'Things' and 'stuff'

I'm a big fan of things.

I love "things" and I love "stuff" and my bedroom is full of both.

I spent 3 years at Uni, embracing freedom and starting over. I bought furniture for my new place, kitchen utensils, clothes, homely decorations for my room, a TON of makeup and prosthetics kit for my course and career, so it's safe to say that getting everything to fit into my parents house when I moved back in this summer was a bit of a challenge!

The past 6 months I've spent squished into my teeny tiny bedroom with my entire childhood, plus my three years of independence in with me. My once double bed became half-single and half-storage, and I could barely even see the rest of my furniture due to my room being drowned in boxes!

There's only so long I could have put it off for, my family were constantly cursing as they stubbed their toes on various face casts, suitcases and whatnot, and I bet I couldn't even tell you what was in each box...so over the past few weeks I've been really de-cluttering.

Now as I might have mentioned; I love my things and I love my stuff, so making myself throw away anything at all was like Sophie's choice to me! But I told myself that anything I hadn't stopped to appreciate since I'd been back just had to go. And you know what, as much as it pained me to do it, now that I've knuckled down and gone through everything I can honestly say that it feels as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

4 black bin-bags of rubbish, 3 crates to go to the charity shop, and now everything that's left has a 'place'. There are still a few things in boxes, but now I know for sure it's stuff I still want in my life and appreciate.

There have been a lot of changes in my life this year. I believe everything happens for a reason and although things might not make sense at the time, as life goes on you'll find out what those reasons are. Having a big clear out of all my things has made me feel clearer in my mind as well as giving me a fresh perspective on the end of 2014. I'm prepping some exciting things for the future of KS Media Makeup to be revealed in the New Year, and I'm SO excited to start blogging again too!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all, I look forward to writing again very soon!

Never judge a book by it's cover

This time last month I was having a clear out of some of my stuff, and I stumbled across my old art journal! I had made it for part of an A-Level art project, so about...three years ago, and my intention was to decorate a new page every day, sort of like a paper art blog. 

I felt quite nostalgic looking through it, I can so vividly remember the state of mind I was in and the thoughts running through my mind as I created each page. There were good days and bad days, and there were a few pages which made me tear up looking at them as I can remember the pain I felt that day. I don't know if people could ever tell when I'd had a bad day, but the journal was a way to let out all my thoughts and emotions so I could think clearly. That's why I called it "never judge a book by it's cover", it was symbolic about the fact that people don't always know or understand what's going on under the surface. 

When I put my journal on display in the art/photography gallery it was sitting next to my written piece about anorexia, which is a mental condition preventing you from eating the way you should and had affected a part of my life. For me it was never ever about losing weight, I hated how skinny I was. I just physically couldn't eat enough because I was so anxious and stressed all the time. I remember one of my favourite quotes at the time was "be kind to everyone you meet, for everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about", and I really wanted to show that in my work, so I also created a four shades of emotion make-up piece of my most familiar emotions at that time. 

Happiness

Anger

Sadness

Love

When creating my journal, I can distinctly remember a yearning for my future as I created each page. I didn't know why at the time, I guess I had an intense curiosity about what I'd be doing, as at that time I hadn't decided which career path I was going to take or where I wanted to live. As I delved more and more into the pages I was increasingly appreciative about about how much has changed since those days, how much I've grown as a person, and how grateful I am for the people I have in my life now. Sure life's a bit of a roller-coaster with Uni deadlines, long-distance relationships, grown up decision making and embracing independence, but I can honestly say that most of the time, I'm really stupidly happy.

I've nearly finished my three year degree when I'll officially be qualified as a media make-up artist, this year Tom and I will be celebrating our fourth year anniversary, I feel a part of the family at my Church and have made some incredible friends, and I'm growing from strength to strength running an online business alongside Uni with some of my best friends. Sometimes I feel like I have to pinch myself every morning I wake up to check I'm not dreaming!

Anyway, looking back on how life was back then and thinking how much it changed has made me feel grateful today. My journal might not mean the same to you as it does to me, but I wanted to share some of my favourites pages with you anyway. Enjoy!

15 minute make-up!

I've been looking through pictures from my Christmas holidays and came across a few of my make-uppy ones which I'm excited to share with you. My sister and I always like to make an extra special effort on Christmas day, but as we both had our boyfriends spending the day with us we didn't want to take the time we usually did of they'd be bored silly!

So here's a look at my speedy Christmas make-up look and how I achieved it. 

How I achieved the look:

For a base of my favourite primer/foundation/concealer combo set I used Arbonne Intelligence CC Cream followed by Arbonne's translucent setting powder and Sleek's blush in Pixie Pink. I sometimes use an extra concealer for complete coverage, but I was time saving and I don't mind a couple of pesky spots :)
For the eyes I used NYX jumbo pencil in Milk for a base, and set it with Illamasqua's eye powder pigment in Breathe (what a beautiful name!), which I also used along the bottom lash line. I then accentuated the sockets with a slight dusting of Urban Decay's Gunmetal from the Naked palette, which I also dragged onto the outer corners of the bottom lash line. I then used Arbonne's liquid liner in Black to create a thin wing along the top lash line, and filled in my eyebrows with Urban Decay's Twice Baked from the Urban palette. My top eyelashes are lightly brushed with Arbonne's Triple Action mascara, but I'm also wearing lash extensions by Eyelure. For the lips I used Arbonne's sun protecting lip moisturiser, and a red lip liner to outline, I then filled in with Rimmel's Kate Collection in 110, and finished off with Arbonne's lipstick in Runway Rouge to brighten the look even more.

