November Favourites 2014

Hello hello hellooo, this is my first monthly favourites post, how exciting! I thought about making a video out of it as I eventually want to build up a YouTube video because I love editing but I still don't think I'm there yet. Maybe in the new year! Anywhoo I'll dive straight into it and talk about these 7 wonderful things. 

Beauty:

Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation in Vanilla (£9.99)

Before I bought this I hadn't strayed away from Rimmel foundation which was very safe of me but I did want to branch out. So when this was recommended to me I decided to give it a go. I love it, I have been wearing it the whole month of November. I think it's well worth the money because I only use one pump, it lasts all day and it's smells nice!

Bourjois Lipstick Colour Boost Lip Crayon in Plum Russian (£7.99)

When I first bought this at the start of the month I wasn't impressed but the more I used it the better it worked. The only way I can describe it is like being a soup skin haha so gross but the first time it was like it had that cover on it and it came out very wishy washy but when you broke through it the pigmentation was amazing. I used it all the time now.

Sleek Face Contour Kit in Medium (£6.49)

I bought this product a few months ago and I use this nearly everyday, still hasn't touched pan. It's my first contour kit, after Kim K's contour secrets were revealed I thought I would give it a try. It can subtly change the shape of your face and I love going all out with it when I'm on a night out. Looks really professional and it's such a good price. 

Lush Brazened Honey Face Mask (£6.50)

This was a birthday present given to me at the start of this month and I've used it twice since them. I'm thinking about doing a separate post about it because it's amazing! It's got things in it like ginger root, lime juice and fennel, great for detoxing your skin. I used it after a heavy weekend away and it completely refreshed my skin. It brings your blackheads to light though so I wouldn't use it the day of a night out but it made it easier to use my blackhead remover tool and now I'm pretty much blackhead free!  

Lush Bubblegum Lip Scrub (£5.50)

Can't get over what a difference this product makes to your lips! It makes them super super smooth and your lipstick just glides on after. Can't say much more about this product other than it works and it will last a very long time, if your thinking about it, get it. 

Other:

Incense 

My brother bought me this when he was in Portugal and it's defiantly one of his better holiday presents. It's up there with the butt-scratcher! I've been burning these while I meditate, it gives me a bit of a light head but in a good way. I feel so peaceful with it burning in my room.

Holland and Barrett Banana and Wildflower Honey Flapjack 

Bit of a random one but it's my favourite snack at the minute. It tastes super good and it's super filling. 

That's my November Favourites for 2014! I'm going to try to keep a record of things I'm using through each month so I can make this a regular thing, until then..

November Playlist 2014

First monthly playlist, we're totally vibin in this one, super cool, super swag, I like it.  

Asgeir - Torrent 

Banks - Beggin For Thread 

Broods - Mother & Father

Die Antwood - Ugly Boy

Jamie T - Zombie 

Klingande - Jubel

Sky Ferreira - I Blame Myself

My Three Years At University

I'll start this post off by saying that I left my small home town in Northern Ireland in 2011 to study Psychology at Northumbria University in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England. 

I graduated July 2014 with a 2:2, life long friends, skills money can't buy and a whole bunch of amazing memories. 

Back in 2011 when I told people that I would be moving country to attend university they almost didn't believe me. When I think back I can understand why and I even wonder how I made the move. It's because 2011 Franny was a shy shy girl and had been for the whole of high school and most of primary school. I hardly talked when I was with my group of friends never mind any other social situation. 

However, my desire to experience life outside of my tiny town was far greater than my fears. Fast forward to 2014, it's like I'm talking about different person. Best decision to date. 

Starting Fresh 

So I had packed my life up and moved to this exciting new city. One of my good friends from home had moved over with me and I don't think I would have coped without her. I needed her to ease me into the transition. I was very lucky from the beginning though, I had four of the friendliest and funniest house mates and quickly got into a good group of people that were on my course. In those first few weeks, people come and go like never before. Facebook friend requests shot up, random numbers added to your phone, everyone was just sussing each other and the situation out because we were all in the same boat. I'm so thankful for the ones that stayed. 

Meet The New Gang

I love each and everyone of these people. It's so crazy that they all grew up in a different county from me and two decades later we would all meet and become friends for life. We've all gone through this life experience together and I couldn't have asked for better people. Even though I'm back home now I know I could pick up right were I left off with any off them, no matter where I am in the world. The nights out have been crazy, the days after have been lazy. So proud of all of them for achieving their goals and building towards their future, you're all gonna kick butt!

