Lily's Diary Entry no.4: Prom

As Ella and I were in our last year at school this year, a part of the whole process of leaving included our school Prom. It was held at the East Sussex National Golf Club and it was quite fancy and big. I wore a green sequin bodycon maxi dress from ASOS and a pair of black heels, Ella wore a matching skirt and crop top with a floral pattern that was also from ASOS and heels that were a nude colour.

Here are some pictures of Ella and I with our friends. The photography was done by Edward Reeves Photography.

One problem with the night was that there didn't seem to be any air conditioning or anything so it was swelteringly hot, especially seeing as we were all so dressed up. To make this more annoying they were only letting 3 people outside at a time so there was a crowd of boiling teenagers gathered around the door begging to be let out all night. Overall it was pretty fun getting dressed up and saying goodbye to the people in our year.

Lily x

Lily's Diary Entry no.3: Don't forget your shoes

Ella and I really need to figure out some kind of schedule for when we each post, she is in Cologne for a dance competition at the moment though so I thought I would post today so the gap between posts isn't too big.

Our friend had a Hawaiian themed party on Friday that Ella must have been gutted to miss being in Germany (she is most in her element in any situation involving dress up, especially when floral shirts and flower garlands are an option). I wore a dress that my mum bought on her honeymoon in Hawaii and put on a flowery headband. It was great because everyone there had put in the effort to dress up so there were flowery things and colourful clothes everywhere.

The host of the party had another party last year that we went to, it was probably one of the more eventful ones because I ended up going to A&E (I think that's called the ER in America) with one of my friends. She had been in the garden with bare feet and stood on what she thought then to have been a thorn but was actually quite a big piece of glass, she went inside to the dance floor and started to dance, eventually someone noticed the trail of blood in to the room and it was discovered that she had a big cut on the bottom of her foot. Some people took her in to the bathroom and tried to help, they were all quite drunk though and when I came in they were discussing what kind of plaster they should put on the cut. At this point I was pretty sober so I decided to take charge and put something over the cut and apply pressure (basic first aid skills wahey), a girl at the party lived next door so we took her over there where the parents promptly put her whole foot in a bucket of Dettol (a doctor at the hospital later asked 'did they hate you?'). After some confusion the host of the party's parents came home and before I knew it I was in the back of the car off to A&E with my bleeding friend. 

When we got there we had to wait for quite a long time to be seen, but finally the doctor came and put 5 stitches (ouch) in my friend's foot. She was still pretty drunk and went a bit weird from cutting her foot, so my friend for some reason insisted on wearing her pair of glassed in the shape of beer glasses while she was being stitched up, the doctor wasn't amused.

All in all I would say that was a pretty exciting night, but it did prompt for me to officially say this time round that I would not be going to hospital with anyone, luckily it wasn't necessary as everyone was very conscious of having their shoes on and on the lookout for shards of glass.

Lily x

Lily's Diary Entry no.2: Goodbye maths papers

I did not realise it was the end of the month already I swear it was May like yesterday? This came as a bit of a shock to me as I was mindlessly ploughing through episode after episode of Call The Midwife (I've already watched all the episodes of Downton Abbey in a few days, not sure if that's impressive or weird and obsessive [definitely weird and obsessive]), I looked over at my phone and saw the date was already the 25th. This was one of those epiphany moments when I just thought to myself 'Lily, what are you doing with your life? You have practically not left your bed for a whole month, enough is enough. Get up and be productive!' But then I realised that getting up meant facing life and people so just like that my epiphany was over, it was a nice thought though.

Now when I say I haven't left my bed for a month I'm exaggerating a bit (only a little bit), one of the social things I have done was burning past papers and old workbooks with some friends. We all brought a stack of papers and books and between the four of us we had a pile almost a metre tall. We started by just throwing the paper in to the fire but as we all realised we would never have to do the subjects we hate ever again it got more ceremonial. Ella insisted on burning her things herself and cackled as her Spanish book and the little drawing of her English teacher that had obviously made her lessons well spent went up in flames. We slept outside in my friend's garden which was really nice apart from the morning when we all woke up with a nice dusting of paper ash coating everything, including us.

Here's a picture of Ella and our friend Nancy burning things.

