Thursday, 5 July 2018

COFFEE CHATS | Third Year is Over - What's Next? Exciting Blogger Things, and Love Island!



Hello my lovelies, I hope you're all well. I feel like it has been quite a while since I did a Coffee Chats post where we just sit down together with a coffee of course, or if you don't like coffee a beverage of your choice, and just have a chat and an update on our lives. So that's what were gonna do today. Make sure you've got your beverage and maybe a snack as I dunno how long this post is gonna be. 

Speaking of coffee I just wanna say a massive thank you for all of the views on my last post which was all about Visiting Bean & Cole Coffee House. It currently has over 1,000 views and honestly I'm gob smacked. It's my second most popular post behind my review of Primark's My Perfect Colour Foundation. Honestly you guys don't know how much this means to me and how grateful I am, just thank you so much. 

If you guys haven't seen that post and would like to then just click here

So let's start with general life. I have officially finished university and that is crazy to say. I don't know where the last three years have gone but honestly these have been the best three years of my life, no doubt about it. I'm not gonna get too into it now as I'm gonna do a post later on this year (November) all about my uni experience over the whole three years, if I think uni is worth it, and my favourite memories. So you'll have to hang tight for that one but it'll be here before you know it. I finished on May 12th which is when I did my last ever performance as a drama student at Chester University and honestly it hasn't actually hit me yet. I think it's because it just feels like my pals and I are all going home for summer like we always do and then we're just gonna come back again in September when in reality were not. But my life in Chester isn't fully over yet as I've got graduation to come back for, drama society's shows, and just friends to come and visit throughout next year. 




I am really going to miss living in this city, it has become a place that I truly call home. And I do hope I come back one day potentially to live here as I absolutely love it. But at this moment right now I'm just going to see where life takes me. But the reality of it all is I don't have the money to stay here right now as I don't have a job here and I don't have a place to live after July. So it's best for me to go home for a while and get myself on my feet. 


























As for what I'm gonna do next I really don't know. I've been applying for a whole range of jobs. Some more drama based, for example teacher-esk but not a school teacher, whilst others aren't directly drama but they're jobs where my creative and people skills that I've developed on my degree can benefit me, for example working in retail but creating window displays and making sure the overall look of a shop is appealing to customers etc. I've been applying since June and haven't had much major luck yet apart from one job where I did get the offer. However it wasn't what I'd hoped for and the timings weren't right so I decided to decline it. Which is totally okay. My main advice to all of you when job hunting would be don't put pressure on yourself to take a job just because you need one. Especially if you're not confident about it but don't forget to push yourself to be the best you can be. I'm trying not to contradict myself but what I mean is don't apply for a job where you have no skills in that area to work. You've gotta use all your top qualities about yourself to your advantages. 

I'm currently still on the hunt and my main thing right now is to find a job at least for the summer because otherwise I'm gonna be so bored. And because my mum and dad are gonna be on my case everyday if I don't get one (the reality of not being a student anymore). I've never had a "proper job" and I bloody hate that phrase because what even makes a job a "proper job"?! (that's a rant for another day). But I'm confident that the experience I do have and my personality will shine through to employers. So my fingers are crossed. Are any of you in the same boat as me?



A job may not be a constant in my life right now but my blog very much is and will be for the future months and years to come (I hope). You guys know how I always get, whilst I'm at uni my blog has always taken a bit of a back seat because of all the workload and mainly all of the days out I've had with friends. And I always roll it back around in the summer months which I am definitely still doing. I've got a lot of interesting posts planned and quite a few of them I've been meaning to do since April but just haven't got round to it.

But I thought I'd let you guys in on some new blogging things I'm gonna be doing in the upcoming months. I've been sitting and planning things for the future of my blog for this year and I've been trying to think of things I haven't done before, whether that be styles of posts or a series of posts that all link etc. If you guys have been reading my blog since at least this time last year then you'll know that I did Blogust where I blogged every day of August. I thoroughly enjoyed that month and judging from the views so did you guys. I'm so glad I did that as it brought me so many more opportunities and just inspired me a lot more really. So I was debating on doing Blogust again but I wasn't really feeling doing a summer month of blogging again. So instead I've decided I'm going to be doing Blogtember! So I'm gonna blog every day in September. Now I know what you guys are thinking, surely there's not much difference as August and September are right next to each other in the monthly timeline. That is true but I've got some really interesting posts planned such as planning posts, how to utilise notebooks, some more fashion based posts, challenge posts, I'm also doing a week within Blogtember all about university as most universities go back in September which I'm so excited for, and just a lot more lifestyle based posts too. So I'm super excited for September, I hope you guys are as well, it's gonna be a lot of fun I think. 

