DIY Monsters Inc Halloween Costume!

We may only have just reached October, but it's never too early to start brainstorming ideas for your Halloween costume. Halloween has always been one of my favourite times of year; I love being creative and I like the competition that comes with Halloween in trying to have the best costume. Last year was probably my most memorable Halloween, and even a year later, I am still so proud of my costume! The theme for the Halloween bash I went to was Monsters, and so instantly, the movie Monsters Inc popped into my head. I got thinking, and eventually, I came up with an idea on how to make a DIY Mike Wazowski Costume! Although the costume only lasted a couple of hours before it got destroyed during a game of human bowling, in which I was the bowling ball, it was SO much fun while it lasted!
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To Make This Costume, You Will Need:

• Paint (Blue, Green, Black and White);
• Paint Brushes;
• White Foam Sheet (optional);
• A Long Sleeve, High Neck Green Top;
• Green Leggings;
• A Blue Cap (I Went For A Drinking Hat, Just Because I Thought It Would Make The Costume More Fun);
• A Large Exercise Ball; 
• Newspaper;
• PVA Glue;
• Water;
• Marker Pen;
• Bowl.

I got most of these items on EBay, where it was all pretty cheap. In total, the costume cost me around £20 to make.

To Make The Costume:

1. Blow up your exercise ball, and draw a large circle big enough to fit your whole body through on the bottom using a marker pen. Draw 2 smaller circles on either side of the ball for arm holes, making sure that they are at a comfortable height, and then draw a hole large enough to fit your head through on the top of the ball.
2. Mix equal amounts of PVA glue and water to create a sticky, runny paste. Tear up LOTS of newspaper into strips.
3. Dip each newspaper strip into the paste, wipe of the excess using your fingers and then proceed to cover the entire exercise ball with the paper, making sure you do not cover the holes you made earlier for your head, neck and arms. For the shell to be study, you will have to apply at least 6 layers of paper mache onto the ball. Once the ball is dry, you will be able to feel how strong and sturdy the shell is, and know if you need to apply more layers.

      TIP: To stop the ball from rolling around, sit it on a large cylinder shaped object. A bin               worked well for me!

     4. Once you have applied as many layers of paper as required, wait for the ball to dry. I applied 6            layers of paper mache to my ball over the course of 3 days, and it was completely dry by the                5th day. 

     5. Paint the ball in a base coat of white. You can go straight in with the green, but I found that                  some of the newspaper would show through when I did this. Once the base coat has dried (you            may have to apply a few layers), you can proceed to paint the ball green.

     6. It's useful to look at a picture of Mike Wazowski when painting the detail. Paint on an eye, and            a mouth. To give a more 3D appearance, you can use white foam to create teeth and an eyelid,            which is what I did. If you choose to do this, be sure to paint the eyelid green, and do this after            the other parts of the eye and mouth have been painted. 

     7. To remove the exercise ball, either deflate it or burst it before gently peeling it from the inside            of the shell, and removing it from the large hole at the bottom of the shell.

Finishing Touches:

• As seen in the second movie, lots of the monsters wore 'Monsters University' caps - to create this look, take white paint and copy the letters 'MU' from a picture on the internet onto the front centre of the hat. Then outline the letters in black. 
• Finish of your look by teaming it with green clothing underneath.

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So there we have it! How to make a DIY Monsters Inc Halloween Costume! It is quite time consuming to make, but it's definitely worth it for the great feedback it receives, and it's generally quite simple to make! If anyone does decide to try this idea out for Halloween, please feel free to send me any pictures of your costumes!

What are your costume ideas for Halloween this year?

Post-Human Bowling...RIP Mike

Top 5 Summer Essentials

We may be approaching the colder months of the year here in England, but for many, the sunny holidays on white sandy beaches and city breaks accompanied by glorious sunshine will continue. As most of us eagerly make a desperate attempt to thrive of of what's left of the summer, it makes sense to be prepared for when the sun does decide to eventually make another appearance here in Britain, or better still, be prepared for when you hop on a plane to somewhere hot and sunny to revel in bikini clad days, sun kissed skin, and the warm breeze beside the sea.  

Below are my must-haves and essentials for any summer activities you may have planned, whether it be a day at the beach, a stroll around the park or simply an afternoon relaxing in the garden. It's a good idea to always keep these items on hand because you never know when the sun might decide to pop out and inspire a beach day or a dip in the pool.