So that was my Christmas make-up look, it took me about 15 mins to apply altogether. I hope you enjoyed it!

Treasure Huuunt!

I don't know what else people usually put in Santa Stockings other than presents and potatoes or coal, but for some reason in our house we have a tradition of adding oranges, walnuts and chocolate coins! We've done it for as long as I can remember, and I have some lovely Christmas memories of sitting in front of a cosy fire watching films, with my dad cracking walnuts and sharing out the pieces inside. 

This year, however, I was left to wrap Santa presents for not only my little sister, but for both of our boyfriends as well. Four whole bags of chocolate coins is a lot to ask one person to handle...so I decided rather than eating them all for myself, to sneakily hide them around the house and not tell anybody! Hehe!

They were hidden for about four days before I couldn't contain myself any more, I thought I would pop with anticipation! Every time someone walked past one without realising, I'd flare my nostrils with impatience and my face would erupt into a humongous horrifically hidden grin! It's safe to say, they all knew something was going on. 

It was Adam (my sister's boyfriend) whom I came clean to first, being the tallest person attending our Christmas he managed to spot a few straight away, with my stupid grins and his not so subtle eye darting to find more, it wasn't long until everyone knew. Luckily by then it was Christmas Eve-Eve, so not long to wait until the day, but it was difficult to keep an eye on everyone and make sure they weren't cheating!
Tom (my boyfriend) was the most difficult to restrain, from the moment I said "the coins are hidden" a childlike enthusiasm exploded from within him "TREASURE HUUUUUNT!!!" and he thundered off around the house flinging coats and shoes around to try and find some. I think it's safe to say he's as much of a big kid as I am :P

I had to re-hide quite a few coins which I knew people had found, but we couldn't wait until Christmas day in the end, so Christmas Eve we went through each room in the house and played "hot and cold" to find them all. I found it very frustrating as I wanted to find them all myself, and we were still finding coins we'd missed a couple of days later!

It was such good fun though and I'll definitely be hiding everyone's chocolate coins again next year. Sorry guys!

Christmas day with The Shorts

I thought it was about time I shared my Christmas with you! I know It's all pretty much over now, but I still have a few cards on display in my room and that's a good enough excuse for me. Anyway, on with the story!

We all have our own family Christmas traditions which make Christmas day feel homey. Our family wake up and gather in mum and dad's room with our two cats, where dad then brings in Champagne and Salmon for him and mum (yuk!). Then we get ourselves ready for the day, my sister and I do each other's make-up, and then we all re-meet in the lounge where we open the presents. After a delicious Christmas lunch, we all go out onto the moors or around the neighbourhood to walk off our massive food babies, before coming back home for films and a cosy evening by the open fire. Bliss. 

My sister and I (being 17 and 21 now) are a bit old for believing in Santa, but that still doesn't stop us getting a stocking! My mum used to love making them up for us, she'd collect bits and bobs throughout the year and 'hide' it all on top of her wardrobe, her idea of thinking is that if we couldn't see it looking in, it wasn't there, but we always knew really. One of her favourite traditions is to put oranges, walnuts and chocolate coins in our stockings, but I can remember my sister and I unwrapping our presents as teenagers to find odd things such as a yoyo and a bag of marbles...

These were all my Christmas presents, JUST mine! :O

As much as we love our mum, we decided to take over ourselves and create stockings for each other from then on. We were so excited for Christmas 2013, because it was the first year my sister and I would have our boyfriends over for the day, so we ended up making a stocking each for them too (I say stocking, but they were actually just giant gift bags).

Because of this, we all went a leeetle bit overboard and spoiled each other rotten!

Considering we had the boys over as well we decided to do things a bit differently this year. Tom (my boyfriend) was already here for breakfast, so mum and dad made the three of them salmon and scrambled egg on toast - which Tom has now decided is the best thing ever - and my sister and I had the same..but without the salmon.

Tom enjoying his breakfast :)

We then went out for a drive and a walk before opening the presents, so that we could pick up Claire's boyfriend, Adam, on the way.

All squeezed into the car with Adam

Mum, Claire, Adam, Tom and Dad playing with pebbles by the water front.

Mum, Claire, me and Tom

Tom battling his way through the branches of a fallen tree

The weather took a turn for the worse and we all got a bit wet and muddy, so we decided to head back home to the warmth and discover the delights under the Christmas tree.

I got some fluffy slipper socks :)

Tom got some Arbonne cologne

Adam and Claire got matching flavoured milk straws

   

...and we lost Claire to her new phone for a bit.

 

Our Christmas dinner was so delicious that I was too distracted to take a picture of the food, oops! But here's a "before" of the table all nicely laid out.

Dad well and truly full after his dinner! :P

 In the evening we played some games together, before snuggling up in front of a roaring fire to watch films.

I hope you had a Christmas as lovely as ours, whether you were with family or friends or both. Merry belated Christmas and a Happy New Year!