But let's rewind for a min. So going back to now, I've got a lot of posts still to do from ages ago as we know. But I have officially decided to start a new series on my blog *screams and claps with excitement.* I can't reveal too much now because I'm still working on the ins and outs of the series itself, and doing some research, and I'm still working on a name for it. But the only clue I'm gonna give you guys is it is a topic all over social media at the minute especially Instagram. And it's a more positive outlook on something that many people, including myself, get anxious about or have been anxious about. And that is all I'm gonna say. If I can eventually find a name for the series it could potentially start next week but I can't be certain on that right now. The series itself will at least go all throughout summer and if it goes well and you guys like it and take something positive away from it I may continue it through to the cooler months after Blogtember. But yeah I'm really excited, let me know in the comments what you guys think the series might be about. 

Now that we've got all that out the way let's talk about the important stuff... 



If you guys follow me on Twitter (@katielouj0hnson) then you will know how opinionated I get about this show. I became obsessed last year and I have now become even more obsessed this year which I didn't think was possible. Now I know that some of the show is not all real and there are definitely moments that the islanders do obviously to create drama because if they didn't the show wouldn't be as popular and it wouldn't be as talked about. But am I still way too invested in these peoples lives on this reality show? 100% yes. Obviously a lot has happened over the last three weeks on the show and if you haven't been watching it well honestly I don't think there's a way I can actually catch you up. But if you have been watching let's discuss the latest events of the last week.

I'm gonna start with the whole Wes, Megan, and Laura situation. When Wes decided he was done with Laura after three weeks and after that one day connection with Megan he was like right bye Laura. Honestly this pissed me off so much, you guys don't even know, well you will know if you follow my Twitter. But I just cannot believe how disrespectful this was to Laura. Just the whole way he went about it and his reasons for wanting to leave Laura for Megan really were ridiculous. For example, both Wes and Megan admitted that they hadn't spoken until that day when Megan said she fancied him and Wes immediately wanted to break off everything he had developed with Laura. He might as well of just straight up said to her I don't think this is working and I'm not feeling it anymore. I would've had more respect for him because he would've actually been honest with Laura about how he felt. I would've been unbiased if Wes hadn't of said to Laura "I'm falling for you" because you can't go from that level of feelings for someone and then five minutes later after you've had a chat with the lads go actually nah. In the long run I think Wes and Laura would've broken up anyway because they are clearly at very different points in their lives, you know Laura wants to find a serious relationship with a future together whereas Wes clearly doesn't really know what he wants and I don't think he truly knows what he's gone in the villa to look for. But overall ever since that moment I lost all respect for Wes and I have a massive disliking for him now. 

The main thing I loved about this situation though is the boys went off to Casa Amor which is the second villa and the boys had six new girls come in whilst in the original villa the girls had six new boys come in. And it couldn't of come at a better time, especially for Laura. So whilst most of the boys were cracking on in Casa Amor (which I'll get to in a minute) Wes decided not to because of his "strong feelings for Megan" which I don't know how you can have that amount of strong feelings after just one day together. If that's actually possible let me know. But yeah so Wes didn't crack on but of course our Megan did. Why am I not surprised? So yeah she cracked on with another guy called Alex and Laura cracked on with another guy called Jack. And when it came to the recoupling they both recoupled up with the new guys they'd met whilst Wes was left single. I don't like Megan but I loved this situation because this is true karma for the way Wes treated Laura and I was living for this. Honestly one of the best things that could've happened. 

