Goodbye 2014

 Madrid, August 2014

I don't know how to begin this post without repeating what you've heard a million times by now, so I'm just going to go ahead and say it: 2014 has flown by. I cannot believe it's been twelve months since the last time I sat down to reflect on another year. 

Very often, I label things in my head as good or bad. What I like and what I don't. What's good for me and what's not. I always need to know that the villain is a real villain and I can't sympathize with a hero that's doing mean things. If you're a good friend, you behave like one. Most things are in black and white in my head, because that makes it easier for me to understand how I feel towards someone or something. However, I'm not sure I can fully label a year as good or bad. I keep hearing people talking about balance and that's always been an interesting concept for me. I'm attracted to the idea that we have to go through the worst to appreciate the best. It's not exactly fair, I suppose, but I like to think that balance exists, whether we like it or not, and that good times will always come.

To be perfectly honest with you, I also think that it all depends on your attitude. That's why without counting neither my curses nor my blessings, I'm going to say that it's been a good year. This year I don't want to look back and think about the days I've been sad or lonely or miserable, days that we all have. When I'm old and wrinkly and I'm rocking my chair back and forth thinking about the good old 2014, I'm going to think about the lessons I learned and the good memories we made. Trying to sneak into fancy hotels. Watching the sun rise from the beach. Tracking flights at 1 am. (Not so) early mornings spent lying in bed searching stuff on twitter, then falling asleep again. Crazy audio notes. Blogging more. Realizing that there's really no point in worrying so much about everything. That it's okay to be sad, upset and afraid and you have to allow yourself to feel all of it. Finding myself a little bit more every day. Finally coming to terms with who I am and what I want (and what I don't). Growing. Accepting. Moving forward.

I am a completely different person than I was twelve months ago and I am a completely different person than I will be next time I sit down to write about my year. And that's alright. Hopefully, next December I will tell you more or less the same thing: that bad things happen, but they will never be more relevant than whatever makes you smile. I'm happy. I hope you are too. And I hope 2015 is the year of your life.

Happy new year!

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2014 Beauty Favourites

And here I was thinking I shouldn't even bother doing a Beauty Favourites post because there would not be enough things to talk about...

First and foremost, I'd like to say that I know most of these products did not actually come out in 2014, but I chose them based on what I've been reaching for the most this year. Some of them are things I've purchased over the past twelve months, while some of them are now all-time favourites and will probably feature in all of my annual favourites until I turn 80 (hello Kate Moss 107). I will not go into too much detail for two reasons: one, I have talked about or want to talk about in the near future about some of these products in a separate post. Two, I have two academic papers to write!

Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation (201 Classic Beige)

While I don't really understand the big buzz around it (yes, it's good, but that good? Hmmm...), I admit it's one of my favourite drugstore foundations at the moment. The coverage is great and the lasting power is actually quite impressive, although I'm not sure about the anti-fatigue effect and radiant glow it claims to have. Personally I don't see it, but it's a great foundation nevertheless.

Maybelline Fit Me! Pressed Powder (350 Caramel)

Until a couple of weeks ago I'd been using a Catrice pressed powder, I don't remember the details, but I dropped it and it ended up scattered all over the bathroom floor. Classic Tania. The next day, my desperate self went to the store and picked up the only powder they had in my shade - which, surprisingly, turned to be great. It is a matte powder so you won't become a disco ball in the middle of the day, but it does not make your skill look dull in the slightest. It's a win-win.

Sleek Blush By 3 Palette in Sweet Cheeks (Candy Collection)

I got this in the sales a couple of months ago and boy, am I glad I did. You need to be very careful when applying the product, especially the bright shade on the right, because otherwise you'll end up looking like a clown. I learned that the hard way. But once you get the hang of that, you will fall in love with it.

Rimmel Match Perfection Concealer (060 Natural Beige)

Ladies and gents, meet my new best friend. When I read on the tube that it was "skin tone adapting", I rolled my eyes. Skin tone adapting concealer? Yeah, right. Well, it turns out it wasn't false advertising after all. It looks quite yellow-ish when you first apply it, so that's kind of scary the first time, but it blends so well with your skin, even if you're not wearing foundation.  I've been using it since May and I'm not planning on trying a new one.

