Tuesday

University Catch Up // After Semester One

In the middle of my first semester, I wrote a little university catch up to explain more about my modules, and promised to update later once I'd completed my assignments. That time is now so strap yourselves in and get ready for another morbid stroll with the Master of Death. Is it too early/ arrogant/ downright weird to start calling myself that?
university catch up

Wednesday

How I rate books

In my last reading round up post, I mentioned that I've been using a percentage system to rate my books. Before, I used to just apply the old 5-star approach but I found I gave pretty much every book 3 stars. It also didn't give me much in the way of comparing books. Having a specific number makes it a lot easier to rate books. It took me a little while to decide on my criteria but I've come up with a simple system and I'd like to share it with you.
Reviewing and rating books method

Tuesday

Beauty Empties

Time for another sporadic beauty empties post! No matter how much I try to post regularly, they somehow always end up being forgotten about until I get fed up of empty packaging cluttering up my house. I'm pretty sure this isn't all of it because this doesn't look like a lot for 6 months worth!
Lush beauty empties

Sunday

Nails // Illamasqua Vice

Nobody is prouder of my nail journey than Helen. When we first met way back in our early blogging days, my nails were bitten into practically non-existent stubs and I never even attempted to paint them because I was so terrible at it. Helen, on the other hand, always has impeccably neat nails. I know she's very impressed with the difference a few years has made! Recently, she told me that she was having a clear out and offered to let me rifle through her nail varnish reject pile. What I wasn't expecting was for her to hand me a carrier bag filled to the brim with bottles of the most beautiful colours to take home. I can't even tell you how happy it made me- I bought those little nail wheel things and catalogued every single one. When I next got my nails done, I couldn't wait to try one of my new shades, and settled on Illamasqua Vice- this deep purple/burgundy shade.
Illamasqua Vice Swatch

Saturday

BUNAC Summer in the States

One day, a very long time ago (well, ok about ten years ago), I saw an advert about summer camps in the UK and sent off for a brochure. It was delivered to my uni halls and, as a trainee teacher, I was ridiculously excited by the prospect of spending my summer working with kids in America. I told my mum all about it but she convinced me to save up for a year first. Then I met Rich, moved in with him and suddenly it wasn't very practical to spend weeks abroad. I'm still bitter about it tbh... Anyway, the point is, when BUNAC invited me to head down to Dirty Bones in London and find out about their American summer opportunities, that excitable 18 year old popped up again. I couldn't resist learning more. Dirty Bones Kensington

Thursday

Distance Learning Pros and Cons

If I'm completely honest, I was pretty disappointed when I found out my master's was only offered as a distance learning course. I was all excited about getting back on campus and living uni life but unfortunately I just had to go along with it. To my surprise, I love it! Sure there are downsides but the flexibility is hard to beat. If you're wondering whether distance learning will work for you, take a look at my list of pros and cons.
Benefits and drawbacks of distance learning

Wednesday

Book Wishlist // True Crime

I've spoken before about how much true crime fascinates me. For some reason, crime fiction has never interested me, and horror gives me nightmares for weeks, but if it's a true story, I'm all over it. A lot of my Amazon wish list is dedicated to this subject but I've chosen a select few to share with you.
True Crime Books

Tuesday

2017 Travel Plans

Last year, I decided I needed to see more of the world. Travel became my priority and I wrote a post listing all the places I wanted to visit. I've reviewed my goals at the bottom of this post so scroll down if you want to see how I got on. Now that it's a new year, I'm thinking about where to visit in 2017, both around the UK and beyond.
Salzburg Leopoldskron Sound of Music Gate

Monday

OOTD // Starry Starry Dress

Hi, I'm Becky and my eyeballs are fixed to the left side of my sockets. You know that star-print maxi dress that I absolutely love? Simply Be also sell a tea dress version! You better believe I snapped it up the second I saw it. Even though it's an impossibly thin, floaty material with a low neckline and fluttery sleeves, I still thought it would be perfect for my trip to Austria. I figured I could whip off my jumper, take some photos then snuggle up warm again. I was wrong. It was cold. Still, it looked pretty cute layered under my jumper so no loss! Plus size winter outfit
Hat: Christmas market (similar here)
Jumper: Primark (similar here)
Dress: Simply Be
Jacket: Golddigga (similar here)
Leggings: Simply Be
Boots: Skechers (similar here)

