35mm of love

A cringey blog title? Or just pure genius? I'm currently undecided so I'll let you be the judge on this occasion.

If you know me in real life than I am sure you are all too aware of my obsession for photography and all things related. I've always got some kind of camera with me and take every opportunity to capture some images.

Lately I've been trying to expand my knowledge from your average digital formats of work to some more traditional methods, including SLR 35mm photography. The camera that I own is an Olympus OM10 that I managed to find on eBay (featured in this post here). I literally had no idea what I was looking for and simply took a blind guess and purchased one of the cheapest film cameras I could find. Since this blind guess I have found out that the OM10 is one of the most reliable cameras both in the modern day and the era that it was first introduced. A successful gamble to say the least.

Here is a selection of my favourite images from the most recent roll of film I got developed...

Everyday essentials 

Maisie (from whatmaisiewore) took this one but I loves it!

I hope you enjoyed this picture filled post, do let me know if you would like to see more of my film experimentations.

Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes Review

I don't normally purchase high end beauty products, this of course doesn't mean that I can't lust after them. The main subject of my lusting for the past few months has been this gorgeous mini palette from benefit.

The palette features 3 eye shadows; a subtle champagne, a slightly darker champagne and then a dark brown. It also has a generously large pan of boi-ing (which annoyingly enough is way too dark for me).

I love how small and compact this product is, it fits in my make up bag perfectly and the mirror inside is perfect for on the go applications. The little brushes that fit neatly in are another bonus.

I absolutely adore this product and have worn it everyday since purchasing. I am slightly unconvinced that its worth the hefty price tag, but I guess that goes without saying for high end products.  

My finished look, and a current favourite everyday eye make up combo

A Dr. Martens love story

I've always been a rather large shoe fan, taking up the most room in my households shoe shelf, and more recently taking over the whole thing with my expanding collection. I have inherited this shoeaholic gene from my mother, and like all hand-me-downs you've just gotta appreciate it am I right?! I get a legitimate buzz out of buying bits of rubber to place on my feet so where is the harm in that!

And so this brings me onto my latest love. I first saw this pair of Dr. Martens a few months ago, i instantly fell in love, however the hefty price tag was out of my reach. I made a mental note to keep checking the website to see if they would be reduced in the end of season sale. After a long stint of eBay searching, page refreshing and bookmarking I finally found a sale pair, I was also able to get student discount which made them affordable woohoo! 

They are an off-white beige colour, very versatile for both summer and winter. I just know that I am going to get so much wear out of these and I'm pretty sure they are going to see me through a good few years of adventures. 

Here's a bonus OOTD for you, I had planned a location to take these pictures on but sadly the english weather let me down, my back garden will have to do!

Do you have a shoe obsession?

Lucy x

Top 5 favourite books

I consider myself somewhat of a bookworm, I love the feeling of getting sucked into a good book and getting totally consumed in a jumble of words. In celebration of The Fault in Our Stars movie being released today in the UK I thought I would show you 5 of my all time favourite books. In no particular order....

One Million Lovely Letters

This is the most recent addition to my pile, I discovered it from one of my favorutie youtubers carrie fletcher. This book is pretty different to anything I've read before, in short this is a collection of stories and memoirs of Jodi's life. Jodi set up and runs the amazing project that is "One Million Lovely Letters" I'd never heard of this before but after reading the book I will be following the project from here on in. An incredibly inspiring read that has influenced me a lot in a short space of time.

The Fault in Our Stars

I'm sure that everyone will have heard of this book, I actually read it soon after it came out 2 years ago, before all of the hype. I instantly fell in love and have proceeded to re read it multiple times ever since. I have a habit of associating certain things with moments/times in my life (songs, smells, items of clothing, lipsticks... you name it), and this book, in my mind, is associated with a particularly happy time. I am SO excited for the movie to come out and I recommend everyone to read this book if you haven't already!

It's Kind of a Funny Story

I actually saw the film of this before I read the book, the biggest crime of them all am I right?! But seriously, in my opinion this is one of the most underrated books of all time, it has such a great storyline, fantastic characters and has the ability to make you both laugh and cry which makes it an all round winner for me.

The Catcher in the Rye

My list wouldn't be complete without a classic novel. This year I did combined english A level, there were parts of this course that I hated and parts that I loved, reading this book was, for me, the most enjoyable (all the food Miss Ames fed us was also a highlight). I'd actually already read it a few years ago but didn't full understand it so learning everything about it from my teachers, and everyone else in the class (Maisie and Sam mostly... thanks for your knowledge guys!) was so enjoyable. I strongly suggests that everyone reads this book once in their lifetime, particularly if you're in the tricky part of growing up where you're not sure if you're an adult or a child... very confusing and slightly disheartening at times.

