New Years 🗓🎊

I’m back with the blog posts again after taking a little break over the Christmas period ☃️🎅🏼🎄
It’s dead cliché to say “new year new me” and like “new chapter begins now” every new year, and not gonna lie it makes me cringe😬. But in some ways its true, using a new year is probably the best time to start a fresh and in a way ‘re evaluate’ yourself.

Setting myself goals for 2017 is something that I really want to do, and I feel like having these goals will help push me further to success. I know that sounds SOOOO heavy and deep but literally, it’s true. This year is a really big year for me; I am turning 18 (WOHOO🎉), I have my driving test and I also have the big decision of University or an Apprenticeship (I’ve already ranted about this in a previous blog post here). This year could possibly decide the rest of my life, sounds pretty scary but its also quite exciting I think.

I saw this post on Facebook the other day, and I don’t usually believe in like all the Horoscope sort of stuff, but literally each one of these new years resolutions for me are actually true 😂😂 (I’m a Gemini btw).

-“spend less time on social media”

Well this one is very true for me; I do love social media. I love to be up to date, but some times I like to be too up to date and I think in the new year, I need to spend a little less time in the social media world 👩🏽‍💻 (hmmm 🤔😂).
-“judge people less”

I like to think that I’m not one to judge, but lets be honest we all do from time to time. 2017 is defiantly a year as to which everyone should feel accepted no matter who you are and acceptance should be an all round thing, and don’t judge a book by its cover 📚.
-“don’t spend so much money” 

Oh my god this one is so true for me😂😭!!! I spend money as soon as I get it, and I really want to save up for so many things this year, so really setting goals for myself in terms of spending will really help me stop spending like crazy 🤑🤑🤑.
-“get more sleep”

I constantly say that I’m tired, like ALLL the time. Sleep is so important as well, and I feel like this year I feel like I really need to get some sleep 😴.
-“reach out to an old friend”

This one is so relevant at the moment!! I’ve been reaching out to quite a few old friends recently and rekindling our relationships which is so cute!! 👯👭❤
-“drink more tea”

I love tea anyways and iced tea is my favourite drink, so this new years resolution shouldn’t be too hard to keep up with ☕️.
So yeah I’m really hoping this year is going to be a lot better than 2016, I have lots of cool things already planned for 2017 so hopefully it will be fab😝!!
See you in my next post,
Scarlett x

Picking Your Self Up ✌🏼️😋

This links to one of my blog posts the from the other day, you can read it here.
I’ve been feeling extremely stressed lately, as to which has resulted me in feeling a lot more down than I usually do😖. Where has all this stress stemmed from? School? Working? No. It’s actually stemmed from me putting pressure on myself.
You’re probably thinking, well why don’t you just stop putting pressure on yourself then🙄? I honestly wish it was that easy. I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely one of those people who strives to succeed in whatever I do, and whenever I fall behind slightly in something (not just school) I feel like a failure. And that’s where I then start to put pressure on myself; fuelling my mind with negative thoughts that continually stress me out and this then leads to me panicking, badly. 
If you’re like me, then you’ll completely understand, however if you aren’t it’s okay, it’s just slightly harder for you to understand the way my mind works, but that’s cool because your mind will work in a way that I won’t understand because we are all different. Some things work for some people and not for others, but that’s OKAY, because we can’t all be the same, and to be fair, the world would be a pretty boring place if we were all the same. 
Therefore we each have something that helps us deal with stress and allows us to take a minute to actually just chill. However, we may not know what that is yet. I think one of the most important things to realise is that not everything has to be perfect, because that’s not humanly possible. Allowing yourself to make a few mistakes will only aid your future successes, as you will learn what works and what doesn’t.
The past few weeks I have certainly been bottling a lot of emotion caused by things that I won’t got into detail about, but this really is not the best way to deal with your situation. Expressing emotion as soon as you feel it rather than waiting till the peak of it really helps to off load and get to the nitty gritty cause of it. You can then resolve your problem in a way that suits you personally, and then therefore help you get on your track to success in which ever way you interpret it. 
I found for me, making lists really helps. Listing what needs to be done and when really helps with organisation of not only your work, but you’re thoughts and mindset too. That might sound really weird, like how can you organise your mind? But think about it, how can you even begin to organise your work load with an unorganised mind of thoughts?
Something also that you really need is something that you know you enjoy that will take your mind off whatever you’re stressing about. Whether that’s reading, writing, spending time with your friends, boyfriend, girlfriend etc etc, WHATEVER it is if it makes you happy, that’s all that matters.
I hope this weeks post helps people to realise that stress does not last forever, and there is always a way to come out on the other side by picking yourself up and making you feel better again.
See you next Tuesday,
Scarlett x

