sun is in the sky oh why oh why would i wanna be anywhere else

Dress - Primark

Socks - Topshop

Shoes - New look

During the week I was in London for a couple of days, which was nice. It would probably have been nicer if I had had the time to do other things than go to the National Archives, haha! But I had a lovely time anyway, going through so many World War documents, seeing friends for a few moments and staying at this lovely airbnb. I need to go back to the archives during the next couple of weeks, so I'm hoping I'll get the chance to do something more fun as well. (Not that I didn't like the archives, actually. The first day was so boring, but once I knew what to do and took the time to have lunch and breaks in between research, I started to quite enjoy myself. Makes me sound like such a boring person, haha!) It had been almost 10 years since I'd properly visited London, instead of just travelling through, so it was and is definitely time to visit that wonderful city again. If you know of something interesting that's on during the next few months that you think I'd like, let me know!

Anyway, this is what I was wearing while travelling on the first day. I didn't even realize how matching the dress and shoes were before putting them on! I love black floral dresses and should wear this one more often as it's really comfortable and can be quite casual or dressed up, which is how I like my dresses. I also have my new favourite socks on. I just love the structured lace and any socks are just such a lovely addition to an outfit. And they keep my lil' toes warm.

project 365: 012-018

 012 This is very much a representation of what my life is like. I had an essay due at noon, stayed up until 6am writing it, slept for two hours, continued writing and still hadn't reached the word count by noon. So I spent most of my Monday writing and rearranging an essay that I then handed in the next day. In this photo I'm still having breakfast and being hopeful of not losing 5 marks straight away.. Such fun.

 013 Finally got my 2015 Moomin calendar properly on the wall and ate loads of these bad boys. Genuinely in love with these Daim eggs, and I buy them almost every day, haha!

 014 Face of the day, and also some new rings. As I'd only been sleeping for about five hours during the last two nights together, I spent most of my day in bed. I really need my sleep:-(

 015 I still have some of my Christmas decorations up, but is that really that bad? In my family we only take them down on the 13th, but this one is so pretty I might leave it for still a little longer.

 016 This is probably the most honest photo that has ever been on my blog. I can be a bit of a slob and have all kinds of crap covering the whole surface of my desk and chair. Anything from (clean) socks to dishes to old receipts to jewellery. But I tend to keep my floor clear, so that's ok. Right..?

017 It was snowing!

018 The shadow of my glass angel that hangs in the window, I just thought it looked pretty:-) And as it was my nameday, I ate a doughnut. It was a good day. (Apart from the fact that I was writing yet another essay. On time, this time around.)

P.S. How has my life become so irregular and I so nocturnal. Just postin' in the wee hours of the morning..

old and new

 When it comes to make-up, I rarely repurchase anything. I like trying new things, and unless there's a product that I know absolutely works for me in the optimum way, I don't see the point in not going for something else instead. After all, there's a plethora of make-up things out there and I do love the excitement of having new stuff on my hands. (Oh, materialism..)

So, when I say I've bought something twice or even more than twice, the chances are that I really love this thing. The Rimmel Stay Matte powder is what I've been using for a few years now. It's definitely not the best powder ever, but as my skin is quite dry and this doesn't make it worse, I've stuck with it. I suppose, I just don't want to spend money on something that might or might not be better and end up not ever using it. But the Soap&Glory Archery Brow Tint & Precision Shaping Pencil is something that I still think is absolutely brilliant. I bought my first one last spring, and despite me using it pretty much daily, it has lasted almost a year. I can see myself trying new eyebrow products sometime in the future, but for now this is the best thing in the world. Seriously.

A couple of new things I've been trying are this Revlon lipstick in Smoked Peach and the Maybelline Mega Plush Volum' Express mascara. I don't know what it is about beauty products, but they're the only thing that I am really easily influenced to buy. When I see other bloggers/vloggers use or recommend something and like it, if it's in my budget range I'll probably get it. How awful is that (and common as well, I think)? I don't remember who I saw wearing the Smoked Peach first, but now I have it too, and it's really lovely. It's the only nudeish lip colour I own at the moment, and although I'm more of a red/colourful lips kind of girl, I'm really enjoying this as a daily wear to uni &c. Then there's the mascara that I saw on the blog of the stunning Holly. I'm not sure about this yet! I do like it, but can't tell you if I think it's as amazing as a lot of people seem to think it is. Takes me a while getting used to a new mascara, and as the last ones I've had have had a much slimmer bristle brush, which is just very different from this, I don't know how to feel about this yet. I do like the way my lashes look after using the mascara, but I maybe expected more, you know?

project 365

 As I don't really do resolutions, I thought I'd do something else instead. Inspired and encouraged by the amazing Kaylah I decided to try my hand at the Project 365. Having had my wee Canon now for almost a year, I still haven't gotten around to properly learning to use all the different settings (haven't even read all through the manual, haha!). So with this project, hopefully, I'll get more use of my camera, learn to take better photos and possibly get more comfortable taking photos in public both just of random things and of myself. I can't promise I'll have something interesting to photograph every day, but so far I have actually remembered to take photos every day, and I'm really happy about that:-) Although, I've mostly remembered about this lil' project only when it's already gotten dark and the lighting definitely hasn't been the best, but you can't have everything in life, eh.

 001 Wee Laura playing with fire. I've actually used up all my candles in a couple of weeks and need to get some new nice-scented ones!