So speaking of Casa Amor, the boys went there for a few days and mostly they started cracking on which for the majority of them it was fine as a lot of them are more towards open to still getting to know people and connect with people as their couples haven't worked out up to this point. Except for Jack (not Laura's Jack) and Josh. Jack and Dani are officially in a relationship so obviously they stayed loyal to one another (thank god) and Josh has been coupled up with Georgia for two weeks or maybe a bit more. Now her and Josh were in a really good place, they were in the stage where they were kind of just having a laugh and getting to know each other whilst still being all about each other. I will admit when they first became a couple I wasn't 100% certain because Georgia was previously coupled up with Niall who she seemed really suited to but then he had to make an emergency exit from the show. Which meant Josh and Georgia were kind of the only two left that were fully single whereas everyone else in the villa was coupled up with someone. So at first it did feel kind of forced and like they were together just because of convenience. But as time went on, new islanders came in and neither of them seemed to turn their heads or really get to know anyone else which is when I was like oh okay, I can kinda see this working out. And then that all came crashing down didn't it. 

So the boys had to sneak off to Casa Amor early one morning and weren't allowed to let the girls in on anything. And as I've already said they got there and six new girls came in and they started cracking on apart from Jack. And I'd love to say apart from Josh but I can't because he decided to crack on with another girl. Whilst Georgia decided to stay loyal to Josh because she realised when he was gone that she actually did like him a lot more than she'd let herself believe. As you can imagine, myself and all of the other Love Island fans on Twitter were going insane on the hashtag. So to keep a long story short Josh was completely unfaithful to Georgia during those three days in Casa Amor; there was a recoupling at the end of the week and the girls and guys had to decided whether or not they were going to recouple with one of the new islanders or if they were going to stay loyal. Unfortunately for Georgia, Josh decided to recouple with another girl which as you can imagine absolutely broke her. 

Now on Twitter most people are team Georgia in this situation which I 100% am. That feeling of being second best to someone is never nice and I can totally relate to what she is going through right now. Some people have commented that they don't feel like Josh has done anything wrong because they weren't boyfriend and girlfriend and also it is Love Island, they're all there to find a connection with someone and you know win £50,000. Which I do get where those people are coming from but what he has done wrong is handled the whole situation wrong. For the weeks Josh and Georgia were seeing each other Josh never made it clear that he was open to seeing other girls. Whilst in Casa Amor, Josh had no way of speaking to Georgia until the night of the recoupling, but whilst he was in Casa Amor he had no respect for Georgia's feelings in the process of him cracking on with Kaz. He also claims that he felt a stronger connection to a girl he'd know for one day than a girl he'd been seeing for two weeks. I'm sorry what? Again if this is actually a thing that really happens then please enlighten me but I just don't get how you can throw something all away and be done with it for someone else you've know for five minutes. Are people honestly that heartless? 

The best thing to ever happen though on the night of recoupling was how Georgia handled the situation. She saw Josh came back in with another girl and was obviously upset, annoyed, heartbroken etc. She turned away when she was about to cry, took a breath, composed herself, and turned back and got on with it. HONESTLY ICONIC. The way she handled the whole situation is honestly inspiring for our society. She is honestly a true queen and I will always love her for how she dealt with this situation. I absolutely adore Georgia as a person and I truly believe she deserves the best. 

Obviously after the drama and high emotions of it all she's dealt with it the best she can and the only people who really seem to care about her in that villa are Dani and Laura. Which is an absolute piss take because Georgia cares about absolutely everyone in there and is always there for them when they need her and now they can't even be there for her. Another thing that has also fucked me off about this situation is how none of the boys at any stage said to Josh don't you think you should be thinking about Georgia. Fair enough it's not their situation to deal with but if any of the boys had any respect for Georgia or even cared about how she might've felt they would've pulled Josh aside and called him out on it. As if I was in there, I'd've done that because the way he was going about it weren't right. 

The main thing this year that is frustrating me in Love Island is the fact that all of the lads apart from Jack keep saying this phrase "Am I happy? Yes. But could I be happier? Absolutely" and honestly I have never felt more hostile towards a group of boys ever. This is how you definitely know they're boys and not men. Honestly what the hell?! I am actually sick of our generation's views on relationships. It's like I swear to god people just don't appreciate what they already have and also don't have respect for other peoples feelings let alone their own feelings. Why are so many people so selfish and spiteful; honestly I have never felt more pissed off about a conversation than this one. This is just a point for everyone, guy or girl, if this is how you view people you're seeing or just people in your life. Then you've gotta take a hard look in the mirror because with an attitude like this you don't deserve to be happy let alone be "happier."  