I went to see my grandmother today, she lives a couple of hours away and I don't see her much so it was nice to go. She has lots of her funny ways, calling us up various times a day each time with a new observation or more likely complaint, the most memorable being the 'there are too many cornflakes in the packet' incident when we had to retrieve said cornflakes, and the 'there are no good apples at the co-op' time when we we unable to help. My grandma has lived in the same house for 50 years and I think it must be weird for her to have so many memories in one place, my granddad passed away in April so the house must feel so empty all by herself. I have decided I don't like the idea of ageing, its daunting, I don't think I need to be thinking about that yet at all but to me getting old feels like a terrifying concept. I'd quite like to stop ageing at about 20 if someone could arrange that please?!

Okay strange sort of rant type thing, but not really, over.

Lily x

Ella's Diary Entry no.2: I think I need dream analysis

I've just woken up, I'm slouching on the sofa with an episode of modern family playing in the background, still slightly disturbed by a dream I just had. A musical dream.

I'm not talking about a stage production, a real life musical where people just break into song like in the films. I may have just written the new smash hit.

So it started off with my family building a new house in a neighborhood full of our family friends, apparently we were rich because we had two buildings, one for living and one the had a ginormous pool. I only vaguely remember my mum joyfully slapping paint onto the walls whilst the neighborhood sang a rendition of 'bring the house down' by S Club 7. It was of course stereotypically sunny and everyone was wearing dancing shoes. But everything took a dark turn when we realised our new house was haunted, apparently by mysterious wood chips with the faces of deers etched into them?Things became serious when we found a dead deer in my parents bed. We had a meeting round our pool with our friends to discuss our action plan.It had a similar atmosphere to that scene in Les Miserables with the red and the black flags.

Suddenly all the men were dressed as robin hood and chanting a medieval song and ran out to the woods where a herd of deer started to attack, the swung from vines and stabbed the animals with knives made of bones and we all cheered, at which point my guinea pig shouted "WATCH OUT FOR THE MONKEYS". We all watched in horror as a herd, is it herd? of gorillas stampeded towards us and suddenly I was one of the men swinging from the vines. I could see a massive fight scene going on beneath me and everyone started to make an arena around the lead monkey, who was huge and hairy and had a sword and suddenly I had to give the deciding blow. I swung towards him and threw the knife, which promptly missed and someone else had to do it  for me (typical), but everyone cheered and broke into the finale, which was a dance number called "Thank god for all the wives"(don't ask, this came from the inner corners of my mind). This was sung by the men, still dressed in tight medieval trousers, whilst the wives danced in a circle looking very smug.

And all was well in the Russell household once more.

I'm still reeling so i'm going to go and make myself a cup of tea and sit in a darkened room for a while.

Ella x

Lily's Diary Entry no.1: Andrew Scott is basically my friend now

The last couple of months have pretty much been a flash of exams and failed revision attempts. After my final exam I expected it to feel different or freeing or something but it's pretty much the same for me, I didn't do a whole lot during the exam period and now will most likely continue not to do much for the 3 month holiday we now have. I could really use a job as motivation to do something and be productive, but as Ella pointed out in her post yesterday its a pain in the arse being some of the youngest in the year, so it still looks like getting up after noon every day is very much part of the plan for me, when I say part of the plan there isn't a plan and I have no idea what I'm going to do. Maybe I should have a plan.

It's kinda funny to think that the I probably won't see most of the people I have been at school with for the past 5 years again but I'm not sure how much I really mind, I reckon it will be a positive thing going to college and meeting some new people, anyway our year have this thing going on where no one talks to anyone outside their friendship groups (which made for a great last day when our whole year were together but awkwardly sheltering in little circles of comfort friends).

One of the good things about it being the end of school is that everyone is having more house parties, some of them have been pretty interesting, the peak of this being 'The Strypes guitarist guy incident' as it shall now be called, that Ella explained in her post. Apart from that its just nice to see some people before we all go off our separate ways and never see each other again.

YAY.

Things went so fast, it feels like only a week ago that I left the house, my little 11 year old self weighed down by my inevitably enormous bag as I went to my first day of secondary school. What the hell? I'm gonna need to start looking in to pension plans soon at this rate.

In London a couple of weeks ago I saw a play called 'Birdland' at The Royal Court Theatre, I think it ended a few weeks ago so I won't go in to recommending it or anything but it was very good, Andrew Scott was in the play (the actor who played Moriarty in the BBC's Sherlock) and afterwards he came outside and we met him which was really cool. The title of this post might be a bit of a lie... but I bet if we had 5 more minutes we would be best friends so whatever ok?!