Makeup Revolution Girls On Film Palette

Makeup Revolution are the brand of the year. I think we can all agree on that one. They make such amazing products and they are so incredibly affordable that you just cannot stop buying things. A personal favourite of mine is the Girls On Film palette, with twelve shimmery shades and six matte ones. I rarely ever wear eyeshadow to university but with such wearable shades this palette makes me want to make more of an effort.

Makeup Revolution Redemption Palette Iconic 3

 Alright, the Naked 3 palette is absolutely beautiful. The shades are stunning, the packaging is incredible and we all know Urban Decay make some of the best eyeshadows out there when it comes to pigment and staying power. The thing is, when it first came out, I wasn't sure I was actually going to get much use out of rose gold toned eyeshadows. Do I want to spend 45€ on something I don't know if I'm going to use at all? The answer is no, I don't, so when the Iconic 3 palette came out, apparently being a dupe for the Naked 3 palette, I thought, "Well, it's so affordable that I'm just going to get that one and if I see that it's something I'm going to wear a lot, then I'll get the real thing."

I haven't even thought about buying the Naked 3 palette again. Do I need to say more?

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion

The lovely girls at Sephora gave this to my mum when she got me the Naked 2 palette for my birthday last year and I haven't used any other eyeshadow primer ever since. It is a bit dry so you need to be quite quick working your eyeshadow, but it is incredible. Sadly it's running out now and I'm going to start using the Shadow Insurance primer by Too Faced. I'll keep you posted!

Sleek True Colour Lipstick in 797 Smother

As soon as I saw that shade on the website I knew I had to get my hands on it. I don't have MAC's Rebel, mainly because I have many lipsticks with similar shades, and I think this could actually count as a dupe. I know it looks incredibly dark in the tube, but looking at the swatch you can see it's actually more of a deep pink/purple colour than a vampy shade.

Rimmel Kate Moss Collection in 107

Isn't this everyone's favourite lipstick? It is mine. I love it so much I think I might just get married to it and we'll just ride off into the sunset together and live happily ever after.

KIKO Velvet Mat Satin Liptick in 614 Dark Berry

While the 107 one is my favourite lipstick ever, I don't actually wear it every day because as you know it is quite a dark red. This one right here is the one I reach for the most. It is deep without being over the top, so I can easily get away with wearing it every single day.

Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick in 077 Asia

As I have said a thousand of times before, I've never thought I could pull off a nude lip. My skin is way too dark for most of the shades. What was my surprise when I found a nude shade that didn't make me look like I'd been dead for months!  (More to come on this lipstick in the next few weeks - stay tuned!)

Topshop Lipstick in All About Me

I got this in London back in September 2013 after spotting it in one of Zoella's videos and until this summer I wasn't sure I was actually going to wear it much. As you can guess, I'm a dark lips kind of girl, so I don't own many bright lipsticks (alright, I do, I just don't really like them that much). Well, say hello to the lipstick I wore all summer!

What have you been loving in 2014?

Any of what I mentioned?

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Six Christmas Songs

Ho, ho, hooooo!

I know I said I would start posting on Wednesdays and Sundays but given that it's Christmas Eve tomorrow and most people will be busy spending the day freaking out about what to wear, including me, I thought it'd be a good idea to move it forward to Tuesday just for this week. I wanted to write about something festive today and my first idea was a Christmas gift ideas posts, but haven't we seen a thousand of those already? Plus, don't you all have your Christmas shopping done by now? You should, at least, if you don't want to end up on the naughty list this year!

I'm sure you all have seen a few posts on Christmas songs as well so I know this won't be ground-breaking material, but I felt like sharing with you a few songs I've been listening to this season. Some are new, some are classics, but I hope you enjoy them all nonetheless.

Baby It's Christmas - Travis Atreo & Colton Haynes

All I Want for Christmas Is You - Love Actually Version  

Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) - Michael Bublé

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town - Mariah Carey

Santa Tell Me - Ariana Grande

Jingle Bells - The Vamps 

And as a bonus track, here's One Direction playing classroom instruments (yeah Zayn, smash that triangle!) and singing Santa Claus Is Coming to Town in festive jumpers. Enjoy!

What Christmas songs have you been listening to this year?

Merry Christmas everyone!

 

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We need to talk...

No, I'm not breaking up with you.

