My Skincare Secret | Showing My Skin The Love It Deserves

Hello Everyone!

So as part of the Simple Skin Social campaign, I thought I'd share with you how I keep my skin healthy!

Image credit

Now we all know spots can be a right pain, and even when we take really good care of our skin, they can still pop up and  look like Yellowstone is about to irrupt off our chin! A lot of this can be down to Mother Nature paying us a visit (TMI?) or our hormones going awol, but it also has a lot to do with our lifestyle and the way we take care of our skin. So lads, this can apply to you too!

I don't really know if I can call these my skincare secrets, as I know a lot of people will do the same as I, but it's surprising how many people I know don't actually have a routine- and my skin feels a lot healthier because of it! However, todays post is about how lifestyle can affect your skin, maybe I'll do a follow up on my actual skincare routine if anyone's interested?!

If you saw my 12 Days of Christmas series, I mentioned that one of my resolutions for 2014 was to drink more water. And if you saw Zoella's most recent video Little Ways To Change Your Life, you'll see that I completely agree with her; drinking more water really does help your skin! It keeps you feeling hydrated and helps stopping your skin getting too dry. I saw a noticeable difference within the first couple of weeks.

I've never been a big fruit fan- give me a big plate of veggies over a bowl of strawberries any day! It's mainly to do with the textures of fruits (yes I realise I'm a little weird), but recently my parents bought a smoothie maker, so I've been having smoothie's everyday for breakfast and I honestly think it has really helped not only clear my skin, but give it a healthy glow... probably because I'm getting more vitamins and healthy sugars into my diet!

I came back from my holiday on Thursday, and I honestly think a week in the Greek sunshine has really helped my skin a lot. Whilst over there I had no spots, and any spots I did have disappeared straight away; it was like the sun was some kind of miracle worker! Obviously I'm aware that the sun can actually do an awful lot of damage, so I was wearing factor 50 on my face every day, but I believe the vitamin D from the sun, mixed with the vast amount of water I was drinking out there to keep hydrated really did wonders for my skin! So basically, just spend some time outside and get some fresh air. Not only will it help you clear your head, but it will help keep your skin clear and fresh too- as long as you don't burn!

Not that you can see my face that well, but loving life in the pool!

Spot free and (almost) make-up free, with a cocktail in a watermelon, what could be better?!

Another 'secret' that isn't really a secret of mine is to eliminate as much unnecessary stress from your life as possible! Obviously that was near impossible during exam season when I had my A-Levels to compete with which took a serious toll on my skin, but as soon as they were over I gave myself a few days to relax and do nothing. I'm pretty sure these few days consisted of hours of Netflix, a few countryside walks and not much else, and I'm very thankful for these!

©Alyce Burton Photography Back from a shoot mid-exam season at the beautiful Ingram Valley in Northumberland.

I hope this post has helped some of you see how you could alter your lifestyle ever so slightly to help your skin reap the benefits. It certainly helped me!

Cheerio x

Finishing School Forever and The Shine School Media Awards

Hello Everyone!

Yet again there has been a prolonged absence from me over the last few months, but when A-Levels call, a student's gotta do what a student's gotta do! However, after many many months of not having much of a life at all and revising up to 10 hours a day, exams are officially over and I'm finished school forever! (Hopefully).

After finishing my last exam on Thursday it was time to celebrate with our school leavers dinner, plenty drinks, and a lovely night with friends; what a way to end 15 long years of school, even though it didn't feel that long at all! Here's just a few of the photo's from the evening/night.

These last two years have been the hardest of my school career to date, but I can rest on the fact that I tried my absolute hardest, and I couldn't have possibly done any more. At times it got a bit too much and I lost my cool, but I've done my bit and now it's time to play the waiting game and enjoy my summer! I've quite a bit happening over this summer, which I can't wait to share with you... starting with a little something from Yesterday!

As some of you will know, I want to go into a career in journalism, and study it at uni. I'd been editor and co-editor of our school newspaper for the last two years, and for the second time we had reached the final of the UK Shine School Media Awards in London at The Stationer's Hall.

Being an editor and contributor for The Alnwickist, with help from the team at The Northumberland Gazette has taught me quite a lot about journalism, but I know University will teach me a lot more.

Back in January when news of Ex-EDL leader Tommy Robinson's visits to schools to speak about tolerance and non-extremism reached the national press, I found some national newspapers (which I will not name for obvious reasons) had taken a quote I had included in one of my articles for the December 2013 issue. Because one online newspaper took my quote, but didn't credit myself or The Alnwickist for it, other newspapers reported 'The ****** spoke to.. etc" and I got to see first hand what national journalism was like, which left me very intrigued.

Moving on from that and back to the point- haha! So yesterday, myself and the rest of the main editorial team made our way from good old North-Northumberland all the way to London- only my third time there! It was a very similar set up to last year, if you would like to read my blog post 'I ventured to London' about that click here.

We arrived at the stationer's hall and took part in a book binding workshop. Lets say us language and writing types aren't the best at logic! It was a lot harder than it sounds!

Then, after a light lunch it was time to take our seats for the awards ceremony to begin.

The awards ceremony was presented by Simon Heffer of the Daily Mail, formerly The Telegraph (I can't remember his full job title, sorry Simon!) and Suzy Cox, deputy editor of Cosmopolitan who has worked on other titles such as Mizz and Smash Hits ,a huge inspiration of mine. Awards were also given out by big names in the journalism and publishing world. Not only this, but Suzy spoke to about her career in journalism which I found so fascinating- especially her story about one member of Busted!

Out of the 200 schools that entered from across the UK, we were one of over 20 schools to be shortlisted for some of the awards up for grabs. We were shortlisted for Best Newspaper Cover, Best Design and Layout, Best Feature Article and Best Newspaper. Out of these four categories we were then recognised as highly commended for Best Cover and Best Newspaper, and although it wasn't an outright win, we were very pleased with ourselves as the competition was tough, dominated by magazines, and we didn't have the budget or the facilities other schools at the final had.

Going up for Best Newspaper. Image credit.

All in all it was still a worthwhile trip and we are very pleased with ourselves as again, it taught us just how competitive the journalism field is. Am I ready for that? I think so.

After the awards ceremony we were left to navigate London and the Underground ourselves, which for me, on a personal level was such an achievement- especially during rush hour! Maybe living in London wouldn't be too bad after all.

Stumbling across Trafalgar Square, again.

I would just like to thank the organisers of The Shine School Media Awards for the chance to  go to London, as without them I would've been sat at home probably watching Netflix! If you want to find out more about Shine, click here.

Cheerio x

Deck The Halls | Christmas Decorations

Hello everyone!

Last Sunday we decorated our house ready for Christmas, and I thought I'd share it with you.

Obviously, Christmas would not be complete without the mandatory Christmas jumper.

I decorated my room with a few little Christmassy things. I bought the little bird wearing a Santa hat last week, I couldn't resist it's sooooo cute! I've also been burning Firewood Fig and Winter scented candles so my room smells AMAZING!

Even the dogs helped out decorating the living room.

I love our wicker reindeer which stands just by the door. Our hallway looks so festive!

Hello slightly creepy decorations.

Scout doesn't look too happy with her new collar... oops!

This year we finally got a real tree and it smells SO GOOD! I like how minimalistic the decorations are this year.

The more I stare at the angels face, the scarier it gets. Why is her face so small in comparison to her head?!

I hope you enjoyed looking at some of my favourite Christmas decorations and it has you in the festive spirit.

Cheerio x