On another note, I have discovered that the best way to eat chips is when you are almost too drunk to walk in a straight line but not quite. I was at a party and wasn't having a very good time, it was good and everything but I had just got myself a little bit uncomfortably drunk, in my obviously very sensible mind I decided that this would be a good time to walk home so I left, luckily my friend came with me so I wasn't completely on my own stumbling through town. On our way through the high street we stopped at this place to get chips, after we got them we found a nice quiet bench and I can honestly say they were the best chips of my life. There's something delicious about not fully being able to taste the chips, its just very good. After that it was a nice quite stroll home, the night had been saved by chips.

Lily x

Ella's Diary Entry no.1: Night with The Strypes?

15 is such a dead end age.

When one end (school) are telling me new doors were opening, numerous restaurants, cafes and shops are promptly slamming their doors in my face. “We don’t hire under 16’s”.

I just want to kick something cute and fluffy and strangle every 16 year old around. How am I meant to start my life when I can’t even get some measly job in a crappy sandwich bar? How am I meant to explore my personal style when I can’t buy any of my personal style? 15 is one of those limbo ages where you’ve come a long way but your still not quite there yet. Whoever came up with the logic of not letting someone who is halfway to 30 have a go at fending for themselves is a right twat if you ask me. I feel like my last year of school, my preparation for GCSE’s has all been a humungous anti-climax.

But. (Yes I have a but)

This was before I left school and got through the main body of my exams – only Jesus knows how. Leaving that tedious hole has put me in a different frame of mind, I would like a go at life please. Preferably whilst getting paid. I’ve bought myself a pair of gorgeous bright red patent brogues and taken my first step into my exciting new life (pun totally intended).

This didn’t go as smoothly as I’d thought, I stepped straight out of my last exam promptly into coming down with a manky cold, which did not agree with my fresh nose piercing (of course I was going to pierce my face, what else do you do when you leave school?). And a day later was whisked away on a family camping trip. Aren’t family such a burden? I can honestly say I have never been so numb for so long, so clap clap to the British weather, my faulty tent and my deflating airbed which made it necessary to sleep with a towel to soak up excess moisture.

Despite this minor hiccup I powered on, ending up at a house party with a load of people from our year.  It started out like the average party, then the lead guitarist from The Strypes walked in.

I mean how often do you end up at a house party with a member of a well-known band who are supporting the fucking Arctic Monkeys?

Not a lot methinks.

So obviously, being a fan of their music, I started internally fan-girling him (I literally detest the squealing girl act so my appearance was entirely cool, much like an aloof ice cube – it’s been typed I will not backspace what I just wrote) but did turn to my friends and excitedly announced that I planned to get with him. I mean wouldn’t that be great to tell the grandkids? I remember Lily, who was sitting there not giving a fuck, giving me her “you’re an idiot” look, before giving me a dismissive hand gesture as if there was nothing to be done and turned her attention elsewhere. Looking back she was in the right frame of mind. I moved over and started chatting with him, he seemed genuinely pleased to meet everyone and was easy to talk to.

 I was still totally up for plan A until he started choosing girls and taking them upstairs. Of course a lot of this goes on at parties, but 4 girls in an hour? All the boys started getting protective and asked him to leave when a couple of the girls claimed they found him quite forceful.  After a LOT of persuasion he went outside to wait for a cab and I remembered that I’d put my key in a friend’s bag that’d just left and ran back out to get it.

Now just to let you know in normal life I am probably the least confrontational person, but at the time I was stoned and had taken multiple trips down to the cellar where the house owners stored their alcohol (classy yes?).

So this Strypes guy, I think he was called Josh or something? Was getting very upset that a bunch of 16 year olds didn’t like him, he was particularly angry that the girls had been “chatting shit about him” and, being the only girl there he started directing his anger towards me.

Now this is the moment ladies and gentlemen, when we take off our hats and praise me, because I had my first ever argument and I had it with someone from THE STRYPES.  Holding my hands up, I said “Hang on” before launching into an angry paragraph about how, if he wanted to make friends he shouldn’t have got with all the girls and started arguments with all the guys. To top it all, I stormed off and slammed the door (side gate leading into the garden rather) behind me.

Good riddance.

The rest of the night went pretty smoothly I danced until 3am before needing to sleep and went upstairs where one of my friends made room for me. Now I surprised myself here because I’ve always dreaded the time when a relationship becomes serious enough for you to move in together. I thought I’d have to invest in an emperor sized bed with a sign saying “NO HEAT TRANSFERRAL ALLOWED”. But I was happily tucked under his arm and slept for a good hour before someone came round with a bloody megaphone. I did a little thumbs up to myself as that is one future worry resolved.  At around 6:30 someone started cooking sausages as I sat bleary eyed on the roof watching the sun come up. It was a little moment to reflect and I thought,

You idiot.

