Tuesday 31 January 2017

January Favourites

Hey guys! I haven't done a favourite post for a really long time and I really felt like doing one for this month! I definitely won't be doing one every month, especially as I only post once a week so it would feel like I was doing one all the time! But in this depressing month, there have been a few bits and bobs I have really enjoyed, a mix of beauty and fashion and random things.



One thing I have really enjoyed this month is my new 2017 planner. I'll insert some pictures, and as you can see it's really pretty and compact and a week on a page which I love. It has a side for social things and a side for work things which I really love, means I can keep my social and work events separate!

Another thing I have been loving is my NYX lingerie liquid lipstick. I can't believe I haven't discovered these before I love it! Mine is in the colour corset. They're so long-wearing and comfortable, need to go back and buy some more.


The third thing I have been loving is yoga. This is quite a random one but I have been loving following yoga with Adriene's 31 day yoga this month and it's actually cheered my January up so much and I would recommend going and checking out her youtube channel! If you've ever wanted to get into yoga but not sure how then I would defo go have a look at that, this 31 day yoga is so lovely and a mix of cardio type yoga and yummy practices and all in the name of self-love!

This month I have also been loving these two items from River Island. I bought them in the boxing day sales and I am in love with them. The first is this ribbed black long-sleeved top, and the second is this lovely fluffy white oversized jumper! Both have turtle-necks.



Another thing I have been loving is my Tassimo machine. My boyfriend got me this for Christmas and I have got so much use out of it. My favourite pods are the caramel and vanilla lattes. I really want to try the Cadburys hot chocolate too!



Finally, the last thing I have been loving this month is the new Netflix series of unfortunate events. I have read some of these books as a kid and I am really enjoying the series! I have 3 episodes left so no spoilers...

That's it! What have you been loving this month?
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Monday 23 January 2017

MUA velvet lip lacquer review





Hey guys! This review has been a long time coming, I have wanted to review these for ages! These are the MUA velvet lip lacquer's, they're completely matte and they last a long time! I have it in three shades, Tranquillity which is a nude, Halcyon, which is a peachy nude, and Dash which is a lovely dark pink. I have done a swatch of the colours I have, tranquillity is on the top, Halcyon in the middle and Dash at the bottom.



These dry so lovely and I don't think they are too sticky or drying either, although they are very matte so they're not exactly like putting lip balm on my lips but I don't think they're too bad! They aren't transfer proof however, they do transfer like crazy on my mugs and bottles when I'm drinking!

They're not patchy either I find one coat is good and they layer up well. I love how long they last on my lips I rarely have to top up unless I eat or drink, they're much more long wearing than some drugstore lipsticks, I find they've gone off my lips by the time I'm at uni! I would say these would last about 5 hours without eating. I find that they can be quite tough to take off and I need to give them a thorough wipe with my micellar water.

I would defo recommend these liquid lipsticks and at £3 you can't go wrong! You can pick them up from superdrug!

Have you tried these?
What did you think?
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Monday 16 January 2017

What healthy eating means to me

Hey guys! I hope you're all getting through this cold January! January can be a funny time of year, a time when everyone is pumped from making their resolutions and hitting the gym more. It's also a time where people try so many diets and so many adverts promoting certain diets. It is so easy to get swept into this phase, and believe me I know. For the whole of January people try so hard on these new resolutions and often drop them in the next few months. Healthy eating or rather balanced eating is something that means a lot to me. Ask anyone who knows me and they'll tell you how much veg i eat and my flatmates often joke around with how and what I eat. Healthy and balanced eating is something which is personal so I wanted to talk about what healthy eating is to me.




I love to eat as much fruit and veg as possible, I follow deliciously Ella recipes all the time at uni and make big batches of them and freeze them, so I always have something yummy and healthy to eat. My favourite way to start of the day is with a big bowl of porridge and honey or porridge with banana or apple cinnamon and dates. I think a massive part of eating healthily is to fit it into your lifestyle, making things in batches helps me as I don't always have a lot of time to cook on the day, so all I need to do is put some brown rice on and heat up the food and I have a healthy meal in 25 minutes.

However, although I do eat a lot of really good things, I think it is good and okay to delve into unhealthy foods too. I do not think that depriving yourself of food or food types is good. I do not believe in cutting out carbs ect or any other fad diet and I end every day with a little treat, a shortbread biscuit maybe or maybe even a bar of Cadburys dairy milk. We are humans and while it is good to eat fruit and veg it it is okay to have treats, and at weekends I sometimes eat pizzas or fish finger sarnies or some foods that are considered "unhealthy." At the end of the day, food is food, and nothing is bad when eaten in moderation and you should never feel pressured to eat a certain way, life is too short! Healthy eating is a choice and should be done with care and with balance.