An episode or two ago Georgia was crying to Dani and Laura and she said two things that I think everyone can relate to in some way. The first was 'He's happy with her' and the second was 'What has she got that I haven't got?' this honestly made me feel so sad for Georgia. I can relate to these two questions a lot and I'm assuming most of you who are reading this can as well. There has got to be no worse feeling than feeling second best to someone. It's been a few days now since everything and Georgia has had some time to cool off and think and she had a chat with Kaz. She said it how it was on her end of things and how she feels as technically Kaz hasn't done anything fully wrong as it was Josh who was disloyal to Georgia. And Kaz was the same, explained to Georgia her way of seeing things and how it feels on her end etc. So essentially they were just finding common ground. Georgia said that she is happy that they've both found someone and she hopes they work out. Kaz had the audacity to go back to Josh and say that Georgia was patronising. And in that one second exchange I lost all respect for Kaz as well. Georgia wasn't being patronising at all, Georgia could've ignored her for the whole time they're both there which would obviously make things awkward in the long run. I say fair play to Georgia for clearing the air when she is evidently still such a mess and broken up about Josh. 

Someone did a tweet saying it's not about the fact that Josh recoupled with another girl. It's the fact that he sold Georgia a dream and told her all the things she wanted to hear when he didn't really mean any of it. And that resonated with me so much, honestly so much because being lead on is the worst thing ever. It goes to show that you should always always always be wary of peoples intentions with you. I really do hope Georgia gets what she deserves because she honestly deserves all the love in the world for being so kind, honest, genuine, positive. I love you queen G! 

  If you thought I was done talking about Love Island after all that, well you're wrong. I have one more person I wanna talk about and that is Megan. As I've said many times already if you guys follow my Twitter you will know how opinionated I get about this show and you will also know how much Megan drives me round the bend. This girl is honestly something else, she is a different breed to the human race I swear to god. I have never witnessed the amount of snaky behaviour from anyone that I have with this girl. She is literally the female equivalent of Adam and we're not gonna get into my opinions on Adam because we'll be here all night and this post is already so long. I can't even put into words how vile she is as a person. She's messed with peoples emotions in that villa, broken up a relationship for no reason, doesn't care for anyone else's feelings other than her own, can't ever say no and stay true to her own intentions, and each episode proves why I hate her more. For example, she's always had a vendetta against Georgia for no reason but some people on Twitter reckon it's because Georgia is everything Megan isn't as there's been a lot of opinions on Megan's plastic surgery. And if you guys wanna know more about that just check the Love Island hashtag. Which I personally wouldn't be surprised if that is the reason. But anyway, during the whole saga of Georgia, Josh, and Kaz, Megan had the audacity to say to Josh what he's done is right and she would've done the same in his situation and for me that is just the cherry on top of the cake of why she infuriates me. That girl doesn't know the meaning of empathy or respect for other people and I really do hope karma comes and bites her in the arse massively. But, I will never like the girl, however the game she is playing in that villa is very clever and I'm waiting for when the other islanders fully clock onto it. 

Honestly the more that goes on in Love Island the more opinionated I get and the more annoyed I get at certain people. Now obviously, the media and the filming of things can make people be portrayed in different ways in certain situations and I am fully aware of that. Also because with Love Island especially we only see one hour of a twenty four hour day, so we never one hundred percent get the full picture. I love sharing my opinions and tweeting about it all night on twitter as much as the next person but I do take it with a pinch of salt as I'm fully aware things aren't always what they seem especially on reality shows. But it's all for the fun, all for the fun isn't it. 

If you guys watch Love Island let me know down below and share your thoughts and opinions on the current goings on. 


And that is it for this post my lovelies. I think we're all caught up now. Let me know down below how all of you are and catch me up on what is going on in your life right now. 

 Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Follow me on all of my social media so you can keep up to date with everything I am doing! You can follow me on Twitter @katielouj0hnson, Instagram @katiej0hnson, Pinterest @katielouj0hnson, and Bloglovin' @ Katie Johnson

I will speak to you all very soon. 