You still have two exams next week.

And as the reggae version of “live and let die” came on, I took my sausage and left.

Ella x

Starting Again

So after taking a break from blogging to do our GCSE's we both agreed that we wanted to change the style of our blog, after fearing it was slipping into a half hearted "beauty, fashion, life" layout. Not that blogs like these are bad - they are very interesting and useful when done well, but we just wanted something more personal ya know? 

So the plan is to change our blog into a diary, following our lives over our summer then as we start college. This is very experimental and we aren't 100% sure how its going to work, but once we start forming a routine it should come together.

Please feel free to give us feedback and advice on this new approach - it would be much appreciated.

Ella and Lily xox

Summer Wishlist

Seeing as it's finally getting a little warmer and sunnier I thought it might be appropriate to start looking for clothes other than thick sweaters and coats. I spent about 2 hours looking through websites before I remembered I meant to make a wishlist but here are a few things I found.

Lilac Basic High Waisted Bikini - Topshop

High-Waist Denim Mini Skirt - American Apparel

Seafolly Shimmer Lattice Black Swimsuit in Black - Urban Outfitters

Linear Lace Bralet - Topshop

Lily x

'The Sexy Lie We Have Been Telling Ourselves'

Sorry we haven't been posting much recently but I promise as soon as we can we'll get back to some sort of schedule and be good bloggers again. Anyway one of my friends shared this video on Facebook the other day and I thought I'd like to share it too, it's a talk about the sexual objectification of women which is a subject that that I think is particularly relevant at the moment (as it always should be). This is just a little post but have a watch of the video and as I said we'll try and be better on this blog as soon as we can.

Lily x

The worlds least interesting post

Welcome to the worlds least interesting post, I thought I'd just pop up from my bottomless pit of work and assure you all that yes, we are still alive. Sort of. I promise you all that we will be getting back into blogging asap, recently exams have just had to be top priority - as much as I love talking with all you crazy blogging peeps.

Does anyone else find that the seasons affect their moods? Over here in England we are just coming out of a miserable winter and since its been sunny I've been happier than I have in months (Even though I could only look at the sun through my window). I've always found that in winter I get pretty sad and fed up with everything but never to the extremes that I've experienced this time round. I simply cannot wait for the summer (3 months of glory bitchess), I'm actually finding it hard to concentrate on my GCSE's I'm so hyped (yup holidays to Cologne, Italy, Greece with lils and Reading festival with the freakin Arctic Monkeys). Oh lord. So there you go, I have officially wasted a minute of your time. I just felt sorry for our little March sub-heading with nothing underneath it, it's alright March now you can be special too.

Ella xo

Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore! At Somerset House

I was in London recently and decided to go over to Somerset House and have a look at the fashion exhibition celebrating the life of Isabella Blow, a magazine editor and patron of fashion. We weren't allowed to take photos of the exhibition so I will have to Google some pictures to show you all but it really was amazing. Blow's 30 year long career began when she worked as an assistant to Anna Wintour at US Vogue, when she returned to London she than worked at Tatler and then British Vogue before becoming the Fashion Director for Sunday Times Style then going back to Tatler as Fashion Director. 

The exhibition was absolutely full of extravagant clothes and hats, many made by Alexander McQueen who's talent was discovered by Blow and hat designer Philip Treacy. Blow is also known for discovering models such as Sophie Dahl and Stella Tennant. Blow's story actually has a very sad ending as she took her own life in 2007, it is so devastating that someone so passionate for creativity and who had so much influence over the fashion industry could be so depressed and unhappy. Isabella Blow will be remembered as someone who pushed the boundaries of convention and will be a key figure in the world of both international fashion and contemporary arts.

Lily x

BRIGHTON ROCKS

 Cheeky wrap faces x

Ella: 

Top - H&M, Skirt - Urban Outfitters, Tights - H&M, Boots - Clarks, Bag - Warehouse

Lily: 

Top - Urban outfitters, Dress - H&M, Boots - Dirty Harry Bag - ASOS but originally Oasis

xoxo

Impressing Boys: What Not to do

Did anyone else think Valentines day was on a saturday? No? Ok. So I realise now that this post is two days late but hey nothing like some early training for next year. I have sorted through all my embarrassing boy incidents to date down to three occasions, all during secondary school (I don't know what school that is in America). I'm pretty sure if you avoid these situations you will have multiple boyfriends by the end of the day.

