Thinking Out Loud #2

Want to know what this is or want to join? Click here.

1. First and foremost, I have decided that my 'Thinking Out Loud' posts will be every other Thursday rather than once a week because it's a miracle if I post more than one thing in a week and I don't want all my posts to be this.

2. Ok. So! I have recieved my AS level results today (the first of two years of A levels) and they weren't terrible but I'm disappointed. And that means I will have a draft idea for a post on how to deal with disappointment for a month before I post it.

3. I have been meaning to listen to Birdy since I did a dance to 'Skinny Love' a few years ago with my dance club (did I mention I dance btw?). Anyway, I hated that song because of listening to it for hours on end with practising but I loved her voice and I could feel something behind the lyrics.

It was 2 nights ago when this song was played on the radio and I love everything about it. I even embarrassingly started to think about my celebrity crush *sigh*

4. Believe it or not I have never made brownie's before. So I made them. It was this morning actually to take my mind off from my AS results and look. at this.

I know. It was super tasty, fudgy and everything I could ask for in a brownie, including walnuts. Good news for me as well: I have some walnuts and chocolate left over. We all know what that means.

5. What posts are in my drafts do I hear you ask? Well here is a sneak peak, one of which you may have seen if you are following me on my instagram.

6. One last thing and I know this ToL post might not have been very interesting or exciting (to be honest it just feel like a to-do list to me, but then again the point of Thinking out Loud is to think out loud....). I am going to London tomorrow and will try to account my trip in a post and should be
posted in the next few weeks, so please anticipate it! I know I am certainly anticipating my trip to London tomorrow!!!

Like I said, this feels like it is lacking a bit in a few areas but I hope this was somewhat entertaining at least and enjoyed this post
- Zin

Casual Summer Outfit from Zara

Casual Summer Outfit from Zara by zin-s featuring a pearl necklace

Styling in summer is often a struggle. Unlike the other seasons, all colours
are usually in style. Pastels, patterns, blocks and bolds can be seen on the
street but for this post I'm going to focus on a minimalist and simplistic look
that will keep you cool in the non-existent British summer heat.

I have also chosen all items from Zara because it is a shop that I have, only
recently, really started to love.

Firstly white shorts. Shorts are a great start to any outfit and it's so hard to go
wrong with them even in spring and autumn. In this outfit, the plain white
shorts act as a compliment to the most busiest item in this look - the shirt.
There are three ways you can style the shirt with the shorts;

1. Tuck it in at the front. I love doing this as it makes an outfit look
   casual and effortless
2. Tuck it in loosely all the way round. This can sometimes make you
   look like a farmer so be really satisfied with the way it looks before
   stepping out the house!
3. Leave it all un-tucked! Because the shirt being long it can act as a
   dress and cover the shorts, however, they are underneath and will
   help you to still feel confident if the shirt was to reveal your shorts.

(btw, I go through these three steps with any outfit if I feel it doesn't look
quite right. It's a great start to styling your outfits!)

Next, the shirt! It's loose, it's thin, it's bold but not too eye catching and it's
perfect for a summer outfit. You can try styling this with jeans and skirts as
well because I think this is a great all-rounded shirt.

For this outfit, the shoes and the bag should be white or a similar blue to
the shirt but you don't want something bolder than the shirt. The shoes and
bags I chose will give the outfit a perfect vibe for a city sight-seeing or
shopping trip.

Finally, I picked an ear cuff (with earrings) and a bracelet which will make the
outfit look a bit more girly and feminine whilst adding a perfect 'cherry on top'
to the outfit.

I hope you can pick up some style tips from this post 

- Zin  

Berrisom Oops My Lip Tint - Review | Peel Off Lip Stain

Almost a year after first getting the Berrisom Oops My Lip Tint, I am finally going to be reviewing it! This is a peel off lip stain that is supposed to last 12 hours after applying it, leaving it for 5-10 minutes then peeling it off. The one that I have is in Bubble Pink that you can purchase here.

Packaging

Firstly, It comes in a cardboard box that is just smaller than my hand (bare in mind I have quite small hands) and the tube is just a bit smaller and thinner than the box meaning it could easily fit in a small-medium make-up bag.

There are no English instructions but on websites that you can buy it should be instructions in English and you'd probably know how to use it just from reading my introduction for it at the top. This also means you would have to find out the ingredients on the website in case you might have any allergies.

How to use the Product

With the squeezable tube, you put a blob on to your lips and spread it using the bit where it came out (I have no idea what to call that part of the tube!). I would not advise rubbing your lips together to spread it because the consistency is a little bit sticky and will start drying straight away.

Talking of consistency, make sure you put on an equal amount or the colour will be fainter where it is thinner and won't last as long either. The thinner the amount you put on the quicker it will dry. Please keep in mind that you do not want to put loads on because that would not be clever and you could be waiting all day for it to dry. Maybe that was just common sense, though...

















In the picture above it shows when I first put it on, as you can see it is a gel-like consistency. Though it hadn't dried completely, it still came off easily when I peeled it back and I sometimes find that using a dry cotton bud or pad to get rid off any left over bits works well. And finally, the third picture shows what it looked like afterwards.


Review

Like I said earlier, the packaging is good because it is relatively small and can easily fit into a small-medium sized make-up bag meaning it is perfect for if you are going away or just to keep out of the way. Of course you won't be needing to take it with you everyday to work or school (unless you do your make-up there) therefore you will not need to carry around as many lip products or continuously reapplying products throughout the day.