Love,

Katie



Wednesday, 27 June 2018

LIFESTYLE | Visiting Bean & Cole



Hello my lovelies, I hope you're well and are having a good week. I recently ran a poll on Twitter asking what you guys wanna see this summer in terms of posts and it was a close call until the very end but as you guys can clearly see this post came out on top. But don't worry, if this wasn't the post you were hoping for, all of the other's that were mentioned in the poll will make their way onto my blog very soon. 

Anyway, let's get talking about Bean & Cole. If you guys have looked at the photo then you will have noticed that Bean & Cole is a coffee house and you guys know by now how obsessed I am with my daily dose of iced coffee, especially in this current heatwave that is sweeping the UK.

Recently in Chester there has been a lot of new cafe places opening or set to open during this summer, which is funny how they're all opening at the same time. But I suppose it will generate lots of business with lots of people out and about as the weather gets warmer and with there being more independent coffee shops it means people will wanna go and try them all out to see if they beat the likes of trusty Costa and Starbucks. And if you're someone who loves coffee like me then of course, gotta try them all out. 

Bean & Cole have been open now for a week or just over, so they are very new to the scene. The location of this coffee shop is actually quite tactically placed I think as for people who live in my direction in Chester; (slightly out of the town) when I walk into town I have to go past it, so if you're someone who fancies a coffee in the morning on the way to work or want a bite to eat and a beverage it's right there when you walk into town. It's not directly close to the big rivals like Costa or Starbucks. You have to go further into town to get to those places. So they've already ticked the box of convenience. 

I think the outside of the shop looks really eye catching and different compared to everything else around it. It might be because it's new whereas everything else in the area has been there since I started uni. But I think the colour green really stands out, especially in the sunshine, which draws you to it and makes you want to see what it is and what is inside. I also adore those big stickers that read 'coffee house' on. Really different to anything I've seen before. 




 It is not the biggest cafe ever, but it consists of one long table, a bench that goes all along the inside wall (from the right side window in the first picture all the way to the counter), a long bar top (the second inside photo), and 3 wooden tables along the bench with some metal stools, and they had comfy pillows to sit on! I actually really like the set up of this cafe because although it's not massive, in the process of converting it, they've used the space effectively. 

The whole vibe inside the cafe is rustic boho in my opinion which I really love. I think it's really different to the perfect white counters and marble work tops that you see in every modern coffee shop these days all over Instagram. 



Now of course when I visited for the first time I asked my other coffee addict half, Katie, to come along with me. We've gone on many coffee dates together and we thoroughly enjoyed this one! You can see behind us that gorgeous brick wall (I've got a thing about inside brick walls at the minute, I keep using them in households on the Sims 4 at the minute too) which we took full advantage of when it came to taking candid photos. We both really enjoyed the whole vibe and look of this place - we felt really at ease just spending time in here. 



When it came to ordering it was really tough as we were both tempted by the food but we were good and just had a coffee. As you can see I had an iced coffee and Katie treated herself to a latte. I love the coffee art in Katie's coffee, it's really pretty and was a lovely added touch. I really enjoyed my iced coffee, but it was just a bit small for me personally, especially when I paid slightly more in here than I would in Costa. And the ones in Costa consist of more. 


But with that said, next time I popped in (only 2 days later) I did treat myself to a bite to eat. I had a cappuccino with a salted caramel brownie. And let me tell you this might honestly be the best brownie I have ever had. Bold statement I know. It was so soft and moist to bite into and then the caramel on top just gave it something else. I can still taste it now. And my cappuccino was delicious, again I adore the coffee art, I did put quite a bit of sugar in as it was quite strong but worth it. 

When Katie and I visited the first time we noticed how they put different drinks into different mugs and I love that. So a latte goes in a yellow mug whilst a cappuccino goes into a brown. I think that is such a nice little added feature. One thing I would love to try in here next is a hot chocolate (who even am I, I used to hate hot chocolate) because I bloody love a hot chocolate these days, especially a Costa one. So I'd be intrigued to see what the difference is with that as with hot coffee it tastes quite similar the majority of the time whereas a hot chocolate is dependent on how much chocolate powder you put in etc. But it might be too hot for a hot chocolate at the moment. What do you guys reckon, is it too hot for a hot chocolate? 