Embarrassing situation No.1:

I was just casually walking to art, feeling the wind in my hair and all that jazz, when I spotted my crush walking a few meters behind with his friends. I think I momentarily became possessed because I had a little voice in my head shouting "do something! Go on impress him!". Uh oh. What the little voice didn't realise is that I am not the height of cool when it comes to impressing people. At my school there is a large rectangular square called the "quad" with all the buildings around it. There also happens to be a low brick wall running through the middle of it. Thinking of James Bond, I took a run up, planted a hand on the wall and attempted to do an impressive vault over the wall. I didn't quite work as I ended up putting my hand in bird poo, giving my crush a nice flash and landed on an unexpected bench. Red faced I then had to do the walk of shame all the way to art with him and his friends behind me. I'm still kicking myself to this day.

I just realised all these stories involve skirts.

Embarrassing situation No.2:

It was a beautiful summers day, me and some friends had decided to go down to one of the parks in town. There was loads of other people there including lots of older groups from our school. It was all going well until my friend started a grass fight with me (It happens) and ran away. No way was I going to let her win so off I sprinted. I was just catching up with her when I promptly put my foot in hole and landed in THE LAP of a fit boy with my skirt over my head. Ooch. I was in shock so it took me awhile to assemble myself before politely saying bye and legging it.

Embarrassing situation No.3:

Now this is a big'un.

So my school was designed with too narrow corridors, resulting in what we call 'crushes' which basically means loads of people crammed in a space trying to go in a different direction. It can be quite scary sometimes and people do get hurt, so you do not want to get in a situation during one. Ha.

So I had found myself in the middle of a crush and was painfully pushing my way through the crowds when I started getting dragged the other way. I immediately turned around shouting "HEY" but to my horror saw that my skirt had become attached to the zip on this boys bag. I desperately tried to free myself but my skirt just got more stuck and there was no room to sort it out. It was too loud to get the boys attention and his bag had started to pull my skirt down, I was majorly panicking when he suddenly dived through the crowd causing my skirt to fall down to just above my knees. I clawed at his arm and shouted "I'M ATTACHED TO YOU" as loudly as I could before realising his movement had got us safely outside and I was standing in the middle of the quad with my skirt around my knees clutching and shouting at this poor boy. There was lots of giggling as other students stared at me trying to unhook my skirt and I have never looked the boy in the eyes since.

So there you are, feel privileged that I have shared my most embarrassing moments with you. Smaller incidents include unexpected violence and frog impressions but that's for another day.

I would also like to give a mention to Kathryne from confessionsofanessexgirl who we did a valentines box swap with and she gave us some lovely things! 

Ella x

Button Bracelets

 Well lordy lord would you look at that, its been like three weeks since we last blogged....it feels like years, I've been cooped up at home going mad with revision and a strictly no-blogging-until-finished rule. Ew. Well amigos since half term is well on its way I can assure you we will be back to business.

So today is literally the easiest, cutest, cheapest little DIY accessory in the world, it's brill to add as a little extra to birthday presents and retro outfits (I recently made one up of little vintage buttons of varying neutral colours to slip into a friends birthday card). 

All you will need is some thin elastic and some buttons. Elastic is around 50p a meter and buttons are like 10p each so you could easily make this for £2 or less! I know in the picture mine is threaded with a ribbon but I used a big ass needle to do it so if you don't own any sewing equipment stick to elastic. I think it's pretty self-explanatory where I threaded the ribbon ...but for the unobservant out there, put the ribbon through the holes.

And there you go, tie it off and your on your way!

Hope this just gives a little inspiration for any future gifts and since we've just hit 300 followers I will do a special Ella edition of "Impressing boys: what not to do" for valentines day.

Ella x

Never Underestimate a Charity Shop

 Hey guys! So the other day I was wandering through town and spotted this little gem of a coat in a local charity shop. Just in case you didn't know a charity shop is the English version of a thrift shop. I think? (Please don't eat me if I'm wrong). ANYWAY so I got the 'I must have it' vibes and charged into the shop, came out all happy and warm inside because I had just bought a proper coat for £3.99. Brill.