When I wrote a blog post back in October saying that my week long break from blogging had accidentally been extended to ten days, I really didn't mean for it to go any further. However, I was fully aware of the weight my final year of university might put on my shoulders and before we started classes I had a very serious chat with myself: I had to learn to take things easy and start doing what my body and mind asked me to do - which surprisingly I'm becoming quite decent at. I often joke that this semester is turning me into the laziest version of myself, but really it's just me trying to keep myself together (...okay, and maybe being a bit lazy too). That being said, and as much as I love blogging, once I started feeling a bit overwhelmed by the thought of having to sit down and write I simply stopped posting.

To be quite honest with you, I've been finding it hard to write in the past few months and not only for the blog, which I hadn't even tried again until thirty minutes ago, but also for myself. I always say that I don't really understand what's going on in my head until I put pen to paper, and it's absolutely true, but not even the worst headaches have made me want to write. I have been turning to my friends a lot, which means I've been sending ridiculously long text messages complaining about boys being idiots, work being stressful and me being a soon-to-be spinster with five dogs. Alriiiiiight, I'm 20 and I have one dog. Whatever. You get the idea. My point is that I've never been one to openly talk about my problems like I've been doing lately, so it's nice to be able to open up for a change - even if my notebooks are now really sad and hate me for it. 

I'm rambling. 

The reason why I'm sitting here writing all this instead of watching Breaking Bad, which is the only thing I've been doing with my time lately, is that I want to get back to blogging. Yes, again. For the millionth time. Initially, the idea is to start posting twice a week, possibly Wednesdays and Sundays, and maybe I can squeeze another one in between every other week (especially more personal posts - you know I like those). It's definitely not an overwhelming amount of work, at least not until I start my second semester at uni in February, so I should be able to keep up. And if I don't, feel free to tweet me saying I'm the least consistent blogger you've ever met.

Lastly, thank you for being so patient with me. Over the course of the past couple of months I've seen the number of views and followers grow, just when I thought that the outcome would be the opposite. Thanks a million. I'll make sure Santa gives something extra special to all of you. ;) xx

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"The Queen of the Tearling" by Erika Johansen

Hello everyone,

it's been quite a while - 10 days to be exact! Initially I planned to take a week long break from blogging simply because I had an important exam to prepare, among other things, and I thought it'd be better if I just focused on that for a few days. However, my computer has been a bit of a douchebag for the past few days and I could not access my blog (does that ever happen to you? I was worried I'd lost it!), but thankfully it's all good now. Wehey!

I'm here today with a book review. I know they don't seem to be the most popular posts among my readers, but this is a book that I need to share with the world. It took me about a month to read it, which is a long time for me, but I want to say beforehand that it did not have anything to do with the novel itself, but rather with me being a lazy reader towards the end of the summer. It is the first book of a trilogy that claims to be the "female version of Game of Thrones" but since I don't watch the show or have read the books, I can't really tell you if that's accurate. What I can tell you, though, is that it is brilliant. 

In a nutshell

The Queen of the Tearling tells the story of Kelsea Glynn, who, on her nineteenth birthday, is forced to face her destiny and head back to her place of birth to inherit a wrecked and corrupt kingdom. Everyone expects her to be like her mother: vain, careless and definitely not a fighter, but Kelsea could not be any further from that. She is an unruly teenager who is ready to get her kingdom back to its feet. The question is, will she be able to or will she die before she even gets to put a crown on her head?

Thoughts

I genuinely loved it. The storyline is really smart and well-thought and it made me incredibly happy to see how the author made Kelsea deal with the most serious issues of her kingdom, such as gender based violence, rape and so on, in such a graceful manner. I really liked Kelsea as a queen, mainly because she was very clear ideas of what she doesn't want her reign to be like (nothing like her mother's, that's for sure) and she actually does something about it, which I think is admirable given the situation. However, she also frustrated me so much sometimes - what's with that obsession with the Fetch?! It's definitely not one of the most relevant things about the book, but the way she handles her feelings towards him, if you can even call them feelings, just upsets me. As for the rest of the characters, I liked some of them so much that I just wish I could read about them every single day of my life (hello Mace, hello Pen).

I was so ready to give the book 5 stars on Goodreads (yes, despite Kelsea's love choices, because that does not change the way I feel about the novel itself), but then I read the ending. I don't want to give too much away in case any of you want to give it a go, but I was so ready for something that didn't happen. I desperately wanted a final conflict, a scene where Kelsea finally confronted her enemy/enemies. Sadly, that didn't really happen, which was a bit disappointing. Anyway, I loved the book as a whole and I'm now looking forward to the next one. Hurry up, Erika Johansen!