The New Man In My Life

If the only outcome of university was this little guy, I would do it over and over again at thrice the price. I always had boy best friends as well as my girlfriends but none like this wee gem, he honestly feels like a brother now. He will always hold the title of my favourite non-Irish person ever, between that, my best friend Lorna and my best cousin Tash I am the richest human alive, I feel. Despite him moving uni after first year we always stayed in really good contact. I'm so excited for both of us to go down our own path, waving at each other along the way. King and Queen since we were 18. 

New Places With Old Faces

Even though I was experiencing all of these new things, in a new city with new people, I always stayed in constant contact with my friends at home. I always told them that it was a great opportunity for them as well, I mean free accommodation at any time, just book the cheap flights and party with me! They didn't need to be told twice. Over the three years I had a lot of visits from family and friends and they have always been the best weekends together, my friends never fail to disappoint with a good time. The Irish just take it to another level. I cherish my home birds so dearly, they make up my life, I wouldn't have made it through university without them. 

Let's Get Lost

During my time at uni I've had the pleasure of travelling to new places with my new faces. Fresh, young 20 somethings exploring together, what could be better. I've travelled a lot within the North of England, Sunderland, Carlisle, Holy Island, Wooler, Seahouses and Alnwick. I also travelled down south to London four times (maybe five I've lost count), York, Manchester, Bournemouth, Newport and Cardiff. I also went up to Edinburgh twice, and to Glasgow.  Me and three of my favourites even went on holiday to Barcelona where old and new worlds collided blissfully. I am truly blessed.

The Best Is Yet To Come

Grad Ball and Graduation, two highlights of my life that will never be forgotten. Summing up my time at university perfectly. I had so much fun at university I almost forgot there was a degree at the end of it, even if there wasn't I wouldn't have regretted anything. 

As I was writing this post it became more and more clear that the only thing that matters in life are your experiences with other people. What I have been working on now is finding the most positive people to have the most positive experiences with. People make or break your time here so it's up to you to find the people you want to share it with. This could also mean cutting negative people out which can be a scary thing to do but I promise you it's worth the effort. Any road to happiness is a trip worth taking.  

Thank you to all those positive and negative people, events and experiences that brought me to this moment right now and taught me so much. Keep learning, keep growing, keep smiling. Love.

Quick Airport Beauty Haul

I recently flew into Manchester airport and back for a long girlie weekend, it was obvious from the start that shopping would be involved even though we only had our small hand luggage cases. Boots was our first point of call and of course there was a 3 for 2 offer on that I just can not take advantage of. So these are my three purchases.

Barry M Clear all in one basecoat, topcoat & nail hardener. Pretty standard, I just needed a basecoat so this will be very handy.
Barry M Gelly nail paint in Mustard. I love mustard coloured clothes and when I saw this I thought I would give it a go, I also really like the Gelly collection.
Rimmel Brow This Way styling gel in Dark Brown. I had another nail polish in my hand until I realised it was 3 for 2 across all cosmetics. I love my sleek brow kit but I thought I would try something new.  

These were small enough to fit into my already bulging case ready to take away and try at home, excited!

LANCASTER

The sound of this weekend, have a listen while reading.

This is part 3/3 read part 1 here and part 2 here.

16/11/14

4PM arrive in Tash's university city, Lancaster. After putting out bags away in her flat and chilled, we headed out for dinner. This was just what we needed after those two days of non stop, travelling, eating and drinking. A quiet dinner in a nice Italian followed by flim with munchies and bed.

It was so super spending time with my cousin and best friend Tash, since she went to study for her PGCE it's been so different without her at home, it was just nice to have all the girls together again. 

17/11/14

7AM we said goodbye to Tash as she went off to placement, as soon as she closed the door, our heads flung back into the pillow for a few more hours sleep. 

1PM after getting ready and having something to eat we headed for the train station to catch one to Manchester Airport. Quick coffee before our train. Salted caramel latte, beaut. 

5PM our final destination, our flight home to Belfast that would have us in our home home's by 8PM.

This long weekend included no sleep, a lot of travelling, eating and drinking, resulting in some of the best memories ever with my home birds. The flight home was absolutely stunning as well. I will never tire of looking out the window of a plane, I was flying!