Now I don't know about you guys but I love it. I personally think it is a similar cut to some of the Topshop coats this year? Though the material isn't as good quality I think the colour pretty spot on for the current pale coat trend. It could equally be perceived as blue or grey, but today I decided to go for blue so paired a dark grey jumper underneath to bring out the colour. Seriously people, never underestimate a charity shop.

 I would also just like to mention that me and lils are going to be making more of an effort with our photography from now on, we both have the equipment to produce some nice photos and I think it really adds to a blog. What with work and exams (intelligent time to start a blog) we just haven't really thought about it.

Don't forget to check out my 'Ellas Gallery' page! 

Ella x

Umbrella Problems 

REVISING

Exams can be a pain, and it can be so stressful to prepare for them if you aren't sure how. I have some exams coming up soon that I need to revise for, really I should be doing that right now but instead I'm writing a post about how to revise.. there's procrastination for you I guess, this is a case of do as I say not as I do. I've googled around a bit and used some of my own advise to come up with some top tips on how to revise:

1) Make Notes

Hopefully you will have notes from class, but if not make sure you go to someone in your class or look up the subject online so you can take notes and get an understanding of what you have to learn. It's really helpful to have these notes in your own words as this can be so much easier to remember.

2) Timetable

A great idea is to set aside certain hours of the day for your revision, this will make sure that you will have as much time as you need and will keep you organised. Remember to stick to it though, otherwise there would be no point. Also, people can generally only concentrate for about 40 minutes at a time so give yourself breaks every so often so your brain can rest.

3) Start Early

There is nothing worse than sitting down the night before a big exam and trying to cram all the information you need in a few hours, this just won't work. Start to revise at least a couple of weeks before the exam so that you don't get that horrible last minute panic. Going in to an exam feeling prepared and calm is ideal.

4) Find Somewhere Quiet

This one really is self explanatory, but make sure your workspace is clear from distractions, this could be loud noises or clutter. Also turn your phone off because if it goes off every 5 minutes you'll never get anything done!

5) Videos

Sometimes if you don't quite understand a topic it can be useful to find videos online explaining all you need to know, I am revising for GCSE science at the moment and if any others are I would highly recommend checking out My GCSE Science on YouTube ( http://www.youtube.com/user/myGCSEscience ) I find this so useful for watching and taking notes down at the same time it really helps me revise.

I hope this has been helpful and if anyone has any ways of revising that work great for them I'd love to know! Good luck!

Lily x

Oh Leo

 I've just spent a whole afternoon in a sad little mood and it's all Leo's fault. I found myself scrolling through young photos of him (don't get me wrong he's still very good looking for his age) and just thinking how unfair it is that I will probably never get to meet someone so lush. Young Leo is gone and though age difference in relationships doesn't really bother me, 24 years may be a stretch....

I just comfort myself by watching his films (I highly recommend Shutter Island) and eating various biscuit and cake combos.

Oh Leo 

P.S I have created an 'Ellas Gallery' page full of my latest art + textiles work, I'd be so grateful if you checked it out!

Ella x

Wonder Shoes: SILVER

I found these shoes one day browsing the American Apparel website and I knew I needed to have them, immediately. They cost like £80 but can you really put a price on love? No didn't think so. I have very little practical use for these shoes but I wear them to parties and around the house when I want to feel taller than other people. I love silver things and these shoes are just beautiful, if you team them up with a silvery outfit it's like you are from the future (I don't know just go with it).  So yeah these shoes are basically the best thing ever so far.

Lily x

How To Keep Your Hair In Good Condition

Keeping your hair in good condition is such a popular topic among, well, everyone. No one wants to be walking around with split ends up to their ears, myself included. Since I have long hair, which is unfortunately prone to split ends I have over the years gathered tips on how to keep your hair healthy. Here's a list of everything you need to know:

