Blogging Goals 2017

I’ve already shared my 2017 goals on the blog but I thought it would be nice to share some of the blogging related goals that I hope to achieve this year. It’s crazy to think another year of blogging has went and by the end of this month it will be my 7th blogging anniversary! Say whaaat!? 2016 saw a lot of change around my blog and I felt like as my interests changed and grew, I created more content that I felt happy with. As my blog generally improved, I also got the chance to work with some amazing brands too! So here is to another year of blogging and hopefully an even better year! So this is what I would love to have checked off my list by this time next year…

1. Improve my photography – My photography has already improved massively in the last couple of years, I mean just look at some of my older posts (apologies in advance if you do!). Photography is one of my favourite things about blogging and I’ve learnt so much from being the one behind the camera to also being exposed to the various photography styles used by different bloggers. I’ve grown a little tired of having the same old flat-lay, I want to experiment a little more in adopting different styles but also making my basic flat-lay a lot less basic!
2. Get more use out of social media – Social media is such an important tool for bloggers and I definitely want to make more use out of it. As well as promoting posts on Twitter and Pinterest, I want to add more additional content particularly on Instagram! I hope that I can get more active and also get more chatty as I know there is a wide range of bloggers about!
3. Update my blog design – I changed my blog about a couple of years ago and I still love the way it looks! Although there is some aspects that could do with updating to make it even better. I may also go down the line of upgrading my WordPress? Who knows but hopefully I will be very happy with the look of my blog this time next year!
4. Branch out into other content – Beauty is obviously one of the main focuses on this blog however I have so many other interests that don’t get as much air time. Style in particular is an area I would love to chat more about, especially since it is the reason I started this blog in the first place! Hopefully along with my first goal of photography, I will be able to better capture style and clothing photos as it is something I do struggle with! I also want to up my lifestyle and food related posts, I spoke a bit about my change in eating a few times so I would love to being share more on that!

What are your goals for the year?

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2017 Goals and 2016 Reflection

Happy New Year and Hello 2017! What better way to start 2017 than the clichéd New Years Resolutions! Whilst some people will roll their eyes, I personally love setting goals for myself. It can be so motivating having something in mind to achieve and of course it’s incredibly rewarding to have a successful end result! So I thought I would share some of my personal goals for the year ahead as well as looking back at my goals from 2016 to see how I got on!

2016 Reflection 

It seems like quite the trend to simply hate on 2016. Whilst a lot of tragedy took place over the year across the world, personally 2016 was a decent and mostly successful year for myself.  I made four goals for myself in 2016 which you can recap on here. The first one related to improving my blog. Now if you look at last years post and compare the photo from last year to now, I think you can tell that there has been some large improvements! My photography has improved massively, as well as changing up what I blog about which has definitely improved the quality of my posts. Connecting with others on social media has been rather slow however and this is still something to work on! I am going to do a separate post on blogging goals for 2017 so keep your eye out!

I also spoke about adopting a healthier lifestyle. I have been really happy with my success on this goal. Snacking has always been a big issue of mine and I’ve really curbed my sugar appetite! I’ve learnt a lot about healthy eating and even trying out new recipes and cookbooks this year. On the fitness side of things, I still continue doing yoga and I also took up a bit of running over the Summer. I could definitely have improved my fitness from the year but I am still happy with my progress and I am also over a stone lighter than I was in Summer 2016!

Also, one of my goals was to invest properly in my wardrobe and have a good clear out essentially starting fresh! I really wish I took a picture of my wardrobe then and now as it has changed so much! This time last year it was full of unworn and unwanted clothes and now I have so much space as well as a wardrobe filled with some really great pieces. Whilst there is still a bit more cutting down that can be done, I am really happy about how it is looking now. Speaking of wardrobe revamping, Farfetch have created a swishy Capsule Wardrobe Generator which can help give you a little inspiration for giving your wardrobe a revamp for 2017. There is already so many beautiful pieces I am dreaming about…, check it out here!

Finally, my last goal for 2016 was to save regularly. When I look at my spending from the last month, I am starting to wince now at the thought of this goal! Nevertheless, I started the year off pretty well taking a note of everything I wanted to buy from the month and how much it would cost. I also saved a good bit too and put money towards things I had always wanted. I could’ve been stricter but I am still feeling positive about this goal!