"I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone?" 

GLASGOW

The sound of this weekend, have a listen while reading.

This is Part 2/3 to read part 1 click here!

14/11/14

4PM train up to Glasgow from Manchester with my friend Sam for Tash to hop on the same train at 6PM in Lancaster. Only us, the loudest Irish girls with the loudest laugh, would end up on the quiet coach of the train. Not cool. In that time we learnt how to whisper, sort of.
8PM arrive in Glasgow for our friend Niamh to pick us up and take us to her uni flat, stopping at a shop to buy drink on the way of course.
9PM Lorna arrives and we are ready to rock and roll.

First night was all about the Ireland Vs Scotland match, what a perfect weekend to come over on. Everywhere was buzzing! We landed ourselves in a VIP section of a bar with endless jugs of cocktails and shots. Every two seconds we were stopped and asked about our accents. Whyyy in the world would anyone love the Northern Irish accent, I just can't wrap my head around it. We arrived back at Niamh's with a lot of food at about 5AM meaning that I had been up for a full 24 hours and more. I was shattered to say the least.

15/11/14

The next day consisted of more food and cocktails, in a restaurant this time, when we felt that we were well enough to move. When back at the flat we slowly started getting ready again for round 2. We went to a club this time and it was amazinggggg. We drifted in and out between the chart, r&b and indie rooms. It was one of the best nights out I've had and it was so special to have all my home birds there.

16/11/14

Next day we scraped ourselves up off the beds and said goodbye to Niamh. Was so lovely of her to take us in and I think she really appreciated us being there because it was a little taste of home which we all need now and again. Time well spent in Glasgow, would defiantly go back and visit wee Niamhy again.

2PM train down to Lancaster with me Tash, Lorna and Sam. Stay tuned for the post about that next!

MANCHESTER

The sound of this weekend, have a listen while reading.

This post is Part 1/3

14/11/14

I flew into Manchester at 8AM, at this point I'd only been up for four hours but it seemed like ten. As soon as me and my friend Samantha arrived we took the train into Piccadilly where we would be getting the next. 

It was raining. What a bummer, we had 8 hours in this train station and it was raining. First point of call was breakfast though and because we hadn't eaten yet the only option was a hearty fry. Soon followed by a Pumpkin Spice Latte in Starbucks where we chilled until the rain subsided.

12PM it became dry and we headed for Primark, we couldn't resist. It was huge, it was one of the best Primark I've been in, I would go back just for a days shopping in there.

Next we stopped at the Piccadilly Tavern basically a weatherspoons, nothing special but ideal location for a quick pint. As soon as we were planning this trip and I knew that we would be spending an extra few hours in Manchester I knew exactly where I wanted to go. Canal Street, where one of my favourite TV shows was filmed, Queer as Folk. Shame I couldn't see it at night time in all it's glory but we did manage another pint obviously. What else would two Irish girls do with their waiting time?

I was so happy to be there. 

3PM we headed back to the train station to catch our 4PM train to Glasgow to meet our friends Tash, Niamh and Lorna. Stay turned for that in another post next!

Quote Of The Day #4

All we have is now, nothing else exists. Be present.

Throwback Thursday | A Sunny Day

As it's getting closer to Winter and the temperature drops I thought I would post a sunny day at the beach. Let's be transported back to the warm mornings of the summer, ahh I can almost feel the suns rays.

Oh did I not mention I was with this absolute cutie!! Wee Coco Chanel had a marvellous time.

Now back to windy rainy reality, one year I will have three summers (UK-Aus-UK) that's a promise future franny!

NEWCASTLE | SUNDERLAND

Over Halloween I travelled back to what feels like my second home, Newcastle. Nothing had changed and I didn't feel I'd been away from it for as long as I had. I could walk through it's airport blindfolded now I feel so comfortable there.

I stayed with my friend Joe in Sunderland, a place I also know pretty well, for a long weekend. One of the few perks of being in-between jobs is the amount of free time you have, I can afford to go away for longer periods of time. The longer you go away somewhere the more time you have to relax, it was super nice just chilling with the bestie. 

I also got to see my old housemates, was so happy they made the effort to come through and have dinner, always nice catching up with friends when you don't see them very often. 

One thing I love about Joe is that he's always introducing me to new things that better my life, food being a major one. I've never had more colourful, delicious meals before and they are super easy to create at home.