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1. Sunglasses 

Fairly obvious, but sunglasses are a necessity when it comes to summer. It's important to keep them handy, even when there's a chill in the air, as UV exposure can damage your eyes. I personally keep sunglasses on me all throughout the year, because even when the sun fails to make an appearance, I love to wear them on my head to keep my hair out of my face! I often find it difficult to find sunglasses to suit my face, so I love it when I come across stores who offer a wide range of sunnies which makes the search so much easier for me. I have recently discovered a great company called Salt City Optics who offer a large range of stylish prescription sunglasses from Ray-Bans to Oakley glasses. The company have recently released a new range of Oakley glasses, so be sure to check out the new arrivals here!

If you are someone who does have to wear glasses on a day to day basis, it's especially important to protect your eyes from the sun, so it is worth checking out the prescription glasses on offer and finding the perfect pair of sunglasses to suit your lifestyle. Alternatively, for those of you who do not require prescription glasses, I recommend Ray-Bans - I love their classic styles at affordable prices.

2. Sunscreen

Although I've not always been one to follow the sunscreen rule, it is SO important to protect your skin during the warmer months. I often underestimate the strength of the sun, and end up very red, and very sore, so it is worth keeping a good sunscreen with you at all times in the Summer, even if it doesn't seem particularly warm. 

I personally love the Hawaiian Tropic range. It smells absolutely beautiful with its blend of coconut and mango (my two favourite scents), but it also comes in a tanning oil formula, so you can be a bronzed goddess whilst protecting your skin. The range offers a variant of strengths from SPF 6 to SPF 30 and it will be sure to leave your skin moisturised and glowing with a lovely fragrance. 

3. Make-Up

Unfortunately, I wasn't blessed with beautiful skin, and I often suffer with very bad breakouts, noticeably more in the summer. Because of this, I try to wear a lot less make-up when it is hot to let my skin breathe, however, I still like to ensure that I am concealed and my blemishes are hidden. For many who are in the same situation, I recommend using a primer to stop your make-up from coming off throughout the day as it most likely would otherwise due to the heat. If you are on a tight budget, I recommend Max Factor Facefinity All-Day Primer. At £10.99 per bottle, it is great value for money and lasts a long time and leaves your skin feeling velvety as well as controlling any excess oil on the face. If you are willing to spend a little more, Smashbox Photo Finish Primer is amazing. It is more expensive at £25.50 a hit, but it is very much worth it for what the primer does. It gives a lightweight and silky feel, leaving you with a smooth base, and is particularly good if you suffer with bad skin, as it enables you to use less foundation because it evens out your skin very well.

4. Accessories

When it is hot and humid, you don't want to be spending lots of time putting an extravagant outfit together. I much prefer to stick with a very simple, light weight outfit such as a play-suit or a maxi dress (very handy for if you're particularly lazy when it comes to putting outfits together as it doesn't require finding a top and bottom that go together). You can then jazz it up very easily by teaming it with a statement necklace or a headpiece such as the head chain I wore in my previous post to spice up your outfit with a bohemian, summery vibe.

5. Entertainment

Last, but not least, I recommend you keeping some sort of entertainment with you, especially if you are intending to spend the day relaxing at the park/beach/pool rather than walking around lots. This could be either a good book, some magazines or simply just a music device. I love nothing more than relaxing in the sun listening to some chilled playlists on Spotify, or laying back on a sun lounger to tuck into a good book. Spend some time making a playlist of your favourite summer music and discovering some popular books of the moment to prepare yourself for your relaxing day in the sunshine! See below for my top 5 songs for this summer!

Not Letting Go- Tinie Tempah ft. Jess Glynne

Where R U Now - Jack U ft. Justin Bieber

House Every Weekend - David Zowie

Cheerleader - OMI

Show Me Love - Sam Feldt ft. Kimberly Anne

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So there we have it! I could probably go on forever talking about my summer must haves (bikinis, smoothies, hair products, fake tan, shoes etc.) but if there's anything in particular that you can't live without during the summer, please comment below! We could all use the extra knowledge and inside scoop on what's good when the sun is shining! I hope you've all had a wonderful summer, and enjoy what's left of it! 

What are your summer essentials?

What's your favourite thing to do during the summer?

This post was brought to you by Salt City Optics. 

Prom: To Do and To Not

So for many 15-16 year old's in Britain right now, we are currently in Prom season as teens all over the country have reached the end of their secondary school lives. I still remember this time last year when I reached the end of an absolutely fantastic period of my life. Its safe to say I was a mess. However, I remember how excited I was planning for my end of school Prom, as I'm sure many of you currently are! I was on the Prom committee for my school so I got the opportunity to be quite involved with organising the Prom for my year, which was a brilliant opportunity and made the whole experience a lot more exciting! If I had spent as much time revising for my GCSE's as I had spent planning the Prom, I probably would have achieved A*'s all round!