The gel was a bit hard to work with, for me, because it is a bit sticky and also a bit thick but after I got used to using the lip stain it became easier to apply. Sometimes I thought it was a bit time consuming but I realised I could be doing my eye make-up and brows whilst I waited for it to dry.

I hate dry lips, even if they are smooth, so I always applied some clear lip balm or I enhanced the colour with Baby Lips Electro Pink Shock.

Does it last 12 hours? I still have no idea but it does last a very long time and below is a picture of after 6 hours including a 2 hour shift of pot washing, so not bad. The only problem is that I drink a lot of water throughout the day which is why I can never tell if it would last a long time if I didn't drink so much.


















Like I also said at the beginning, I have had this for almost a year and I use it at least once or twice a week but it's still got quite a bit of gel in it so it has lasted a good amount of time.

I would really recommend getting the Berrisom Oops My Lip Tint because of all the qualities it has that I have described in my review. On WishTrend.com it had been $15.99 (around £10) however at this current moment in time it has 50% off making it $7.99 (around £5). If you have been wondering to get it, I would recommend getting it now whilst it is in the sale and at such a good price because if you find that you do not like it you would know you hadn't spent a lot on it.

If the sale has ended when you are looking at this then I would still recommend getting it because it is good value for money, it lasts a long time and it would be worth spending it on something that also lasts all day.

That's all for now
- Zin

Thinking Out Loud #1

So this is going to be a thing from now on hopefully. This 'Thinking Out Loud' was created by the blogger Amanda at Running With Spoons and if you want to know a bit more about it then click here.

Basically, every Thursday (or as often as I can) I will be thinking out loud about absolutely anything. Of course this blog is relatively small and I have no idea if the same people come back to look at it or if it's new people each time someone visits so I also have no idea if people have been aware of any changes I have made to my blog in the past week. 

1. Firstly I started up my twitter again (follow me here) and I will be actually tweeting about my life updates as well as when I make a new blog post. I have never felt as though Twitter is a really important thing to have and I even rarely use my personal one but it might just be because I'm not into tweeting about what I just ate, what I just saw or what I just laughed at.

2. Another social media that I have also started up is instagram. Unlike Twitter, I actually love using and posting to Instagram and I think it's because I'm more of a visual person, keeping in mind that I have done A Level Photography and GCSE Art, I love aesthetics! 

3. Talking of art, in the past week I have become very bored and took advise from my previous post on things to do in the summer and I did some drawing. 

I really like line drawings at the moment and I copied a fan taken picture of Korean girl group Mamamoo and another one of member Hwasa, who I have the biggest girl crush on ever on! (Although she looks a bit different in my drawing... it always happens in my pictures.)

4. Another thing that is worth sharing is the amount of baking I did. I made muffins, smoothies, cookies and numerous other sweet treats. Here's a picture of a blueberry and lemon muffin I made.

And here is a banana and date breakfast smoothie.

Because I am now going to incorporate lifestyle into my blog, I have thought about adding recipes to my blog (not that I haven't done that already) as more of a frequent thing.

So that's it! My first Thinking Out Loud is done and dusted and you can join in as well, just go to the link at the top to find out how to join.

Until next time...
- Zin 

Things to do this Summer

The summer holidays are here! I love having this time off to not think about anything and do whatever I want but after the first or second week I always find myself being bored and doing the same thing everyday.

If you're like me and also hate not doing anything that's enjoyable or making good memories then I have come up with a list of things to do this summer. Some are to do on days when you're bored at home and others are when you want to leave the home and get out there!

1. Read. Books are always inspiring and can open your eyes to new views of the world that you may had never thought about before and with no school work to do or think about you can actually enjoy focusing and getting lost in someone else's adventure.

In my June Favourites I mentioned that I was reading 'An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth' (which I have now finished and I may do a review for) and now I am reading 'A Song for Issy Bradley'. I recommend both of these books if you're struggling on what book to buy.

2. Learn something new, whether it's a new language, an instrument, an activity (e.g skateboarding or dancing) or maybe even a subject you've been interested in such as space or music theory. In England we have 6 weeks holiday which is plenty of time to learn something new and pick up a new hobby.

3. Find a job. Of course this can be an actual job (I have just got a job at a cafe) or you could even find volunteering to do. If these are too hard to do then offer to do jobs for family or neighbours. In the end it will come off as experience that you can use to impress future employers!

4. Be a tourist in your own town. I'm lucky that I live in a town that is known for it's old history and tourist attractions so there is always a lot to learn and new things to discover. If you don't live somewhere where there is much you could still fill whole days visiting places even if it is just a shopping trip or a trip to the cinema.

5. Visit all the cafes and restaurants where you live. This is something I have started doing recently and I love seeing how different cafes and restaurants present themselves and how it reflects their food and the overall experience they want the customer to have. However, there are some places that I know I will probably never try and will stay as far away as possible from....

6. Start to exercise. Summer gives you no excuses to put off getting fit; the mornings are bright and refreshing as are the evenings and it's definitely not cold outside plus you now have a lot of free time. Go out and do a quick run as soon as you wake up, mid-morning, in the afternoon or in the evening and if you don't want to run then there are plenty of other exercises to choose from as well.

7. Get organised to start school again. Yes, I know, we try to pretend school doesn't exist in the holidays but if you get everything ready at the beginning then you don't have to think about it as much when the holidays come to a close.

Buy all the stationary you need, a new school bag or maybe some new clothes and then actually prepare your stuff as if you were going to school if you can. It will also put your mind at ease a bit because you know you won't have to rush and do last minute shopping.

I hope these quick pointers will help your summer to be a bit more enjoyable and memorable.
- Zin x