I do not think that dieting is a good way to live your life, they are often not sustainable and if you want to be healthier dieting is unlikely to do that. As soon as the diet is over you'll feel like you want to eat unhealthy things even more! It's important to fit healthy eating into your life, maybe even slowly, eating an one more portion of fruit and day everyday. What is not healthy, is getting caught up on fat content and calories ect because they will serve you nothing, you want to eat well for you and some of the healthiest things (nuts, avocados, coconut oil) have high-calorie content but they're so good for you. That just shows how much bullshit these numbers are, honestly you'll be happier, healthier and more likely to continue eating healthily if you just ignore them.

If you're looking for recipe ideas I love deliciously Ella as mentioned, and BBC good food. You can also check out my food blog, which I haven't updated for a long time. If you saw my little "come back" post you will have seen that I am taking a break from my other two blogs for now, however I do have a lot of healthy food recipes as well as some unhealthy ones on there! I am such a foodie and food is so important to me that I wanted to share this message! You can find my food blog here.

Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Wednesday 11 January 2017

What's in my bag?

Hey guys! I got a new bag for Christmas and I wanted to do a what's in my bag blog post. This bag is from Debenhams and it's £45.





In my bag on a regular basis I always carry an umbrella, I am a massive rain phobic and I love this little one as it fits perfectly in my bag.  I also carry my glasses, I could probably do with a new glasses case this ones a bit grubby! I have two sets of keys here, my house keys and uni keys.  My hands get so dry this time of year so I love to have some hand cream, this is from m&s. I like to carry a hand sanitizer, this is from bath and body works, in the smell "be you tiful". I have a white purse from primark, i always like a big purse to hold most of my cards in but I do also have this cat card holder also from Debenhams. Finally, I have my ear plugs in here, if you saw my post a few weeks ago you will know I suffer from tinnitus so I bring my earplugs with me!

I hope you enjoyed this!
Lots of love
Eleanor x

Tuesday 3 January 2017

What I read in 2016

Hi guys! So it's time for my favourite post of the year, my round-up of what I read in the year! Last year I knew I would be busy with work, and so on Goodreads I set myself 15 books, which I knew I should definitely reach. If you want to follow me on Goodreads by the way you can search for me via my email address which is smitheh01@gmail.com and I update it as soon as I start a new book! Last year I read a total of 23 books, which is a bit lower than the year before that! As always I am going to list all the books I read in order and at the end talk about which were my favourite/ worst books of 2016! I have marked the books with a * if they were ones which were sent to me to read and review. I hope you enjoy!





1) The woman in white - Wilkie Colins.
2) Rebel of the Sands - Alwyn Hamilton. *
3) The versions of us- Laura Barnett. 
4) Conversion- Katherine Howe.
5) The Quality of Silence- Rosamund Lupton.
6- 12) The Harry Potter series - JK Rowling.
13) The Cookoos Calling-  Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling.)
14) The Silkworm- Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling.)
15) Career of evil-  Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling.)
16) Harry Potter and the Cursed Child- JK Rowling, John Tiffany.
17) The Girl in the Spiders web - David Lagercrantz. 
18) Miranda's big mistake- Jill Mansell. 
19) Sphinx- TS Learner.
20) The Map- TS Learner.
21) Happily- Sophie Tanner. *
22) The Book of Secrets- Tom Harper.
23) A Monster Calls- Patrick Ness.

And there you are, all the books I read last year! As you can see I had a massive JK Rowling summer reading spree and decided to re-read (for the 100th time) all the Harry Potter books, but I do really want to mention the crime books she has written under the name Robert Galbraith, I loved these books and I am so excited for the next one in this series!

My three favourite books of this year are The Versions Of Us, The Quality Of Silence, and A Monster Calls. Patrick Ness gets the award of the only book that made me cry this year! All three of these books I really loved and I would recommend. I also want to mention Miranda's big mistake here too, although it didn't really make the top 3, I really enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would! I don't read much chick lit to be honest but maybe I should start a little more, I really liked this and if you're after an easy summer read I would recommend this for sure! Even if it was written 18 years ago it made me laugh so much still and is still really current and hilarious and kept me on my toes! I really want to read some more of Jill Mansell's books now.

Now for my worst books, I have to mention Sphinx and The Map, both of which I did a review on a few months ago slating them! If you want to read more about why I didn't like them you can do so here! I also have to put Conversion in this category. It's one of those books that I'd had my eye one for a couple of years and decided to buy it and I found it really disappointing. It had such an amazing plot but it was so anti-climatic to be honest, I really didn't think it was very good which was a shame because I was so looking forward to reading it for a long time.

I hope you enjoyed this post! What did you read and enjoy in 2016? I am going back to uni this week and so my blog posts are going to go back to being once a week again! But I have some really exciting content coming up soon! Because of this, I am unsure when my next post will be up, or if I will do another one this week or if my next one will be next week or what I'm just not sure! I will keep you updated on twitter (ellie_smithxo) or Instagram (littleblogsfromlittlepeople) so follow me on there to find out when I post!
Lots of love,
Eleanor x