Anyway, after all that planning, I did end up regretting some of the choices I made, however, I still did manage to have the best night ever, spent with some truly amazing people. I've put together a list of to do's and not to do's using my own experience to help you along the way to having the greatest night ever and celebrate the end of an era! 

Do:

1. Make sure you take spare make-up in your clutch. I stupidly only took a lipstick and immediately regretted it as soon as I arrived at my friends house for pre-drinks. It was a really hot day and my face was literally melting. I had spent so long trying to perfect my make-up for it to smudge off before I even reached Prom, so I'd highly recommend taking some basic essentials like powder and concealer to keep your make-up looking nice. I'd also recommend taking a little packet of tissues to help with any touch ups.
2. TAKE A CAMERA. And I don't mean your phone unless you have alot of free memory. To be on the safe side and make sure you don't miss any picture perfect memories, take your camera with an empty memory card. You'll get much better quality pictures and you wont have to worry about running out of memory or your phone battery dying (especially if you are going to an after party and relying on your phone battery to last until the early hours of the morning!) I took my camera to pre-Prom but left it in my car because I didn't think I'd need it at the actual Prom. I was wrong, and ended up having to take all of my photos on snap chat (rubbish quality and most of them didn't save) because my phone memory was very low. You will regret it so much if you don't capture the memories properly!
3. Make sure that your dress fits perfectly. Try it, try it again, and try it again. I had my dress custom made to fit, so the dress should have fitted my body perfectly, however, this wasn't the case and I had to get it altered. I had spent a lot more than I had wanted to on my dress and the altering, so when I tried it on after getting it resized, I just ignored the fact it was still a little tight in some places so that I wouldn't have to spend any more money. This was a bad idea as when I got in the Hummer with my friends and sat down, my dress split right on the booty. Luckily, it was on the inside so it wasn't noticeable but I was panicking so much on the way to Prom, and I struggled to enjoy my experience in the Hummer because of this. MAKE SURE YOUR DRESS FITS!
4. Wear in your shoes. If you don't want to spend most of the night in bare feet like I did (gross, I know), make sure you wear your shoes in so they fit comfortably. I couldn't last very long at all in my shoes because I had barley worn them before Prom, and it's difficult to feel like a Princess when you're either in pain whilst dancing in your glass slippers or running round with dirty bare feet. 
5. Depending on the length and thickness of your hair, I would seriously consider having your hair up. Prom falls in the Summer, when the weather will most likely be hot (depending on the British weather). Hot weather, lots of people in one space, lots of dancing and long, thick hair all over you do not go well together. It's difficult to enjoy yourself when you're worried about your make-up melting off and your hair going disgusting because you're too hot, so having your hair up will help you to stay cool. I really regret having my hair down - it looked awful by the end of the night because I was so hot, and dancing whilst I was so hot made me feel sick. I think up-do's look much more formal and are a lot more appropriate for the occasion anyway.

Don't:

That dreadful mane

1. Don't think it's a good idea to wear 26" long hair extensions to your prom. You will only spend the rest of your life regretting it whilst comparing all pictures of yourself to the lady from the Grudge. I had worn hair extensions for years prior to my prom, however, I had never gone longer than 22" which fell just under my ribs. I don't know why I thought it would be a great idea to suddenly change this for my Prom. I didn't think the extra 4" would make such a huge difference and so I didn't even try on my new hair until a few hours before the Prom, which meant that whether I liked it or not, however my hair looked with the extensions was how it was going to stay. Honestly, at the time I loved it. I thought I was so cool, with my Rapunzel length hair, however, about an hour into Prom, I regretted it so much. I was boiling hot, my head was itching, and I looked like I had been dragged through a bush (slight exaggeration but regardless, it was a bad look). My fellow extension lovers, stick to what you know, and if you can bare it, natural is probably best!
2. Don't go out of your comfort zone when it comes to heels. I though that because it was Prom, everything had to be OTT. I went for a ridiculous height of heels, and I towered over all of my friends in the photos and looked like an idiot. I couldn't walk and nearly broke my ankle as I fell down a crack as soon as I arrived at the Prom venue. Again, this made it difficult to enjoy
   the Prom, and I really wished that I had chosen smaller, more wearable shoes. 
3. Be careful when considering your dress type. I chose a white floor-length mermaid style dress
   with a little train on the back. I was initially just worried about the fact it was white, because I feared I'd spill something down it and look like a scruff, however, I did manage to avoid this luckily. It was actually the train that spoiled the dress for me because I kept treading on it and it was making me slip over. I had to spend a lot of the night carrying the bottom of my dress because it was tripping me up and I was worried that it was making my dress filthy, and I couldn't have looked very glamorous carrying round half of my dress in my arms.

