June 2016 - Rachel Ellen

Monday 27 June 2016

The EU Referendum

So, the EU referendum. I was very to and fro about writing anything about this. By this point everybody must have talked about it and I'm sure many of you are bored of it but I wanted to put my own opinion in the mix. (everything is opinion, and everyone is entitled to their own, but I am very up for fair discussion)

Firstly, I will address those people upset about the claims to do with the NHS. 
1. If you believe anything Nigel Farage says, you deserve everything you get. 
2. If you believed a Tory government, who had one of their main policies to privatise many aspects of the NHS when you (as a country) voted them in, would put any more money (nevermind 350 million) into the NHS then you are a little bit silly, this only took a small amount of memory or research.
But I get it, you were hopeful.



 This could be argued that it is a suggestion rather than a campaign promise. Either way that video of Farage on the morning show is equally hilarious.

Secondly, if you followed a campaign by Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage.... why?

But anyway, you may not have voted that way because of the people involved. I have to say I really disagree with the lists of politicians and financy businessy people floating round to try and get you to vote remain. That is not a fair and reasonable argument, and actually, these rich highly educated people really aren't very relatable to the majority of the country.

You may have guessed already, I voted remain. I stand by that choice and I have to say I am very shocked with the result of the country's vote, however I don't mean to say this is definitely the wrong or right choice. My main concern was the uncertainty of the country in the event of leave, but now I guess I get to find out what happens!

But then am I shocked? The remain campaign was terrible in comparison to the leave campaign, I think the politicians who wanted remain never actually thought the country would vote out (judging by the shock on their faces). Now we have no prime minister, half a labour party and a lot of panic. The government should have made it very clear what would happen in the event of either result.

I have a little theory that the leave campaigners didn't actually want to leave (some anyway), the fact that Farage conceded before the count and the look on their faces after the result. It was a bit of a ramshackle campaign, full of lies and led by people with a questionable reputation. However the voting public looked at the reasons and felt this was the best decision for them. There is also the other theory that the main politicians all wanted to leave, which is why the remain campaign was barely executed.

My main concern now is how everybody is dealing with the whole thing. Yes everyone will talk about it, no that doesn't mean they "think they are a politician". Young people talking about politics and being interested is exactly what we want. This is one of the most interesting and important things to happen in a very long time. No, not every leave voter is a racist or xenophone, however many racists and xenophobes are using this result as an excuse to treat people in a disgusting manner, I'm truly embarrassed by the actions of many.

The result, being so marginally separated, it is understandable that many people would want a re-vote, and see if we can get a larger majority split. However these terms were not set before the voting, so therefore a re-vote happening is extremely unlikely, but of course stand up for what you believe - without calling people uneducated.

I for one am very intrigued with the future, this might be the best decision that has ever been made for the country, it is equally likely that this could be the worst. I am gutted that we may lose the free movement of people, I want to be able to live wherever I want to live very easily, but that is not the case.

Don't be afraid to be interested in politics, but don't act in ways that make anybody afraid, no matter where they come from. Let's see what the future holds for our tiny little island, now that we are all alone and less then one percent of the worlds population.

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx

 

Thursday 23 June 2016

What's In My Bag?
So I think I might be the last blogger in the whole world to do one of these posts and I've been thinking about it for ages! So today I will do a what's in my bag of my work bag. I've had this particular bag since November, so by now it's accumulated its fair share of odd bits and bobs. This is a totally honest what's in my bag, the only prepping I did was to remove the tissues as nobody wants to see them!

We'll start with the obvious, my purse which is of course always with me, just a pretty little River Island purse.


Next, again a necessity, my keys! Which at the moment only have my house key on, when I'm back at uni I'll have a couple more keys! I always love looking what keyrings people have, mine are:
- a bottle opener (it's rubbish, I can't explain how bad it is and it's sole and only purpose in life)
- a shopping trolly token
- a broken Eiffel Tower keyring, given to me by my uni housemate! Sorry it got broken :(
- a little Scotland keyring because I wanted to be the first to take my boyfriend to Scotland and he went with his friends instead! So he got me this!
- a Jack Daniels keyring given to me by somebody who plays at the golf club I used to work at, what a sweetie!
- and yes, that is a scooby that I made when I was about 9, it makes my keys so easy to find in my bag!


Next is the ridiculous number of lip products I keep in my bag, I don't have any other kind of make up in there! (well apart from that nail varnish, I don't even know why it's in there, it isn't usually!) I love having options for my lips, and if I need to go somewhere after work, a red lip instantly makes you more dressy!



And some essentials for the British weather! I know it's summer, but I get cold hands a lot!


 A few work essentials, I don't really have a place to put stuff like this at work as I don't have a permanent desk, so it just stays with me!


Medications, I feel like a walking first aid kit most days, well when I actually have paracetamol not just an empty packet.



My badge I need to get into the department, the little orange sticker on it means I've done my yearly hand washing training! 
I am one of the rare people that still carries an ipod, I don't have much internet in my phone contract and don't want to take up all the memory with music, so this little guy stays with me!
And a torch, something my mum insisted I have with me for safety, although my phone does the same thing, but it could run out of battery! 


 Last couple of things, anti-perspirant deodorant, I usually have a vaseline one as I think it smells so nice, but I couldn't find one so this will do! A snapped small hair elastic band, a whole one and a grip clip. On the right, there is a sweet wrapper, a couple of wage slips (you'd be surprised how useful they are!) A piece of paper with info for my uni reference that I don't need anymore, I told you I carry rubbish! And a couple of receipts, since the plastic bag charge I've found I have receipts everywhere! Just wait for my What's in my purse to see how many are in there!