1. Getting a regular trim - the simplest thing you can do, to me this used to mean going to the hair dressers once a year but THIS IS NOT ENOUGH, ideally you should being getting a trim once every two months.
2. Heat protection - It's obvious I know but this is a crucial step if you feel you have to use heat on your hair, you can get loads of heat protect products for really good prices, I will recommend down below.
3. DON'T BRUSH YOUR HAIR WHEN IT'S WET - You know that ripping sound when you drag the brush through your matted locks? Well that's your hair. Either wait until your hair is dry or very gently pull through with a comb.
4. Condition, Condition, Condition - It's not a good idea to be shampooing everyday. Shampoo strips your hair of natural oils and using it too often can lead to dry and greasy locks, but this doesn't apply to conditioner. It is called 'conditioner' after all, using it daily will actually do your hair good and keep it soft and shiny, especially for those with chemically coloured hair and those who use heat regularly. If you are a busy bee and do not have time to condition all the time then deep conditioning your hair every week should have a similar effect. Please note if you keep your hair natural you may already have naturally conditioned hair, so do not need to use every day and should only focus on conditioning from the mid - ends of your hair. 
5. Read ingredients - Unfortunately a lot of the big brands use very harsh chemicals in their products. The one to look out for is sodium laureth sulphate, which is extremely damaging, even herbal essences include this in there products! If you have dry hair the answer could be as simple as switching shampoo, go natural dude.
6. Argon Oil - I cannot tell you how totally AMAZING this product is! Its amazing for hair, skin, everything and will feature in my 'how to keep your skin in good condition' post in a couple of weeks. It's 100% natural and can be used as a daily moisturizer, a deep conditioner, a heat protectant AND it softens hair,adds shine and helps thicker hair growth by strengthening your strands. Omigosh.
7. Don't wash your hair with really hot water - Remember your hair is delicate, hot temperatures can damage, dry and in some cases encourage sebum production on the scalp and sebum=grease. Try showering in cooler temperatures, especially if you have frizz-prone hair.
8. Massage your scalp - Now this is an easy one, always massage your scalp for 30 seconds before washing, this stimulates the scalp, promoting hair growth and helps lift buildup ready to be washed away.
9. Putting a myth to bed - There is lots of debate about switching products regularly because they stop working on your hair, THIS ISN'T TRUE. If you see any affect at all it isn't the products changing, it's your hair! seasons, weather and environment all affect your hair and you need a change of routine (e.g moisturizing hair mask in the winter) not products!
10. Lather, Rinse, Don't repeat - You may have noticed that a lot of instructions on shampoo and conditioner bottles say something along the lines of "Lather, Rinse, Repeat", don't listen. This is unfortunately just a way for the companies to get you to use more of the product, have to repurchase more quickly and gain more profit. Soaking your hair in chemicals twice is not the way to go.

Phew, so there you go, that took A LOT of research and now I'm in need of a cake or two. I hope this helps with hair struggles and I will link some of my fav products below. Please remember I am not a hair expert and so if you happen to know some of this advice is wrong please let me know! I would also like to know any products you use/any steps I may have missed out. Let me know!!

Ella x

Argon oil:

http://www.arganoil.uk.com/

http://www.superdrug.com/proclere/hair-xpertise-argan-oil-100ml/invt/278670&bklist=#readReview

Heat protectant:

Argon oil

http://www.superdrug.com/tresemme/tresemme-heat-defence-serum-30ml/invt/404450&bklist= 

Shampoo and conditioner:

http://www.greenpeople.co.uk/aloe-vera-shampoo-200ml.aspx 

http://www.greenpeople.co.uk/aloe-vera-conditioner-200ml.aspx

http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk/bath-body-care/haircare/rainforest-shine-shampoo.aspx

http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk/bath-body-care/haircare/rainforest-shine-conditioner.aspx

Deep conditioner/ hair masks:

http://www.superdrug.com/herbal-essences/herbal-essences-beautiful-ends-intensive-mask-200ml/invt/200088 

http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk/bath-body-care/haircare/rainforest-radiance-hair-butter.aspx 

http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk/bath-body-care/haircare/rainforest-moisture-hair-butter.aspx 

Chokers: A little obsession

Hey Guys! yes that was plural, because there are now nearly 60 of you! Me and Lils are getting into a routine of definitely blogging on Thursdays and Sundays so for the few of you who like to read all our posts there will be updates at least twice a week. Todays post is going to be a quick one because I have to go and write a 2000 word essay on Romeo and Juliet, which I have expertly left until the last minute.

So recently I've been getting a little obsessed with chokers, I say a little because I only own three, due to financial reasons (I'm broke) but that doesn't stop me window shopping to my hearts content. I think I love them so much because of the way they can be nicely understated, just a finishing touch to an outfit, some people just go overboard with jewellery and wear rows of diamonds to there knees (though that does actually sound pretty cool). I should point out that if you have a small neck then its best to avoid chokers as they will cut it off even more.

Two of my chokers, the white flower and the black tattoo choker, were purchased from Amazon for like £2. Seriously check it out, and my amethyst one was a gift from a friend years ago. It was just a stroke of luck that my six year old friend managed to pick out something so lovely and now it has huge sentimental value. 