In terms of the price, it is a little bit more expensive than your standard Costa or Starbucks, however, cafe's like this you do not go to all the time, it's more of a treat. I feel for the hot drinks and the food that I have had it has been worth the price because you pay for the experience in a cafe like this. What I mean by that is the vibe of the cafe and the friendliness of the staff, the extra effort of making the coffee look beautiful (the coffee art), and the effort of making the food look really presentable and delicious. So for example, in Costa a cappuccino is £2.65 whereas in here it was £2.80. Not a massive price bracket difference but that extra 15p I paid gave me something more appealing to look at which is a nice treat from time to time. But I wouldn't go to an independent coffee shop every week because (and we all know I go out for a Costa every week at some point) the price does rack up.  But of course the major difference is the fact that Costa is a chain and not an independent coffee shop like Bean & Cole.  

Another thing I just wanna add, you guys know how obsessed I am with cactus' and succulents so the fact that they had a cute little pot on every table was giving me life. 


So what's the overall verdict of Bean & Cole? The coffee is delicious, the place is gorgeous, the food is divine, and the candid photo's Katie and I got here were worth the trip as you can evidently see. But, I don't think this trip would've been as lovely and welcoming if it wasn't for the staff. The people that run this place and work there are honestly some of the friendliest and most welcoming people I have ever met. From the minute we walked in right up until we left they asked us about our day, what we were up to, we spoke about uni to them, and even when we left they said thank you for coming and goodbye. As a customer this gets massive ticks in my book. You could go into the most beautiful shop in the world but if the people working there aren't friendly you don't have the same experience. 

Is it worth it? 100% yes. It is really nice to switch it up every so often and try out new things and new places. If any of you live in Chester or near to Chester I would highly recommend checking Bean & Cole out because it's not every day you get to go to a coffee shop like this one. If you don't mind treating yourself once in a while and paying that little bit extra for an experience as well as the actual food and drink itself then you will really enjoy this place.

I'd love to try out more independent coffee shops over the summer, let me know down below some of your favourite independent cafes/ coffee shops. 

If you guys would like to know more about Bean & Cole then check out their Instagram here. They're always posting on social media since their big opening which I am very much enjoying. If you love coffee, then you will too so give them a follow! 

Also loves, if you wanna check out my girl Katie's Instagram post from our visit then click here

And that is it for this post my lovelies. Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Follow me on all of my social media so you can keep up to date with everything I am doing! You can follow me on Twitter @katielouj0hnson, Instagram @katiej0hnson, Pinterest @katielouj0hnson, and Bloglovin' @ Katie Johnson

I will speak to you all very soon. 



Love,

Katie


Thursday, 21 June 2018

LIFESTYLE | Things I'm Glad to be Alive For




Hello my lovelies, I hope you're all well and have been having a fab start to summer. I know it's been a while since I last blogged but the last term of uni was so hectic and busy that I'm only just getting back into the swing of blogging and doing things that aren't uni work. I'll do an update post about uni and life etc if that's what you guys want? Just let me in the comments. 

This post I am sharing with you guys today was actually inspired by a new blogger who I met on Twitter a couple of months ago. She did a post titled '50 things that I'm glad to be alive for' and after I read through that blog post I got really inspired and wanted to do my own version, so that is what I'm sharing with you today.

Please go and check out her version because it is absolutely lovely! And I really enjoy her posts in general, so definitely check them out, click here


