How to Survive Exam Season

University exams have descended! My first exam is on Thursday, and I am currently drowning in a lake of never ending revision crisis. However, I always find that there are a few simple steps to take that can make (let's face it) a month of hell, a little less hellish.

1) Eat breakfast. 
Yes, I know, it's what everybody says. But it seriously does your mornings a whole lot easier.
If you're waking up at 8 or 9 to start revising and you skip breakfast, you'll probably find that by 11 all you can think about is that sandwich sitting in the bottom of your bag. You won't get any work done, because you'll be too busy thinking about food.
It doesn't need to be anything fancy, it doesn't need to be anything big. This is my breakfast of choice right now:

See, nothing big or fancy. I can eat at my desk and not waste crucial revision time faffing around cracking eggs etc. But it does help.

2) Prepare
I feel that the only way to get through exam season is to always know where you're gonna be, what you're gonna be doing, a few hours before you do it. That way, you can be prepared for whatever you need. 
For example, take half an hour before you go to bed and make your lunch for the next day, decide what you are going to wear, and put at least three bottles of drink in the fridge ready to grab and go.

3) Work to your strengths
Find out where and how you work best and be strict about it. I can work well at home or at the library, but I work best in the mornings and not around friends. So, I tend to get up by 8, drag my tired ass to the library and work for a good four hours before my friends arrive. So what, it's three weeks or so out of your life. Your exams are more important than who pulled last night.

Finally.... Believe in yourself! Because I believe in all you lovely readers that have read this post.

What are your exam survival tips?

Say Yes to Carrots | C Me Smile Lip Butter | Review

I have a little lip balm obsession. Okay, quite a large lip balm obsession. My lips are nasty and cracked a lot of time, and I'm always on the hunt for the best thing to make them soft and supple. Here's a short review for my new favourite lip product.

The Say Yes to Carrots Lip  Butter was one of many beauty products that I got for my birthday. If you're thinking "carrots!?", don't worry I was too. However, it's a transparent stick, not the bright orange you may have been expecting!

In shape and smell it's very much like LypSyl, just a bog standard lip balm with no colour or smell. That all changes the moment you put it on. It no longer is bog standard and becomes a stand out staple of your handbag.

It glides on, and while you can feel it resting on your lips it doesn't feel sticky, heavy or greasy. Your lips feel soft and supple immediately, and the feeling lasts for a good few hours before I feel the need to reapply. The single criticism I have is that while it is meant to be berry flavour, I can't smell it at all.

It's Paraben free, 95% organic, all natural, not tested on animals. It's an all-round good little stick!

The Lip Butter is available here at ThebeautyBay for £2.54.

Super Secret Project

It's time for me to finally tell you guys about my super secret project I've worked on for the last few months! Or as I like to call it, the 'I-love-my-best-friend box". I've been working on this for months so I'm super excited to finally tell you all about it.

So, today is the best friend Ria's birthday. She's turned 21. Click here to go to her blog and send her some birthday love y'all.

So, the question I had to decide was, what do you get a super mega awesome lady who is obsessed with just about everything and a level of nerd you never expected to match your own? A bit of everything of course!

21 presents for 21 years of being awesome. Yep. It happened.

I got a box

right to the top :D

filled it up

I won't talk in detail about what I got her, as those are her presents and it is up to her if she wishes to show them off BUT I did manage to fit the YouTube, StarKid, Harry Potter, LBD and John Green fandoms into one box. Yep. I would however like to showcase the amazing etsy sellers that made some of the presents:

KerryLouiseDesigns

LilysLittleCrafts

PawlowskiCreations

Sophiewilsondesign

Additionally, I made her some personalised notecards, my etsy shop is: here.

Giftboxing/Carepackaging is incredibly fun and not as expensive as you might think. I collected Ria's presents from December, so every buy was a calculated decision and wasn't rushed (until the end of March when I totally forgot how many presents I had left and now I think  I may have forgot one but let's not mention that). Not all of the presents have to be super special or expensive either, a few presents included were what you could call 'filler' presents, but they still had a meaning and that is the important part of it all. 

I'm lucky to know Ria, and to know her so well that I am able to buy her 21 presents without getting stuck.

It really does become a project in itself and I really really really hope that she loves them all!

Turning 21

On Tuesday I turned 21! Yay. 

Essentially, until the actual day this was my general feeling about the whole event:

I was pretty nonchalant about the whole thing. I'm still stuck in dissertation hell, I wasn't going to be with my family, at least half of my friendship group isn't back yet... but it was amazing!

First of all, my mum and my sister arrived on my doorstep at 2pm! I had literally no idea that they were going to come, and it made the day really special. My mum bought me a beautiful Claddagh ring, continuing the traditional of every woman in my family having one. 

Secondly, I know birthdays aren't all about presents, but I was spoilt rotten and I still feel absolutely overwhelmed and touched to have amazing friends and family. I got quite the haul:

Yes, I've finally joined the Cleanse and Polish club! Exciting!

I'd like to extend special thanks to one of my bestest friends Ria, (click her name to go to her blog, yo'), whose were the first presents I got to open and to make me cry with happiness. 

It's wonderful to have days that remind you how truly blessed you are, and I'm so thankful. 

The Long Hair Conundrum

I've always wanted long hair. Always. For as long as I can remember.
Why the heck did I always want long hair?

I get that the nature of human beings is to always want what you don't have, and I like how my hair looks but it is very very hard work. 

It's not even that long, compared to a lot of bloggers I've seen. Here, have a recent picture of me being embarrassingly posey in the evening not doing work testing out a new Apocalips shade I bought:

See, it only comes down to mid-breast section and it's still frustrating me. I don't know how people cope with longer hair.

First, I was blessed with thick hair. It's wonderful, my hair almost always has volume without me even trying, but it's always been a pain to brush and style. It was a pain to brush and style when it was shoulder length, let alone now.

Secondly, it hasn't got this way through miraculous grooming and regularly shapes and styles at the hairdressers. Rather, I am a poor student and would rather spend my money on food than go to the hairdresser. Especially as my hairdresser told me I had freaky eyes. Charming. This means that it's long but shapeless, but I don't know what styles I could cut it into that would suit me but still keep the length.

Finally, everything about caring for it takes so long. You need more shampoo and conditioner. It takes up to half an hour to blow dry it completely, and the same time or longer to straighten. 

So, if you've got long hair - what are your best hair tips?