I should also point out that I don't where them all together, though sometimes I will wear a choker and a longer plain silver chain which is nice and casual.

Ella x

My Favourite Books

I first started to love reading when I was pretty young and I used to read loads of books all the time, as I have gotten older I've found less time to read but I still love sitting down to a good read when I can. Here's a few of my favourite books (I'm not very good at summarising books so I'll be using the help of the WHSmith website):

1) Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

I looked on the WHSmith website for a summary of Birdsong and it said:

' Set before and during the great war, Birdsong captures the drama of that era on both a national and personal scale. It is the story of Stephen, a young Englishman, who arrives in Amiens in 1910. Over the course of the novel he suffers a series of traumatic experiences, from the clandestine love affair that tears apart the family with whom he lives, to the unprecedented experiences of the war itself.'

Birdsong is a book I read a couple of years ago and fell in love with it, it is really interesting to read and although it is quite long it doesn't ever get boring. I would recommend it to anyone looking for something not too light to read.

2) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon

I think The Curious Incident is a fantastic book, I had a look on the WHSmith website and this is what it said:

'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a murder mystery novel like no other. The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger's Syndrome. He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbour's dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down.'

I think that is a pretty good summary of this book, it is a really interesting read that I would really recommend. 

3) Room by Emma Donoghue 

I read Room for the first time last summer while I was in Croatia and I couldn't put it down, the WHSmith website says:

'Jack is five. He lives with his Ma. They live in a single, locked room. They don't have the key. Jack and Ma are prisoners.'

It is a bit of a heavier read but it is not really written in a heavy way as it is from the point of view of a five year old.  And similarly to the other books I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Lily x

Leibster Award

This week we were kindly nominated for the Leibster Award by Taylor at /http://lipsticksandlavender.blogspot.co.uk/. To write this post Lily is going to write in this colour and Ella will write in this colour.


These are the rules:
1. You must link back the person who nominated you.
2. You must answer the 11 questions chosen by the person who nominated you. 
3. You have to pick 11 people to nominate with under 200 followers.
4. You can't nominate the person who nominated you.
5. You must tell the nominees they have been nominated.

The questions we were given:

What made you want to start a blog?
Just reading other blogs made me think it was a cool idea, then when Ella suggested the idea it seemed like a good opportunity.
I really liked the idea of having a personal space on the internet, we haven't been going for long but I already love it!
Your best childhood memory?
Going to my grandparents house in Florida for Christmas with the whole family.
Um this is going to sound weird but probably going to the airport with my family, I love the whole airport experience
The last song you listened to?
Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secured - Arctic Monkeys
The tide is high - Atomic Kittens (I'm not even ashamed)
A secret that not many people know?
I lived in America and had an American accent until I was 4.
I have a scar on my bum from when I folded myself in a camping table
Your favourite time of the day?
LUNCH TIME
LUNCH TIME
What hobbies do you have?
I don't really have anything at the moment, but I love to read.
I dance a lot, sewing, set painting for theatres and yeah I am a serious bookworm
Your favourite lunchtime meal?
Chicken Ceaser Salad
ooo healthy ^ I like Lasagne
A fear you have?
Needles.
People running up the stairs behind me seriously stresses me out + spiders
What was your favourite holiday?
When I went skiing with my family in Slovenia when I was younger.
Visiting friends in the south of France
Who was the last person you texted?
Ella.
Lily.
Your current favourite movie?
Atonement
Frozen 

Questions we have chosen:
1) Who is your favourite celebrity?
2) If you were stuck in a jungle would you prefer to be with David Attenborough or Jude Law?
3) Favourite song?
4) Favourite T.V show?
5) If you could have a super power what would it be?
6) If you had to chose only one make up product to use for the rest of your life what would it be and why?
7) Who is your biggest influence?
8) Favourite colour?
9) Favourite book?
10) Coke or Pepsi?
11) Why did you start your blog?

The blogs we have chosen:

pinaforesandpies.blogspot.co.uk
lovehellogorgeous.blogspot.com
infatuation-is-a-fantasy.blogspot.co.uk
redlips-catflicks.blogspot.co.uk
xxcharlou.blogspot.com
ablogbyaliceolivia.blogspot.co.nz
emsbeauty17.blogspot.co.uk
wildlovestyle.blogspot.com
thedarlingdreamer.com
vanilla-n-mint.blogspot.sg
lucyhannahxo.blogspot.co.uk