 002 The fanciest Christmas hot chocolate with a candy cane (ha ha). One of the only things I miss from living with le mother is her making me hot chocolates and one of the only food things I miss from Finland is hot chocolate. I just thinks it tastes better over there, or maybe it's the fact that my mum makes it..

 003 Don't actually know if I like this one. It's just a lil' street in Headingley.

 004 Breakfast of the day; porridge with dried blueberries. It doesn't look or sound that special, but it's good. Trust me.

 005 Took some make-up photos, some of which I haven't gotten around to posting yet! But you can see my MAC post here.

 006 I actually took the photos of products on a different day than the one I was wearing them. You can still see my MAC post here.

 007 I had a really exciting day of returning uni books, did a little sales browsing without any massively interesting finds and took a picture of the Parkinson building. My uni is quite pretty.

 008 Taking full advantage of my housemate's Angel collection. I love Buffy (as you might know), but have never seen Angel before this. I'm now about to start season three and I am beyond excited. I thought a series fully focused on him might ruin the dark, mysterious and broody Angel for me which is why I had been a bit hesitant of watching it in the past, but I was so wrong. I'm loving it pretty much as much as Buffy.

009 I've also really been into Matlock lately. I used to watch him with my grandpa when I was little and I just love Ben so much. I do love my old(ish) TV series.

 010 A rainy day spent inside doing uni work. At least my Moomin notebook is pretty!

011 Yet another walk to and from uni, this time to borrow some more books. Because, really, what else would one do on a Sunday afternoon?

That's pretty much what the start of the year has been like for me so far. Not too exciting, but quite enjoyable nonetheless. I'll possibly make this into a weekly thing, so you all get to see what I get up to (or how little I get up to, ha!). Later, lovelies!

and the banker never wears a mac

 As well as becoming a Lush girl, I think I've also become a MAC one. When the lovely Corinne told me I'd won her House of Fraser gift card I decided to finally try some MAC lipsticks. They obviously aren't the most expensive make-up product out there but it did feel like a splurge I wouldn't have otherwise done. However, after actually owning these, there's no going back. I can now even understand people who only use MAC, haha. So glad to be wearing these, even when only staying in and reading about the Secret Services (which is basically what my life is right now).

 The first one I chose to get is Morange, which is a lovely orange. I wouldn't actually mind it being even a brighter colour, but it is really nice for everyday wear; lovely and creamy. At the moment I'm more drawn to darker shades, so I'm looking forward to spring and wearing this all the time!

Like I said, I'm more into dark colours now, like Film Noir. This is definitely what I've been using the most lately. The perfect dark lip, I'd say. Most of the time I like to keep the rest of my make-up simple and light with this, but don't mind going for a more gothic or grunge look either.

What about you, do you love MAC and what's your favourite lipstick at the moment? I'm curious, haha:-)

sitting in an english garden waiting for the sun

 Coat - Still Young Vintage

Dress - Primark

Knee socks - Halpa-Halli(?)

Earrings - Seppälä

Boots - 2nd hand

Trust me to try and take outfit photos on the windiest day ever! I've experienced my fair share of Marilyn-moments and they always seem to happen when I'm not wearing anything under my dress or skirt (apart from knickers, I'm not quite daring enough to frolic around with  nothing on). Other people might associate Marilyn Monroe with silly little quotes about how you should be accepted with all your vices and such, but for me it's walking with the hem of my dress over my head. And her movies. But mostly the dress thing.

This's just a quick post as I really should be starting on my dissertation. It's not something I'm most keen on, but I'll be spending an awful lot of time on it for the next few months. It'll either mean that I'll be busy and not that present on the blog or that I'll be procrastinating and posting more than usually, ha! Catch you later, lovelies!

becoming a lush girl

 Christmas Eve

  I'd never been to Lush before last month. Besides the fact that I've previously not lived in a house that has a bath (excluding the year I was 18), which isn't necessarily a reason as they do have so many other than just bath products, I'd always been a tiny bit afraid of going inside because of all the smells. I don't think I've ever properly discussed my less-than-perfect health on the blog, but because of my headaches and migraines I actually think about where I go, what I eat and drink and how I spend my time in general more than I'd like to think about. And going to Lush had always seemed like one of those things to be avoided. Too many different smells at once could easily leave me near-paralyzed for a couple of days, haha. (Not funny, really.) But for some reason I figured I'd go in anyway one day and it wasn't too bad. It was so much better than not too bad. And since then I may have fallen in love with Lush, just like every other lassie in the world has. Every bath bomb and bubble bar I've tried has been so amazing. So much so, that I used almost all of the Christmas Eve one in the first photo before taking these pictures.

 Dashing Santa

 Golden Wonder

 Butterbear

Candy Mountain

I'm almost sad that these are all from the Christmas range and I'll have to wait a year for them to reappear (which I hope they will do!). Christmas Eve is definitely my favourite, its sort of earthy smell is just really lovely and it left my skin so soft. Dashing Santa and Butterbear were both okay compared to everything else. They're cute, smell nice and all that, but aren't perhaps as special as the others. Golden Wonder was the sweetest thing. The little surprise stars inside and the golden and bluey-green colours together were such a pretty lil' touch. Although, I personally prefer the smell of Christmas Eve, Candy Mountain is bloody delicious as well. And the volume of bubbles is divine. I do love a good bath. All in all, I cannot wait to make a new trip to Lush and smell wonderful and have the softest skin again.

Tell me, do you have a Lush favourite and what should I try next!

Also, sorry if you've already heard this P.S. too many times, but there's still a couple of days to enter my wee giveaway!