Have you read The Queen of the Tearling?

What did you think?

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Life Update: Rise & Shine

If I had to use labels, and I guess I do, I would define The Aristochats as a beauty, lifestyle and fashion blog, although you will have noticed by now I write a little bit about everything - without really being an expert on any field. I write these posts mostly for my own amusement, so I don't really have everything planned out or scheduled in my mind. Sometimes I will think "Oh, I'm going to publish that beauty haul on Sunday" but then I feel like writing about an amazing book that I have just finished and so that's what I do. This is not something I'm doing professionally, it's just something I do to let my creativity flow, so I don't worry about following a strict schedule. Sometimes I enjoy writing about beauty and sometimes I want to chat about life. And what's what I want to do today.

I started September with 2 followers on Bloglovin and now that the month's coming to an end I'm at 39. Some may say it's not a lot, but that's more people than were in my class in my last year in high school so, for me, that is a lot. Especially because I wasn't sure I was going to be able to keep up. I have given up blogging before simply because I thought I couldn't find the time to do everything. Now, though, I have been doing it for two full months and I don't want to stop any time soon. I'm proud of that, and I'm proud of this little blog. I'm not going to lie, that does feel weird to say. I guess I'm used to writing about how inadequate or stressed I feel, whether that be for the blog or for my own sanity, so it feels nice to say something good about myself for a change. Being proud of it, of what I do and what I write about, is allowing me to share it with more people, hence getting more involved with the blogging community. All that is just a massive highlight of my month, something that's made me smile quite a few times over the past few weeks.

As for my personal, away-from-the-blog life, everything's going great. I'm rarely ever satisfied with the way things are going (the "I can do better" kind of attitude always kicks in), so this is new for me. Not long ago, I decided to change the things I wasn't happy with. After all, I realized nobody else could ever do that for me. I started doing things for myself, to improve my life, to feel better about who I am. I quit my old job, which I hated, and found a new one. I walked away from people who were not treating me right. I decided to stop worrying about the future so much and focus on the present. I started feeling more and more confident and comfortable in my own skin. I am nowhere near perfect - in fact, I probably have over a thousand flaws that could tear me down if I let them, but I'm not going to. I only have one life and one body, so I might as well start taking care of them. In the words of the always wise Brooke Davis, "I am who I am. No excuses."

If you're in a bad place right now, please, just remember that you are the only person in charge of your own life. If you have the opportunity to change the things that are making you miserable, and in most cases you do, then go ahead. Don't let them consume you. Rise and shine, friends. 

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Love, Listen, Watch, Read: September

I am currently planning a blog post on what my life has been like lately (a life update, if you will), which I think will go up at some point next week, so we'll just leave my monthly highlights for that one. Not that anyone cares that much anyway, but the other day I was just thinking about how last year, when things started going wrong and I wasn't 100% me, I blogged about it. I wasn't even blogging regularly at the time, but I still decided to write about how I wasn't feeling my best. Why not let you all know when I'm feeling amazing and things are going great too?

As you may know, my summer spending ban finally came to an end this month, so I've been loving quite a few new (and old) beauty products. I fell in love with Revolution's G i r l s  O n  F i l m palette as soon as I opened the package. It is so pretty. I have only tried a few of the matte shades so far and the colour payoff and staying power is unbelievable, especially for the price. Makeup Revolution is one of the brand that proves that affordable does not equal bad quality. Now, I may be a bit late to the party, but I've also been loving the Electro Baby Lips. Initially I got B e r r y  B o m b (can't beat a purple lip) and a few days later I came back for P i n k  S h o c k, but while my sister did buy that one, I ended up getting O h !  O r a n g e  ! instead. I thought it would look too orange and so that it would be more suitable for the summer months, but it is the perfect nude lip for me. I always feel like I'm way too tanned to pull off nude lipsticks and I have finally found something that does the job for me. You go, Maybelline!

As for entertainment, there really hasn't been much variety. For some reason I haven't been reading much, but I am finally finishing T h e  Q u e e n  O f  T h e  T e a r l i n g, which I loved, so that's my book of the month. In fact, I've spent this month doing three things: going to university, working and watching C r i m i n a l  M i n d s. It has been on tv every weekend for the past few months and every Saturday and Sunday morning you can find me and my sister sitting in front of the tv like nothing else matters. We got so much into it that we decided to start watching the show from the beginning. And now I'm obsessed. It's such a smart show. I've said it before and I'll say it again, big up to whoever comes up with those storylines. I highly recommend it - it will blow your own mind!