Grow Up

This was the first book I purchased on my kindle and I instantly fell in love with it, Grow Up is a book about a fairly normal boy who believes his step dad is a murderer. Despite contending with a serious subject the book is hilarious, it's such an easy read and definitely underrated.

I hope you enjoyed this slightly longer post, I certainly enjoyed writing it and would love to know what your favourite books are?!

Sunny day at the beach and a great big THANK YOU!

At the weekend my blog hit 100 followers! I can still hardly believe that 1 person would be interested in my ramblings, let alone 100 of you. It seems absolutely crazy and although this statistic might not seem a lot to some people, it's pretty big to me! So thank you to every single person that has followed me in the past 6 months, I appreciate every single one of you and always check out your blogs as well. I'm planning a small giveaway when I get to 200 followers so make sure to keep your eyes peeled for that!

I also went to the beach on sunday so thought I'd show you a few snaps from that. It was a beautiful sunny day and me and my mum thought it would be a nice idea to stop by at the beach and have some lunch before going to tesco, exciting hey?! 

First things first my OOTD! I love this Dorothy Perkins dress, its from the petite section and fits like a glove, the perfect summer dress. 

Sneak peek at an upcoming post... nails so shiny I can see my face in them?! YES PLEASE. 

 One final thing... one of my besties Maisie from whatmaisiewore went through some pretty major surgery on Friday, if you have a spare minute in your day I am sure she'd appreciate some happy messages!

Thanks again for following my blog!

Bloggers don't lie

It's true, the bloggers don't lie; in particular they don't lie when it comes to beauty product reviews. The soap & glory aisle in boots is a location that I have skimmed by with minimal enthusiasm in the past few years, this doesn't mean I haven't been aware of the hype this range has created. As you are probably aware it was my birthday a few weeks ago and I was lucky enough to receive 3 products from my good friend (and fellow blogger) Laura.

Soap & Glory - The Scrub of Your Life

I've never really been a fan of exfoliators, I'm not a huge fan of the 'gritty' feeling these products create and the few that I have tried have left me feeling unimpressed. This one, however, is an exception. My skin has never felt so smooth! I've been using this one a few times a week rather than every night as I don't want to over exfoliate... is that a thing? It is now. (But seriously anyone else have a fear of scrubbing so hard their skin scrubs off or is that just me?)

Soap & Glory - Clean On Me

A little confession here, perfumed soaps make me nervous. I've got fairly sensitive skin and therefore stay away from them as a general rule. I decided to give this one a go though and deal with the consequences if and when they happened. I've used the soap everyday for the past 2 weeks and can report no reaction, only smooth, lovely scented, clean skin. I particularly like the pump on this product which makes it incredibly convenient and easy to use.

Soap & Glory - Hand Food

I wouldn't class myself as a hand cream fanatic (unlike my Mum) and only use it on a very rare basis. My hands don't really get dry due to the lack of work they partake in. The smell of this moisturizer has made me want to use hand cream on a much more regular basis now though, seriously this scent has become my cocaine, I just can't get enough! I have also had confirmation from the hand cream hoarder herself (again, my mum) that this is a top notch product.

All in all I am a Soap & Glory convertee, my question to you is what should be the next product I purchase?!

Friday Feeling

Whoah there it's been awhile since I've sat down and wrote a blog post. In the past 2 weeks so many exciting things have happened, I don't know what it is about the sun being out but it seems to release a side of my personality that just wants to go craaaaazy!

So, the most exciting thing that's happened in the fortnight I've been gone is my birthday! I turned 17 years old last monday which now also means I am legal to drive. My birthday itself was fairly uneventful, I am in-fact lucky enough to share my birthday with one of my besties Maisie (you should all go check her blog out, it's super fab and she is one of my main blogging inspirations) which made the day a little more exciting.

Alongside the celebrations it's also been exam season, as I am sure you are aware if you go to school in England (or have been on twitter in the past few weeks, I swear if some people spent as much time revising as they do moaning about revising they'd get a hell of a lot more done!). I actually only had one exam which went pretty damn good, the rest of my time has been spent trying to finish of all of my photography and media work. A rather large tantrum and a few tears later I handed everything in today which is a HUGE relief.

I think this pretty much sums it up really....

Last friday it was my friend Laura's year 11 prom, I've known Laura since we made our guide promise together back when we were innocent little 11 year olds, 6 years later we're all grown up and on the accent to adulthood. I was honored when Laura asked me if I would be willing to take some pictures of her before she left and I have been counting down the days ever since (we've been planning this for almost a year so I'm sure you can imagine how excited I was!). I won't bombard you with all 500 pictures I captured and instead settle for this one of me and Laura. Small sidenote, Laura isn't actually a giant, she was wearing fairly large heels and I am just really short (hence the title of my blog!).