♡ when a hot drink goes from scorching to warm
♡ exploring
♡ spontaneous plans 
♡ making people happy/ smile/ laugh
♡ car rides with music blaring out
♡ photographing moments
♡ the tap of my nails on my phone screen 
♡ that first coffee in the morning 
♡ quality time with people you love
♡ that moment you see someone you haven't seen for a long time 
♡ laughing until you cry
♡ reading a book where you get fully invested in the story 
♡ that feeling of cosy jumpers 
♡ the crunch of fresh snow beneath your feet
♡ when cold air hits your face
♡ seeing your makeup all come together 
♡ an unexpected compliment 
♡ late night walks 
♡ seeing your friends achieve their goals
♡ freshly painted nails
♡ freshly shaved legs
♡ wearing a dress
♡ inspiring quotes 
♡ that moment at a concert when everyone puts their phone lights on 
♡ wondering about the universe 
♡ watching fireworks burst
♡ breathing in sea air
♡ the Costa playlist 
♡ singing for hours and hours 
♡ my mum and dad's happiness
♡ the nervous adrenaline before a performance 
♡ when the sea waves hit your toes 
♡ sunsets
♡ coffee dates with friends 
♡ working on projects
♡ giving gifts to someone else and seeing their face light up when they open it 
♡ the relief you feel after checking an important email or a grade 
♡ the excitement you feel to eat your favourite foods 
♡ expanding your mind to the different possibilities that may or may not exist 
♡ receiving a letter or a package in the post
♡ the thrill of going on a roller coaster
♡ watching lightning flash across the sky
♡ proving to yourself that you can do it
♡ singing musical songs
♡ receiving praise when you really deserve it 
♡ the sound of clinking glasses
♡ the satisfaction of checking something off your to do list 
♡ when you stretch your whole body out and feel tired for a few seconds after
♡ having a creative mind
♡ the ambience of sitting with just fairy lights on 
♡ the smell after you blow out a candle
♡ the excitement for your favourite show to come on 
♡ falling asleep on the sofa
♡ when a song you and your friends love comes on on a night out 
♡ harmonising songs 
♡ really feeling yourself in a certain type of outfit with a certain style of hair and a certain style of makeup
♡ the smell of freshly cut roses 
♡ the excitement of putting on a new outfit
♡ catching a sweet in your mouth with people watching 
♡ that feeling of being absolutely amazed by something you're watching or experiencing 
♡ late night phone calls
♡ long hugs 
♡ coffee art 
♡ singing your heart out with your friends 
♡ starting a fresh notebook 
♡ doing well in something you worked really hard for 
♡ inspiring others 
♡ sitting in a coffee shop all afternoon
♡ when you and your friend say the exact same thing at the exact same time 


What are some of the things you guys are glad to be alive for? Let me know in the comments down below. 


As always lovelies don't forget to follow me on all of my social media as more than likely when I'm not posting as much on my blog, I'm posting on my social media and you can keep up to date with everything I am doing! You can follow me on Twitter @katielouj0hnson, Instagram @katiej0hnson, Pinterest @katielouj0hnson, and Bloglovin' @ Katie Johnson

Over on my Twitter I'm running a poll right now where you guys can vote for what you want to see on my blog in terms of summer posts. So if you could all go and vote I'd really appreciate it, click here to have your say!

Stay tuned for a new few posts in the next couple of weeks.

Love,

Katie










Tuesday, 10 April 2018

REVIEW | April Showers with Lush



Hello my lovelies, I hope you're all well and are having a good week. If you guys have read my Visiting Westgate Oxford post then you'll know that I popped into Lush and purchased one of their most recent bathbombs for spring called April Showers. If you guys haven't seen that post and would like to, click here. As it's April and April is in the title of the product I really wanted to review it this month, you know me, all about making things relevant. 

'Drip, drip, drop
when your mood is cloudy
this pretty bath bomb
will brighten the day.'



To me the aesthetic of this bathbomb is really clever. It's one of those where it makes me wonder why did it take so long to make this because it is so relevant to this month. We all know that in the UK the month of April is known for it's drizzly and rainy weather hence the phrase April showers bring May flowers. I just really love that there is a bathbomb to represent this, anyone else really digging that? 

So as you guys can clearly see it's in the shape of a white cloud with pink and blue rain droplets inside. I love this, it's so simple and clear as to what it is as well as being really aesthetically pleasing, especially for Instagram photos. The size of this is quite small which means it does have a little bit less product within the bathbomb. Whereas in the round bathbombs you get a whole load of product packed inside. 

Ingredients: 

• Sodium Bicarbonate 
• Citric Acid
• Titanium Dioxide 
• Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter 
• Perfume 
• Cornflour 
• Cedarwood Oil
• Violet Leaf Absolute
• Cypress Oil
• Tonka Oil
• Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Organic Castor Oil
• Water (Aqua) 
• Laureth 4
• Dipropylene Glycol 
• Synthetic Fluorphlogopite 
• *Limonene 
• *Linalool
• Alpha-Isomethyl ionone 
• Coumarin
• Eugenol
• Colour 45410
• Colour 42090 
• Colour 60725

I'm not 100% about what all of the ingredients do or how they work together. But whatever they do it moulds together to create this cute little cloud. 