   

   Shoutout to my Mum, 6 months pregnant and still whipped

4. Less is more. Stick to what you know with make-up, nails, tan etc. and don't go out of your comfort zone. For me, this mainly applied to make-up and acrylic nails. I had never had my nails done before and I decided to get these ridiculously lengthed talon stiletto nails (I don't know what I was thinking). This made it so difficult to do anything, especially make-up. For Prom, I decided to completely ignore everything I knew, and do a whole new look that I had never tried before and was very dramatic. Although it didn't actually look bad looking back, I spent much of the night feeling uncomfortable and paranoid that it looked stupid. It was also very thick and heavy, and it did smudge quite a lot because of this. so I wish I had gone with a more natural, light look.
5. Be careful when ordering from online companies! The company I ordered my dress from was DIY Dress. I found it after searching far and wide on the internet, and it had the most beautiful dresses, which all seemed to be reduced in price. It wasn't until I ordered my dress that I found a review website which stated the company was actually China based (even though it stated it was a UK company on the website) and it often presented customers with horrific replicas of celebrity style gowns, who then struggle very much to get a refund or any kind of apology. Luckily, this wasn't the case for me and my dress was beautiful even though it was sized completely wrong despite the fact I paid extra to have it custom made. It did leave me very stressed in the run up to prom, which wasn't ideal considering I was sitting my GCSE exams at the same time, so I would avoid ordering from any unknown websites and stick to what you know. Also be sure to research into customer reviews before you order from anywhere! Although I was lucky in my situation, after hearing of other people's experiences, I will never order from this company or any similar companies again.

So there we have it! My personal experiences and advice for all of you upcoming prom-goers! It may be completely irrelevant to some of you, and others may disagree with some of my tips, however, it just comes from my own personal experience and it would be advice that I would personally follow if I were to go to Prom again. I have followed this advice for similar occasions since my summer Prom last year, and it has definitely helped and enabled me to enjoy the experience a lot more. 

I hope that everyone who is awaiting their Prom's this year have the bestest time ever! I can honestly say it will be one of the greatest experiences you will have, and you will make some fantastic memories. Be sure to enjoy yourself regardless of how you look at your prom, because the most important thing is the fact that you get to spend time making memories and having fun with the important people in your lives! 

Do you have any tips for how to make the most of a Prom?

What are your best memories from Prom?

P.S. Lets take a moment to appreciate the fact that the only thing
 I have ever won was this at Prom. I wonder why...

Mane 'n Tail Shampoo and Conditioner | Review and Update

As you may have seen in my recent post of the Liebster Award, I mentioned that one of the beauty products that I am absolutely loving at the moment is the Mane ' n Tail Shampoo and Conditioner. I've always struggled with trying to achieve the long, luscious, glossy locks of my dreams ever since I chopped off my waist-length hair to ear-length four years ago and decided to bleach it platinum blonde the following year by myself. I would not recommend either of these crazy ideas unless you want to spend ridiculous amounts of money and time on "miracle" hair products (that the majority of the time, don't actually work), hair extensions (which eventually just enhances the problem) and crying in a slump on the floor about having to live with hair that's more frazzled than that of the Barbie doll that you had as a child.

So after I had finished 'experimenting' with my hair and I had finally just about gotten over the disastrous results of my choices, I began trying out lots of products and remedies in a desperate attempt to fix my problem. I did manage to find a few bits and pieces that helped me out a little, but none of these were permanent fixes and they just masked the problem rather than actually solving it. That was until I tried the Mane 'n Tail products.

I had heard about the Mane 'n Tail products a little while ago when I read up somewhere about Jennifer Anniston using the brand to grow her hair back after regrettably chopping it all off, but I was always a little put off by the idea that it was a product made for horses, so I continued to clip in my ratty old hair extensions, day in, day out, and spend an absolute fortune in the process.

It wasn't until recently that I finally managed to shake of the extensions habit; it was costing me a ridiculous amount of money, and on a student budget, I could not afford to maintain them, and it was also embarrassing when people would find out that I wore them, as well as taking up a lot of my time just putting the things in. I now get an extra half an hour or so in bed in the mornings, and that's enough to stop me ever going back to extensions again. Happy days.