September Playlist

Fireproof - One Direction

Steal My Girl - One Direction

Keep It To Yourself - Kacey Musgraves

Blowin' Smoke - Kacey Musgraves

Greenlight - 5 Seconds Of Summer

Still Fallin - Hunter Hayes

Nina - Ed Sheeran

The Man - Ed Sheeran

Nervous Girls - Lucy Hale

Ego - The Saturdays

What have you been loving this month?

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The Beauty Blogger Tag 2014

Here's a secret for you: whenever I feel like I'm unable to write, I look for a tag. It just gets puts me in the mood again. I was doing that exactly when I came across The Beauty Blogger Tag 2014 over on Beauty and the Bird's blog. I haven't been nominated, but I thought it would be fun to do it anyway. I think it might just be the second tag I've ever published (I did write a Spring Tag!), so let's hope it's not too boring for you haha

I'm not going to nominate anyone, but if you happen to read this post and want to answers these questions, let me know so I can have a look (you can tweet me at @thearistochats!).

1. Is your hair naturally curly or straight?

Curly. I'm a curly haired mess.

2. What is your natural hair color?

The one you see in the pictures, light brown.

3. Do you dye it yourself or go to a salon?

I haven't done it in about three years as I'm rocking my natural hair color now but if I only wanted to dye it (no highlights or anything like that) then I would get my mum to do it for me. She used to work at a hair salon so she knows what she's doing!

4. How often do you wash your hair?

Too often. When I have to go to class, that is, Monday - Thursday, I wash my hair every night. Yes, I know it's awful. I know I shouldn't do it. But I just can't stand unwashed hair. Major pet peeve right there.

5. Do you wear the same style every day or change it?

I never really get too far from my style. I wish I did, but I'm just not brave enough to change it up that much.

6. Do you do your own mani/pedi or go to a salon?

I do it myself. I actually find it relaxing!

7. How often do you change your nail polish?

Once a week. Every Sunday is Manicure Sunday!

8. Do you polish your toes in the winter or just in the summer?

In the winter too.

9. How long does it take to put on your makeup?

It depends on how much I'm putting on and also on how much time you give me. If you tell me I have to be ready in ten minutes, I will, but if you give me two hours then I will definitely take my time.

10. What do you do first? Face or eyes?

Face. Unless I'm doing a dark smokey eye, otherwise it gets everywhere and ughhhh having to do your face (or concealer, at least) all over again? Ain't nobody got time for that!

11. Do you *collect* makeup or just buy what you need when you need it?

I'd say I just buy what I think I need but a couple of colourful palettes and a bunch of lipsticks might not agree with me on this one...

12. How often do you wear false lashes?

Never. My lashes are long enough, so give me a good mascara and I'm ready to go.

13. Do you do a full face of makeup every day?

If I'm going to university or meeting someone, then yes. If I'm just running errands around town I'm totally okay with my (almost) bare face - I always wear mascara and concealer!

14. Do you wear makeup when you are home alone (or with family)?

Nope. I do if I'm going over to somebody's place, even if it's my family, but I don't put on any makeup just because we have visitors. 

15. Will you leave the house without makeup?

I do it quite often and I'm okay with it, but as I said I usually always wear, at least, mascara.

16. How many high ends products do you have?

Not many, actually! I don't make that much money and so I'd rather to spend 40€ on three different eye palettes than a single bottle of NARS foundation.

17. How often do you wash your makeup brushes?

Definitely not often enough...

18. Do you plan your OOTD every night or decide when you are getting dressed?

I do plan everything every night and it takes me forever.

19. How often do you change your handbag?

Uh, I use different ones for uni and when I'm going out so I don't really get tired of them. I just change them when I find new bags that I love.

20. What time do you get up and go to sleep?

On schooldays, I wake up at 7:30 and go to sleep at 12 or 1 am. If I don't have any plans I usually wake up at around 10:30 and I'm a bit of a night owl.

21. How often and when do you work out?

I didn't use to work out at all but for the past few weeks I've been doing it every single day in the evenings. It's making me feel so much better about myself.

22. Left-handed or right-handed?

Right-handed.

23. How tall are you?

5'3".