'For your own little April showers (or rather baths), drop this fizzer into hot water and clear your cloudy skies with cedarwood and cypress oils. As the softening Fair Trade cocoa butter raindrops melt away, tonka absolute comes out to play with fresh violet leaf absolute.'


When you first pop it into the water the cloudy white particles disperse all over to create this cloud like affect, again very clever because it's a cloud. As all the white colour has dissolved into the water, the pink and blue shaped droplets begin to merge with the cloudy water. 




























It creates this really pretty whimsical mix of colours, extremely pretty to watch become one. As it fizzes away it doesn't engulf the whole bath but I think that's because the bathbomb itself isn't as compact with product compared to a round bathbomb. 




I really liked the smell of this one when it was fizzing away in my bath but didn't like it as much when it was the bathbomb itself. But it's definitely not going to be everyone's cup of tea, my mum wasn't a fan of the smell. But the blend between the violet absolute mixed with the cedarwood oil creates an inbetween of something not too sweet but not too bitter and with that blend the scent isn't too heavy. There's enough blended together in the product for it to carry a strong smell when it melts away in the water. 


Once it had all mixed together throughout the water it created this really pretty lilac purple with little white cloudy accents/ glistening bits of white which you can see in this photo. I felt like it was a really nice added touch. 

One of my favourite things about this bathbomb was the fact that the rain droplets were little drops of cocoa butter. We all know how great cocoa butter is for your skin: helps keep your skin fresh (not dry), has anti-ageing benefits, soothes burns, rashes, and infections, it doubles up as a shaving cream, helps improve the appearance of marks such as stretch marks, and let's not forget it makes your skin super soft. 

I was really surprised at how much the cocoa butter droplets worked. I knew they would work but as in because the droplets didn't contain a large amount of cocoa butter. My skin, especially my legs were irresistibly soft. One thing this bathbomb would be super beneficial for is using it after you've shaved your legs. I'm really gutted I didn't shave mine before I used it because it would've made them even softer as well as revitalise them a bit. As I don't know about you guys but my legs definitely need to most TLC because of marks, cuts, bruises, shaving burns, veins, discolouration, etc. The list could go and on but you get what I mean. 

Another pro; I don't know about you guys but I don't use cocoa butter very often just because the smell is so intense that I can't deal with it. I prefer zingy scents but cocoa butter is rich. Which is a bit of a downer because the product itself is really good for the health of your skin. So the pro of this product is, you get the good qualities of cocoa butter in a small amount which means the smell of it isn't overpowering. However, to see an actual improvement on these things I'd probably have to use this bathbomb or a product with qualities like this bathbomb about 4-5 times a week. 

Overall I feel like it's not my ultimate favourite but it's definitely not below the bar. It definitely has a lot more benefits for your skin than I initially thought when I purchased it and the qualities it does have are executed really well. I wouldn't say this bathbomb is targeted at anyone specific, particularly scent wise. For aesthetic and a well thought out idea this product earns brownie points alone. For something so small compared to some of the huge bathbombs it's really exceeded the expectations I had for it. Also, credit to Lush for creating something within the Easter range that wasn't all about Easter as I know some people don't really celebrate it. I would definitely purchase this again! As this was a part of the Easter range that does mean this is leaving stores soon, which I think is a bit silly considering it is a product related to April. So I think they should've done some forward thinking and kept this throughout the whole of April. 

Overall rating: 

I sadly didn't buy or get the chance to try anything else from the Easter range this year. If you guys did let me know down below. 

If you guys do wanna purchase this product or any of the Easter range I would advise acting fast as they're leaving the store soon. I know that some of them are already sold out online, but if you do wanna have a look online and potentially order some click here

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

As always lovelies don't forget to follow me on all of my social media so you can keep up to date with everything I am doing! You can follow me on Twitter @katielouj0hnson, Instagram @katiej0hnson, Pinterest @katielouj0hnson, and Bloglovin' @ Katie Johnson

Until then, I shall see you in my next post. 

Love,

Katie