 What things do you carry in your bag? What do you see as essential and what rubbish do you lug around with you?

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx

Monday 20 June 2016

Unpopular Opinions - Beauty
I always like seeing people post things like this, sometimes it's nice to find out that you're not the only person with a certain opinion!

Today I will write about things that I either see raved about in beauty blogging or just generally beauty related, I might just do other unpopular opinion posts about different topics if you all like them!

1. My first unpopular opinion is that I really don't like the see through plastic make up organisers. Firstly, they are just cheap plastic perpex, there are so many pretty small drawers out there, why these! Secondly I think they look messy, I want drawers to hide things that look like clutter. And as for the stand up lipstick ones, how on earth do you know which lipstick is which! And you can't put them upside down because most lipsticks don't have flat tops!


2. Make-up palettes, they are all the rage right now, there are palettes for everything! Eyeshadows of course they always have, but now all different kinds of makeup. My problem is that any palette I've ever had I pretty much use one or two shade and never look at them again. Below are a few of my own palettes, as you can see, some get used loads, most get totally neglected!


 How people spend £50 on things like that eg. the Alice in Wonderland palette below where, to me there are quite a few totally unuseable shades (green!). I'll stick to my individual products and smaller cheaper eye shadow palettes!


3. Mascara, yes mascara. Just in general, I think it's awful to wear. I naturally have quite long dark eyelashes (yes I am so glad), so I don't wear it unless I am going out somewhere (like on a night out, to an event, for a meal - something nice like that). I hate the heavy hard feeling on my lashes, and it's horrible to get off, well unless your eyes water then it's a jet black waterfall! Maybe I just need to poke myself in the eye to get it off?

4. Loreal true match foundation - a well talked about foundation in the beauty blogger world and a lot of bloggers really like it. Me and my mum both got it separately and bought the complete wrong shade, I got too dark, she got too light. It may have been us being stupid but maybe the colours aren't very clear? When I tried hers cos the colour was better suited I had the problem that it's super liquidy and highlights every crease, wrinkle and imperfection on my face (mum had the same problem) I should have known really, on the front it says "precisely matches skin colour and texture" Well the picture below says precisely, my bottle says perfectly? Anyway I'm pretty sure I want a foundation to do the opposite of that! 


5. I might get an onslaught of blogger type abuse for this but Mac Lipsticks, the most talked about little black lipsticks! Now don't get me wrong, I don't hate them and I've only tried a small few of them. I think the colour selection is incredible, but for £15 lipsticks they leave my lips in an absolute state (remember using that word in like primary school "staaaaate" ha!). I think the matte formula are the most drying thing ever, after splurging a bit on this Nars one and scrimping a bit on the NYX one mentioned in this post I'm really not a fan! They're both much more moisturising and creamy. And i definitely think there is much nicer lipstick packaging, sorry not sorry.


What do you think about these 5 things? Do you love or hate them? What are your beauty related unpopular opinions?

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx


Monday 6 June 2016

Details

Where I live, views like this aren't hard to come by (trust me though, I do still think it's amazing) but sometimes, we look so hard at the bigger picture, sometimes we miss the small details.

This is a reservoir near where I live that I have walked around SO many times in my lifetime, and yet I really looked at something for the first time the other day. This is going to sound crazy!


Pine trees, there are so many around this reservoir. All of a sudden I realised I had no idea how pine cones come about and was really curious about how they grew, cue lots of intense looking at the trees. I'm so glad nobody else was about!


So apparently, these little orange doodads are actually male pinecones that grow only up to 2 inches in length, they create the pollen that is released into the air. And the brown cone below that we're more used to is the female cone, which is used to protect the seeds as they develop (more info here if you'd like to be a pine cone expert)



I think what I'm trying to get at with this post is that we miss the details sometimes, the little things that are all around us, sometimes beauty isn't the big and obvious things.

But also, how cool are pine trees (about as cool as you Rachel)

 

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx

Thursday 2 June 2016

Wearing Shoes to Death

Have you ever worn a pair of shoes to death, like really really worn them until they're completely unwearable? Fashion bloggers might have already had a melt down at the picture above and the pictures to come!




The trainers in the picture above are how they started out (well after a couple of months of having them and looking after them!) They were instantly comfy and bound to be a long term part of my wardrobe!

About three years later and a LOT of wear they're in slightly worse condition...


I really struggle to find shoes that are comfy for me, even trainers are difficult. I feel like the only type of shoes my feet like are boots, even then I've had blisters and cuts from them! These have a cushioned back and are super soft and comfortable! I have never seen another person wearing them and haven't been able to find them on any website to replace them, it's like I have the only pair in existence (seriously if anyone else owns these let me know, I'll be fascinated. If you have them in a UK size 6.5 send them straight to me!)


 Yes the seams are completely coming away yet I still find reason to wear them occasionally! Definitely not in the rain though. For the moment they are my shoes for my driving lessons, they're light and comfy so perfect for driving!


I can't even explain this picture, why one foot appears to be about twice the width of the other, it isn't. But it clearly wants more space.

Have you ever worn a pair of shoes or a piece of clothing until they are in this state or worse? Let me know in the comments or share a picture of them with me on Twitter @_RachelEllen

Thanks for reading,

Rachel xx

@templatesyard