Sunday

Review // Lush Key Lime Pie Lip Balm

Following in my tradition of buying Lush lip balms whenever I visit a different country, I picked up Key Lime Pie in Hamburg. I was at the cash point and caught a very slight scent of Lush. After a little exploring, I discovered it just behind me, obscured by Christmas market chalets. I swear I'm like a bloodhound but for Lush. A Lushound. Anyway, since I already have Honey Trap (which is currently missing somewhere in my living room) and Buttered Brazils, I don't have a huge selection left. I decided on Key Lime Pie as I liked the zesty fragrance and, after trying it out, I definitely think I made the right decision. 
Lush Key Lime Pie Lip Balm Review

New Year Giveaway

It's January and I make that time for my New Year giveaway! Like every year, I've got some lovely Lush bits to give away but this year I've mixed it up a bit. As well as my usual Twitter giveaway, I'm also hosting an Instagram giveaway. Here's how it works.

INSTAGRAM: ROSE JAM SHOWER GEL AND SNOW FAIRY BODY CONDITIONER
Lush Snow Fairy Body Conditioner Rose Jam Shower Gel

Saturday

Learning German with Flashsticks

As I mentioned in my New Year goals post, I'm working to improve my German skills in 2017. I've been learning informally for a few months now and towards the end of 2016, Flashsticks contacted me to ask if I would like to try out their language-learning app. Since I was already teaching myself German, it was perfect timing. There are a huge range of language courses available, from French and Spanish to Latin and British Sign Language, so there's something for everybody.
Flashsticks language learning app

Thursday

2017 Reading Goals

I'm very, very good at setting reading goals... and I'm very, very bad at completing them. I may still have two books unfinished from my summer reading challenge. With this in mind, I've decided to keep 2017 fairly unstructured. I want to read 60 books over the course of the year (this was my plan for 2016 but I only managed 52) but I'll only pick a handful of specific books to read, so I have the freedom to choose as I go along. 

Wednesday

January ASOS Wishlist // 20 under £20

One of my Christmas presents was ASOS vouchers, which always go down very well! Now that the sales are fading away, I've been turning to the new stock to see what I can spend my £20 vouchers on. Erm, I may have got a bit confused when I created the image. Pretend you haven't seen the mistake.
ASOS under £25

Tuesday

OOTD // Alpine skirt

See this skirt? I bought it after my first trip to Salzburg in April because I knew it would be perfect for my Christmas trip. For the whole 8 months, it sat inside it's bright pink packaging behind the sofa waiting for winter. It was only when I went to put it on for the first time when we were in Austria that I realised I hadn't even thought to try it on. Luckily it fit perfectly! Plus size winter outfit
Cardigan: Beyond Retro
Top: Primark (similar here)
Skirt: LindyBop
Tights: ASOS
Shoes: Peacocks (similar here)

Monday

Fixing my eyesight // My experience with Ortho-K lenses

Imagine this: You've spent most of your life short-sighted, wearing glasses or contacts to correct your vision. Then you try out this new technology- contact lenses that correct your vision overnight so when you take them out in the morning, you have perfect vision without the need for glasses. That's some crazy sci fi malarkey right there. Except it's not. It's real and I'm experiencing it right now. It's called Ortho-k and it's going to freaking change your life!
Ortho-K EyeDream lenses review

December Reading Wrap Up

December turned out to be a surprisingly good reading month for me. Considering I had so much going on, I was amazed to finish five books. Admittedly, three of them are tiny but that's not the point!
December book reviews

Sunday

2017 Goals (and 2016 Reviewed)

'Tis the season for an overwhelming amount of goal posts. (That's posts about goals, not the things you have at either end of a football pitch). I happen to thrive on setting goals and failing miserably so you better buckle yourselves in for a whole week of posts dedicated to the things I definitely won't achieve in 2017.
Blog Life Goals 2017

Top Outfits of 2016

In 2015, I really struggled to write my top outfits post for the simple reason that there were hardly any to choose from. In fact, there were four entire months where I didn't post a single OOTD. This past year, however, I've made a real effort to create more fashion content and I'm so happy to be back creating the sort of posts that I started with. It's also made it a hell of a lot easier to choose my favourites!

The first three months started much the same way as the previous year, with not a single post between them. I only posted four looks between September 2015 and April 2016- Seven months and only four outfit posts! After that, however, I had a renewed drive so let's pick up this post in April.

APRIL
Plus size embroidered folk dress
It was the magical Salzburg air that kickstarted my desire to create more fashion content. Everywhere was so pretty that I had no issues finding nice locations and this embroidered folk dress was perfect for running around the Alps!

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