2017 Goals 

Now onto what I want to achieve this year…

1. Invest in body-care – A couple of years ago I really wanted to get into a regular skincare routine and since then I can’t go a day without. Now I really want to spend more time and efforts into maintaining good body-care. It is easy to focus on cleansing your face etc. but when it comes to body care and looking after the rest of us, it can easily be neglected. I want to keep up with regular moisturising ensuring my limbs are as cared for as my face!
2. Continue a healthier lifestyle – I already spoke about my progress from 2016 and I want to continue finding new recipes, eating better and also even trying to do a little exercise now and again!
3. Spend more wisely – I love buying clothes and makeup as I am sure you all know! Although I want to be more stricter about dropping money on more things every now and again. I already have so much makeup that I would love to use up rather than continuously buying more! I have a few ‘treat-yo-self’ or spendy purchases I would like to get this year so I am hoping I can cut out on regularly unnecessary spending and save regularly!
4. Have fun – I’m still young and whilst I have many things going on, I still have time to do whatever. Instead of wasting that time away, I want to properly cherish it and use it properly. See my friends, go out and do something new or even just watch a movie that I’ve been desperate to see for a long time! Why sit sulking when you can do something enjoyable!

 

What are your 2017 goals?

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Life Lately #12

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! It is crazy to think it’s been and gone already but I still count the time being as the Christmas period and of course we all still have New Years to look forward to! So on that note, Happy New Year when it comes as this will be my last post of 2016! How crazy!

Life

This month has been pretty crazy, and not just because of the build up to Christmas. I finished my semester at uni which of course meant exams. I spent the first half of December in exam mode which as you can imagine wasn’t the most exciting way to spend the start of the festive month! Obviously though the feeling of getting exams out the way and looking forward to Christmas was indeed very exciting! Annoyingly enough however after my exams past I felt in such a rush and ever so busy with work and preparing for Christmas that I never really felt as chilled as I imagined it would be. Nevertheless with it all cooled down now, I have been enjoying simply doing nothing over the last few days with lots of chocolate and cheesecake and finally catching up on TV that I’ve missed over the past month! I am very much excited to keep that going for the next few weeks before it’s back to uni again!

Blogging 

Of course with the busyness of the past month, I’ve not had a lot of time to spend on my blog. I’ve also felt a little uninspired too lately and I’ve been feeling like I’ve been in such a rush to come up with ideas, never mind write the posts. I took the decision before to cut my blog posts from three posts a week to two which has helped so much! However with a lack of inspiration, I feel pressured by myself to meet my two a week post schedule and it’s obviously no good when I have a lack of ideas and no one wants rushed poor quality blog posts. So to help get myself out of this rut, I have decided to get rid of my ‘Tuesday/Friday’ schedule and instead just post whenever. It isn’t the most ideal especially for my usual organised self but it does mean that I can post when I really want to with posts that I have put all my efforts into and that I really want to post instead of just random rushed posts that are published just to meet my schedule. This doesn’t mean that I will hardly post, there probably will be less posts but I am still going to be active on here and posting as often as I can. I read many other blogs which I love who post randomly without a set schedule so hopefully that won’t bother anyone too much!

On the other hand, I have been pretty active on Instagram this month! I did make a little goal for myself to post every day until Christmas and whilst I did miss a couple of days I did pretty well and it was good to finally get back on to the platform. It was also fun to share some extra stuff too so you can check out all my latest posts here.

Catch up with December posts: Nars Sarah Moon Collection, Things to do this Christmas, Christmas Party Makeup, Winter Skincare Essentials and 2016 Favourites Part 1 & Part 2

How did you spend your Christmas?

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My 2015 Resolutions

I could start this post with the cringy quote of “New year, new me” but I think I’ll pass on that one. Anyway its 2015! How crazy! Happy New Year everyone, I hope you all had a nice New Years whatever you got up to. So to start 2015 I have came up with a few resolutions of what I want to achieve this year. We all make new years resolutions and a couple of weeks later we forget them but I have made realistic aims so hopefully they won’t disappear into thin air… like previous years.

1. Live a more healthy and active lifestyle – Okay, okay we all say this right!? However last year (feels weird saying that!) I did take up a spot of running in the mornings during Summer, crazy I know. So hopefully while its a bit chilly to go for a run just now I am hoping to get my running gear back on for the warmer months. Last year I also became a little more cautious over what I was eating so hopefully this year I can continue that but also cut out more fats and learn to cook more healthy meals.