Like I said, I went over the Halloween holiday. The added effects on this photo is to hide what a poor effort me and Joe made compared to everyone else, too last minute but turned out OK in the end. I love Halloween but really wasn't bothered on an outfit this year, shame on me! The night was great though, prinks in Joe's friends house and then out in Sunderland.

On the last night I was there we went to Sunderland's illuminations which was Alice in Wonderland themed, we took lil Henry plops along with us. I feel like a friend of the whole family now and I'm so thankful because they are such great people with so much love between them.   

Wee sneaky photo to stumble upon when I arrived home. Hoping to plan a trip with these three guys to come back over to me and down to Dublin. I think the accents might make them want to stay!

I had so much fun on my trip back, it was over too quick! Don't like not knowing when the next time will be until I see these wonderful people again. Technology is a god send! Grateful, grateful, grateful.

Mini Make-Up Haul

Bourjois Color Boost Lip Crayon | Plum Russian 

I only have one other shade in this range, peach on the peach and to be honest I thought it was just ok. Thinking it could have just been the shade on me I gave Plum Russian a go. Again I wasn't all that happy, I didn't think the dark colour transferred well. Maybe I was expecting too much pigment because it's such a lovely dark colour but it seemed a bit washy outy. I could still use it for subtle day time wear though which is a plus!

Bourjois Health Mix Foundation | 52 Vanilla 

I really needed to change up my foundations as I currently have 3 different ones from Rimmel so I did need to branch out a bit. Think came highly recommended by a lot of beauty bloggers so I gave it a try. I love it! I went for  lighter shade so I could tweak it with brownser depending on what look I was going for.

Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer | Classic Beige

I only ever use the Collection concealer but I wanted a different one more suited to covering my under eyes which a lot of people were saying that this was perfect for! I like having different concealers for different things and this is perfect for anywhere I want to brighten. 

Top Ten | Travel

TRAVEL

In my 6th Top Ten post I wanted to write about my Top Ten places that I would like to visit in the world. My previous Top Ten posts have been about films, books, gigs, tv-shows and instagram which you can read about by clicking on them. 

These destinations are in rough order of where I would like to travel to the most and they are all places that I have not been before but dreamed about many a time.

____________________

Scandinavia 

So Norway, Denmark and Sweden, the happiest countries in the world! I've never really had the desire to travel to close cold countries but the more I hear about their lifestyle the more I could see myself living there when I'm older. It seems so laid back and family orientated. Also can we just stop and stare at this scenery. Beautiful. 

Canada

Again, beautiful scenery and laid back lifestyle. Literally stunning views everywhere you go. Even just a roadtrip through Canada would be a dream!

New Zealand

I'm beginning to see a scenery theme here. A beautiful landscape will just get me every time! There's a reason people travel miles and miles just to simple look at something. It can be a breathtaking and emotional experience. There is a reason Lord of the Rings was filmed here.

Nepal

Home of a lot of the worlds tallest mountains including Everest, Nepal is another sight seeing stunner. It's also the birthplace of Buddha apparently! Just being able to see Mount Everest with my own eyes, never mind climb it, would be a lifetime achievement. 

China

Quite a change of scenery here, in the city anyway but I've always always wanted to visit China. I even tried to teach myself Mandarin a few years ago. I think it's all the technology and lights, it would be cool to experience for a trip away. Completely different pace to home. I would also like to visit outside of the city to the rice fields and obviously the Great Wall. 

New York
The side of the states that I haven't been yet. I would love to be a young professional living in New York even if it was just for a years apprenticeship, the fast pace lifestyle would be such a buzz! If I could only go once in my life it would have to be around Christmas time, spirits would be super high.

India

The culture of this country is so vibrant and definitely somewhere I want to visit. I followed a series of videos made my people who completed the Rickshaw Run in India and  I was addicted. The people, the landscape, the colours were incredible.   

Japan

Obviously want to travel to Japan to become a Pokemon master, duh.

Egypt 
I've watched documentary after documentary about the pyramids and to see them in real life would be an absolute gift. The history of this country is so fascinating.

Fiji
Ever since I watched The Truman Show I've wanted to go to Fiji.
Purely for an indulgent luxury relaxing holiday, it looks like paradise.

That's my Top Ten places I would like to travel too. Ten was so limited, there's a thousand other places I would be very grateful to travel to and experience. Just got to work towards them now!