I am hoping to get back on the blogging band wagon now and have planned quite a few posts that should be posted in the up coming weeks.

Manicure Monday - Models Own speckled egg review

Hello everyone! Once again I'm a little late on the bandwagon so for that I apologise, however I had to share with you one of my recent purchases. Models Own released a collection of 5 pastel coloured 'speckled' polishes, they were released just in time for easter and are designed to look just like mini eggs (well... maybe not officially but whateves). Sidenote: This collection is virtually identical to Illamasqua's speckled collection but only a third of the price. Interesting.

I chose the colour 'Swan Lilac' which is a gorgeous pastel colour, perfect for spring/summer. The polish applied really well, I did do 3 coats which is unusual for models own, however I wanted to make sure it wouldn't chip easily. I normally find that nail polishes with bits in (technical terminology here of course) have a really horrible texture to them but this one doesn't at all, it feels really glossy just like any other polish which I love.

I took this picture on my phone this morning to show you them in natural light. So glossy! 

Overall I am really impressed with this polish and will definitely be purchasing one of the other shades.

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OOTD and a haircut

Dress - Primark
Shoes- Topshop
Jacket - F&F @ Tesco

Hello everyone! Hope you're all enjoying your saturday, it was lovely and sunny this morning so me and my mum decided to make the most of it and go for a stroll. I also managed to put together a fairly decent outfit so thought I would share it!

My beloved cambridge satchel!

I had my haircut last weekend as well which was a pretty big deal for me, it makes me super nervous going for a different hairstyle as I always fear I will hate it! I really felt like I needed something a little different though, a new haircut always makes me feel like a fresh start, anyone else agree?! But anyway, so far so good I am loving the shorter length.

Makes me feel so happy to see all of the lovely flowers starting to grow, I'm not a winter person at all.

I hope the weather has been nice where ever you are today!

DIY Paper bunting

Another craft post? What kind of blog is this?! What can I say, I've just been feeling crafty lately! Haha. Many months ago I purchased a pack of scrapbook paper from TkMaxx with many an idea of what I may turn such a purchase into. 4 months later and the pack lay untouched. That was until today...

This was the pack of paper in question, I can't remember exactly how much I paid but it was definitely under £10

I decided I would make a paper bunting, mainly because I thought it would be easy, but also because my art teacher has one in her classroom and it looks really pretty, and much quicker to make than a fabric one.

All I did was cut out triangles of the same size from all of the different papers and then used a hole punch to put 2 holes in the top of each one

I then arranged them in an order I was happy with, which took surprisingly longer than expected! The good thing about using a pack of paper like this one is that all of the colours go together well as they use 4/5 'base' colours.

 I threaded all of the pieces together through the hole punched holes using brown wool. This was also slightly harder than I anticipated and was a good arm workout for sure!

Finally, with the help of my mumma put it up on my walls, a bonus to making a paper bunting rather than fabric is that you can just use blu-tack and it will stick just fine without damaging your walls.

The final product, well, part of it!

I hope you're liking these crafty posts, who knows what I am going to come out with next!

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A day at the seaside

Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a lovely bank holiday easter weekend so far, today I went to the seaside with my Mum, Auntie and (not so little) cousin. I had a fabulous day which obviously deserves a blog post! 

We started off the day with a rather cold stroll along the beach it was fairly empty apart from a few brave tourists (and us!) 

 I quite fancied a go on this ferris wheel however the wind was blowing the carriages and I did not fancy my chances of making it out alive!

 I always feel sorry for donkeys on beaches but these ones all looked well looked after and I personally think this one looks like he's smiling...

 We headed to the arcades next (even more of a scam than they used to be I may add!) and then for ice cream and pancakes, yummy!

Me and my cousin.

I had such a lovely day, lets hope the rest of the bank holiday stays this good! What have you all been doing?

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I made a skirt!

 Hello everyone! Recently I have been inspired by the Great British Sewing Bee to become more craftier and useful in the sewing department. For this first attempt of an actual item of clothing (scary!) I used the tutorial here, its actually for a kids skirt but it really doesn't matter, I just nipped mine in at the sides a little to give it more shape and draw attention to your curves. 

 Being only 5 foot tall I usually find it near impossible to find clothes that fit me just right, everything is always way too long and waist bands just fall at the wrong places. This is part of the reason why I wanted to start making some of my own clothes and this first attempt was definitely a success! It fits me like a glove and isn't too tight due to the stretchy fabric and waistband.

I would love to know what you think of my creation? What should I sew next?