24. Do you speak any foreign language?

I speak English, Spanish and Catalan. I did take Italian last year but my knowledge of the language is actually quite limited. Scusa!

25. How many pets do you have?

I have a beautiful dog named Bonnie and she's everything.

26. How often are you on Blogger?

All the time, basically.

27. Do you read the comments posted on your blog?

Obviously. I love it when someone takes the time to comment. :)

28. Do you keep a list of products to try as you see other posts?

I don't, actually, but I definitely should.

29. How did you come up with your blog name?

The Aristocats was one of my favourite movies as a child since I wanted this blog to be a place where we could chat, not only about beauty, but about everything in general... voilà! The Aristochats!

30. What kind of camera do you use for photographs?

My old -but very useful- Canon Digital IXUS 80 IS.

31. How often do you clean your house?

Ahhhh, I put it off as much as possible...

32. What is your favourite colour?

Dark plummy pink.

33. What is your favourite beauty/fashion magazine?

Glamour, probably.

34. Do you swear?

Sadly, yes. Not as much when I'm speaking Spanish, but I do swear in English sometimes. 

35. What are you doing with the rest of your day?

Right after I publish this post I need to go to work and then I'll come back home and do some reading (I'll probably end up watching Criminal Minds...).


Remember to tag me if you do it! :)

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Beauty Haul: Sleek, Revolution, Rimmel & Maybelline

I'm going to go ahead and confess something: I did not buy a single beauty product this summer. None. I bought so many things last Spring that I felt like I just had to at least use some of them before I even thought about spending more money. It worked, I've been using products that I had barely even looked at before, so that was good. However, my spending ban came to an end a couple of weeks ago.

It all started because I needed a couple of things to feel prepared to kick off the new school year, so I went to The Body Shop and got their All-In-One BB cream (review here). Then I also had to get a new concealer because mine was running out and funnily enough I didn't have any other that I liked at home. I went to the mall, got another tube of my current favourite drugstore concealer... and then I started spending money on makeup again. (As you will see the economic damage is not irreparable so I should not be sent to Shopaholic Anonymous. Yet.)

I'd had my eyes on the Makeup Revolution palettes for a while now, especially on the Girls On Film one, but to purchase it I would have had to buy it online and we all know what happens when you want to buy one thing online. It's never just one thing. You end up with a full online basket. I was able to control myself, though, and I ended up getting only that palette plus Sleek's Blush By 3 palette in Sweet Cheeks... for 2'95€. Three blushers for less than 3€. I cannot believe life. I have not had the time to try them all yet, but I used the Candy Floss, darkest shade, yesterday and the colour payoff is unbelievable. Now that's how you shop.

As I said, originally I went out to buy a new tube of the Match Perfection concealer by Rimmel, which is great for every day use -even though the applicator is not my favourite thing-, but I ended up getting an eye liner and one of the new Baby Lips. I don't think it shows on camera but the eye liner, from the Soft Kohl collection by Rimmel, is *drum roll* purple! I keep hearing how purple eye liners make brown eyes stand out and so I had to give that a go. And lastly, apparently I was all about purple that day because I got the Berry Bomb lip balm. I didn't know whether I'd like it on the lips or not but somebody blogged about it (can't remember the blog, sorry!) and she absolutely convinced me. This is definitely going to be in my makeup bag every single day this autumn.

What have you bought lately?

Have you tried any of the products I mentioned?

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Fall Style Inspiration: Taylor Swift

It's no secret that I have always loved Taylor Swift (her music, her style, her different hairstyles, herself), but ever since the she moved to New York City a few months ago she seems to be living on a constant catwalk. While looking at pictures I read some comments saying that her style change must have had to do with her hanging out with certain Victoria's Secret models more and honestly, if that's the case, bless Karlie Kloss. I may be biased, but she has been looking amazing.

While there are certain outfits I can only admire from a distance and wish I could pull them off, just like I mentioned on my Bethany Joy Lenz style post (here), I think most of Taylor's outfits are very wearable and most of us could easily pull them off to go to work, uni or just to run some errands. Or an affordable version of them, at least! You will see that most pictures were taken quite a few months ago since her style has been a lot more summery lately, obviously, but I thought we could take a look and get some inspiration for the upcoming months. 

From all black combos to colourful jeans and the loveliest jumper (I can't even tell you how much I love that one), she always looks on point. She's got a very neat, classy style that makes me think this is just how Old Hollywood stars would look if they were thrown into the stardom nowadays. I also love the red lip ("Dragon Girl" from NARS!), which she very rarely seems to leave the house without and it's become kind of her trademark.

