they go away anywhere so it's important you have somewhere safe to keep it! 

I think we can all agree that these are the 3 main essentials of life in this day and age... I don't go anywhere without my phone and I don't often go anywhere without my headphones. Even if I don't use them, you can pretty much guarantee they are there somewhere, just in case. I don't really carry my charger around because if I do need to charge my phone I usually just use one of the battery packs. However, when I go away those battery packs don't last long enough so my charger has to come along too! 

And finally magazines and activity books. I feel like I'm one of the only people who actually uses activity books when travelling anymore? My favourite is criss cross but word searches are fine too! I think it just helps pass the time a little when you're travelling. Also I think magazines help for a little bit of light reading if you aren't really feeling a book, you can have some pictures to break down the text but still be reading - it's a win-win really! 

A couple of final things that I didn't photograph are my camera, obviously because I can't really take a photograph of that. If I go away anywhere for a longer period of time I will always take my camera because you never know a perfect moment for a photo until you're in that moment and you don't have a camera with you. Most devastating thing ever.  I also didn't photograph travel tablets because I don't have any to hand right now but I absolutely HAVE to have travel tablets with me if I'm going on a flight, car or train journey, boat whatever. I can't travel without them because I get really bad travel sickness unfortunately. Anyone who also suffers from travel sickness will understand my pain. I'm one of those people who feels like absolute rubbish but can't actually vomit, so it just sits there like this disgusting feeling the whole journey. It's super annoying although I'd prefer not to vomit anyway. This is getting off topic, as I was saying, I need travel tablets to feel well during a journey. They also cause drousyness which for me means that they knock me out. It's literally like you've given me a sleeping pill when I take those. It's really good actually because it means I miss most if not all of the journey! 

And that's it! These are the main essentials that I personally need to have with me when I'm travelling during summer. I believe I have a 'What's In My Summer Makeup/Wash Bag?' post coming up soon so keep your eyes peeled for that if you want to see more of the beauty side of what I take away with me.

I hope you enjoyed this post and I will see you very soon! 

Would you take any of these things on holiday?

Love, Becca

-xoxo