Once I had stopped wearing the extensions, I began frantically searching for products again which were going to keep my hair healthy and also speed up the process to gaining me my desired look. After lots of searching of many different little corners of the internet, I once again came across Mane n' Tail, but I decided to look more into it this time to relieve me of my concerns. After being pleasantly surprised by many of the routines, I finally plucked up the courage to purchase the 355ml original shampoo and conditioner from the brand.

I purchased both of these items from Amazon for £6.41, which I believe is an absolute bargain in comparison to other places where you can buy them from, especially as I received a handful of sample sized argon oils and treatments for my hair to enhance my experience using the product.

The product was created by a family from New Jersey for their horses, and for whatever reason (I'm not quite sure if I'd ever like to know why), they decided to use the product on themselves. Perhaps they noticed how horses always seem to have such long, beautiful "manes 'n tails" and put two and two together, or maybe they were just inspired by Black Beauty and wanted to live up to his standards, I don't know, but whatever the reason, it was obviously a good idea. I particularly love how the bottle instructs on the back separately for animal use and human use. It's so cute, and really makes me feel at ease about knowing what to do, should I ever come across a dirty horse whilst carrying my new favourite product around with me in my bag,,,

Along with the instructions of use, the shampoo promises that its "micro-enriched protein formula provides down to the skin cleansing action and conditioning, leaving the hair soft and shiny". The consistency of the shampoo is slightly shimmery and very jelly like, which I was a little put off by at first, as it is so different to the usual creamy texture of my usual shampoo, however, the shampoo did make my hair feel super squeaky-clean as soon as it was rinsed off, and it lathered up particularly well, enabling me to have a lovely, firm scrub of my scalp, which I have to admit, is much better than what my average shampoo does for me. However, I have to disagree with the theory that the shampoo leaves your hair feeling "soft", as after a few uses, I noticed my hair to feel more dry than usual, and I had only changed the shampoo and conditioner in my hair routine. That is, however, my only fault within my whole experience in using this product, and it is easily solved by using a separate, "normal", moisturising conditioner after using the Mane 'n Tail one. I would also recommend using a hair oil treatment after washing, just to rebalance the moisture in your hair. I particularly love the Garnier Ultimate Blends Sleek Restorer line, which has various products, including conditioner and oil. All of the products contain coconut oil which smells amazing and does wonders for your hair, so I would highly recommend these products to use in collaboration with the Mane 'n Tail products.

Next, the conditioner states that it "helps to maintain and achieve a longer, healthier-looking mane, tail or hair" (again the last part made me giggle). Now this product is my favourite out of the two, as it does exactly what it says on the tin. Obviously both products have helped my hair, but as this one states that it specifically aids in hair growth and maintenance, I have to give this product just that little bit of extra credit. It's quite a thin conditioner, but my hair soaks it up well, and I leave it on for a few minutes before rinsing it out. It also rinses well due to its thin consistency. Lovely jubbly.

Now for the actual review of the product; although it does dry my hair out a little and I am slightly disappointed with the lack of scent to the products (although I'd rather no scent in comparison to my hair smelling like the back-end of a horse), both of these problems are easily solved with the use of a few extra products as mentioned before. The 355ml bottles have lasted me well over a month, after using generous amounts of each around 4-5 times a week (my hair needs to be washed this often, I know it's bad, I am working on it) which is another bonus of the product. I did instantly notice my hair to be much fuller and thicker, however, it wasn't until I took some photographs for the purpose of this post that I realised how much healthier and longer my hair looks. I took a photo on the first day that I used the product, which was about a month and a half ago. My hair was wet, as I had just had a shower, and I didn't really notice how wispy and unhealthy it looked until I compared it to today's photo, which was also taken of wet hair just so that I could get a reliable comparison, as your hair tends to be slightly longer when wet. Also, I must add that after using horse hair care religiously for the past few weeks, I have not experienced any cravings for hay, neighing or galloping (except for when I excitedly trot over to the bathroom to slather on my next does of the little liquid miracle). I'm not quite at the stage I'd like to be with my hair, but I am honestly super impressed with the results so far and will continue to use the product and perhaps do monthly updates on my hair journey to becoming Rapunzel.

After about a month and a half of using Mane 'n Tail

The first day of using Mane 'n Tail

If you'd like to try out the product, you can purchase it here for £6.41. If you do decide to give it a whirl, post your own reviews of the products down below - I'd love to give them a read!

Have you tried the Mane 'n Tail range?

What did you think of the products?