What's your favourite outfit? And style icon?
Let me know!

Tania x

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#1Day10Pics - Back to Uni

Not long ago, I came across a post that really caught my attention. It was written by Kerri from Crumbs in The Bed, with the title "#1day12pics || A Day In The Life". I was immediately attracted to the idea so I started wondering whether I could pull that off... then, as it usually happens when I start overthinking, I tried to brush it off. Most days my life is not that interesting anyway and my post would mostly include a bunch of pictures of my dog and some Criminal Minds screenshots. But I was absentmindedly ignoring the fact that I was going back to uni this Monday and so, after overcoming my pre-final year blues, I decided to documment my day. It is surely not going to be that interesting, and I'm definitely kind of shy when it comes to taking pictures (stupid, I know), but I tried my best. 

Here's a day in the life of me - featuring sunrises, sunsets and a shameless selfie that I'm going to regret posting as soon as I hit Publish. And my dog. Obviously. Enjoy!

I had the earliest start I've had in a while, which neither me or that lovely ball of brown fur were too happy about. Fortunately, and basically just because it was my first day, I was in a good mood. Two highlights about that part of my day: I met a really nice girl at the bus stop who just moved to town and I got to watch the sun rise from there as well. Only good part about being up that early in the morning!

Waiting for the train for thirty/fourty minutes every day can definitely be a pain in the butt, but it all looks a lot better when you've got a good book to read. I'm currently reading and loving The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen and it was so nice to be back in my usual spot... wait, that sounds lame, doesn't it?! Haha, it's true though! I know lots of people hate routine but I don't. That's something I definitely love about being back.

Then we picked up our new folders and planners and met for coffee before going to class. I mean, what do you go to uni for if it's not to sit at the cafeteria?

Eeeek, I missed a bunch of hours! The truth is I was in class from 10 to 1, then I rushed back home and then I spent some time with my little cousin, whose mum I'm not sure would want her pictures on the internet, so I'm just gonna save those for myself.  After all that, I went through my notes and wrote them out neatly (ooh, such a good student... yeah, but that doesn't really happen that often after the first week!) and watched a few YouTube videos, including Joe Sugg and Caspar Lee's new Amazing Impressions one which cracked me up. Then I decided I'd go running, but that didn't really happen as I was extremely exhausted, so I ended up just going for a mountain walk. Good enough, right?

All that happened afterwards was just too boring to take pictures of, just standard weeknight procedures, so that's where my #1Day10Pics ends. It wasn't the most exiciting day, but I enjoyed taking a few snaps here and there! I hope you're having an amazing week and if you're starting/going back to class this week as well, I hope you're having a great time :)

Love,

Tania x

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Let's Chat: Final Year Worries

I had a cute little post scheduled for today, something about a coffee shop we found in the city last week, but I decided to leave that for some other day last minute. The reason? My mind's not really focusing on anything other than the fact that tomorrow marks the first day of my -hopefully- last year of university.

I've been at  university for three years now, as it's a four-year degree, and so far it's all been good. Most of the time I love what we're doing and it's only when we have too many tests to study for and too many papers to work on that I'm truly stressed and willing to drop out and join the circus or something (just kidding... but that would be pretty cool). I work hard, again, most of the time, and so passing all of my subjects and generally being what I guess you could call a successful student has not been that hard - especially last year. Surely there have been some difficult times, but in the end it's always been alright. So why am I so afraid of this new school year?

The answer is very simple: it's my last. I'm not nearly as scared about this year as I am about what's going to come next. I have always known I wanted to go to university, even before I even knew what university really was or what I wanted to study, but I have never been certain of anything beyond that. This is as far as my life plan goes. It's not that I don't have dreams or goals - I definitely do. There are many things that I want to do, and they are all so different that I'm just really scared of having to choose. Of choosing the wrong thing. Of chasing two rabbits and catching neither. Of what comes next.

On a lighter note, I'm really excited to go back this year. I want to see everyone and see what my new classes are all about and all that, so I'm pretty sure once tomorrow comes and things go back to normal I'll feel a lot better about it. For now, though, I just wanted to be honest, both with you reading this and, most importantly, with myself. I'm scared and that's okay. Now let's beat this year's ass. ;)

Tania x

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