2. Improve my photography skills – Now I hope you can’t tell that I take my blog photos with my iPhone 4S… oops! I do own a digital camera however its pretty useless so I’m stuck with an also useless phone camera. Hopefully I will have some better lighting in the year (new lightbulbs! haha) and maybe even indulge in a new camera!

3. Continue to improve my blog – I have had this blog since 2010 (crazy how time flies!) and I have only really began to get blogger serious this year. Last year was probably the biggest year for me blogging as I changed my fashion based blog to be more beauty based and a bit of lifestyle so I would like to continue to keep up with my blog and also hopefully get to connect more with other bloggers – Hello 🙂

4. Improve my skincare routine – Again in 2014 I only began to take my skincare a little more seriously but I would like to add to it as I do suffer bad breakouts quite a lot and I want to ensure I have healthy glowing skin!

5. Look after and embrace my hair more – My hair and I. A love-hate relationship. I have the frizziest and curliest hair and I just am no fan. I can never leave my house in the morining and come back later with the same hair, it always ends up a disaster – I’m blaming fresh air. Okay well I can’t really blame nature but I want to be able to style my hair better and find better hair products that can make my hair healthier and nicer. Yes nicer.

So what is your New Years resolutions?

 

 

December Favourites

Happy New Years Eve everyone! I can’t quite believe that we have reached the final day in 2014. Did that year go super fast or was it just me? Anyway to bring this year to a close I am going to share my favourites from the month.

Urban Decay Naked 3 Palette – It was going to make my favourites some time lets be honest, no surprise here. I am a huge fan of the original naked palette but as winter and Christmas began to settle in I found myself in reach of more rose and purple toned shades and this palette just had the perfect selection I was after. Such beautiful shades and amazing pigmentation, I did a full review here with swatches.

Lush Snow Fairy – Little warning, this will probably be in every future December Favourites post. What is Christmas without Snow Fairy? Nothing. This shower gel itself just makes me feel all festive and wintery and has a to die for girly scent of candy-floss and pear drops. Its just lush … (see what I did there!)

Revlon Black Cherry Lipstick – This has probably been my favourite lipstick from the whole of Autumn/Winter. I heard so many rave reviews regarding this product and had to pick it up. I was a little weary about it at first thinking it would be too dark however paired with my Benefit tinted balm its the perfect dark berry shade for this season. Also, the formula for this lipstick is incredible, smooth and glossy.. I need more Revlon lipsticks!

Lush Santa Lip Scrub – I’ve always been a fan of the Lush lip scrub, they really are fab products and make my lips feel super. I picked up the special festive edition this year and oh my it beats my bubblegum lip scrub by a mile! This cherry cola flavoured scrub makes my lips oh so soft and it tastes amazing!

The Body Shop Vitamin E Aqua Burst Sorbet – Now thats an incredible name… for an even better product! I put my hands up and admit I have became a bit of a Body Shop addict this year and this product is one of my favourites from them. Its such a hydrating and cooling moisturiser which makes my skin feel so incredibly smooth and soft. Its dreamy, just buy it!

What is your favourite products this month?

I would like to wish all my lovely followers a very Happy New Year and I hope 2015 is a fab year for you all. Thank you ❤

 

The NYE Look

It’s hard to believe in a couple of days time we will be counting down the seconds til the New Year. There is no better time to get dressed up and drown yourself in glitter… yes glitter. And thats exactly what I am doing.

I fell in love with this ever so sparkly patterned jumpsuit from Topshop and just had to buy it. Its very flattering and comfortable although it has covered my floor in a blanket of glitter. It was £38 from Topshop however unfortunately it has sold out.

To match my ever so glittery attire I am going for sparkly shimmery eyes using my Max Factor Excess Shimmer eyeshadow in the shade Copper, serious good stuff here! and also my Naked 2 palette. Yup I finally have my hands on the second palette and its gorgeous! *heart-eyed emoji*

I am also going to add a touch of Benefit High Beam to my cheekbones for a glowy look and to finish off with a sweep of red on my lips. I am going to use my new fave matte red Nars Cruella which I got as part of the Nars Lip Pencil Coffret that I swatched here.

What is your NYE look?