Clothes Show Live 2016 👗✨

This is my 4th year going to the clothes show, but this year was the best one by far (despite my little incident occurred which I’ll explain later 😂).
If you don’t know what the Clothes Show is, it’s basically Britain’s biggest fashion event that’s hosted at the NEC in Birmingham. It’s filled with stores and pop up shops, varying from hair and beauty, to fashion and accessories, including some well known brands such as Barry M and BooTea, and also some really cute vintage shops. On top of all that, there is also a really cool fashion show, which consists of several trends for the upcoming seasons. Many reality TV stars and Youtubers also make an appearance too.
Personally, this year I felt as though the shops were not as good as they have been in previous years, and it did take me ages to actually find something I wanted to purchase. However, I did find a stall which I really like – Nanshy Brushes. Nanshy is a makeup brand that I have actually never heard of before, but their brushes are SOOOOOO soft and they’re cruelty free and 100% vegan which is brill! I only purhcased 1, however this was soley down to the fact that I had never tried the brand so I didn’t know what the quality would be like, however I will definitely be purchasing from them again!! 😋

Moving onto the fashion show – I had such a cool seat, I was facing the middle of the stage at the back so I had a really good view of the fashion show as a whole. I also felt that this year the theme had been very much inspired by the fashion show in the film The Neon Demon; the catwalk was filled with blue lights and was shaped like a triangle.

(Clothes show VS. The Neon Demon)

Overall the show was really really cool – I’ll leave some pictures here. ​

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And now for my incident – whilst I was at one of the coffee stands at the clothes show, I ordered a mint tea. I took the lid off the cup to let it cool, and as I went to test the temperature it slipped out of my hands and spilled all down myself! To make matters worse, I had ripped jeans on so the water went all over my bare legs!! My skin started pealing straight away, so I spent the last hour of the trip in the A&E room! So at the moment, my legs are all wounded and incredibly sore – note to self ~ be more careful around hot liquids 🙃
See you next Tuesday,

Scarlett x

Time To Nip It In The Bud 👊👋

Just to let you all know, I’m so nervous to be posting and sharing this😬😬😬😬!!

I promised myself that this is something I would never write about, but it’s something that’s been really bugging me lately and I feel like if I write about it I will feel some sense of relief? (If that makes sense)
In my opinion, it seems within society today claiming you have anxiety or depression is ‘trendy’ and in some sickening sense ‘cool’. 

As a matter of fact, it’s really NOT cool and is NOT trendy. 

Speaking from first hand experience, depression is something that really does engulf you and take over your life. It almost feels like you’re trapped in this black hole; so far down that you can’t get out. This metaphor represents the sadness that you feel, and how you feel like there is totally no way to escape it. Now someone please tell me, how is that cool? How is it cool to feel like you live in this bottomless pit of nothing? 
Yes, I know what most of you are thinking: “urgh what an emo”. This brings me onto my next point; you are most definitely NOT an emo if you feel depressed. If you know me, you will know that I’m quite far from an emo (although I do wear a lot of black), I love pinks and other bright colours. People have the association that if you are depressed you are one of those stereotypical emo’s, when in actual fact, that’s not true. Think about the diverse amount of people within society today; I sometimes think to myself, how can there be any stereotypes when there is a vast array of different individuals within society? Next time you see a stranger, or even one of your friends, look at them and maybe just take into consideration that they may be suffering with a mental illness too.
Mental illness. It sounds awful doesn’t it? It sounds like you should be locked up in an asylum or handcuffed to a stretcher. However, in fact, we are actually just struggling with an aspect of our lives, as to which we are not emotionally and mentally stable. I feel like the stereotype associated with ‘mental illness’ is where people think we’re crazy, when in actual fact we are normal, we are just struggling with something – surely that can’t make you crazy, we’re all human, right?

Anxiety is really becoming a ‘trend’ at the moment, and it honestly makes me sick. Having anxiety is where you find certain daily tasks a struggle, such as paying for something in a shop to even going to school. Anxiety is something I have battled with since I was young, and even today it still hits me very hard and it is a struggle to cope with. You are constantly feeling paranoid and being extremely cautious about your actions, and also the repercussions of your actions, as to which this stops you from doing easy tasks. It’s sad to think that society has turned this term into a trend, and that by saying ‘I have anxiety’ is considered cool and might even get you some extra brownie points (pft🙄). I even feel afraid to tell people that I suffer from anxiety or that I had a panic attack, because I feel like they won’t believe me because those terms are thrown around and used way too loosely.

Battling with both anxiety and depression is extremely hard; some days it’s easy, and some days it’s tough. Remembering that it truly cannot be this way forever, and that ‘only myself can really define who I become’ helps me immensely get over certain periods where I feel like nothing.

I felt like this matter needed to be addressed and nipped in the bud, as it is something close to home which truly affects many people everyday.

See you next Tuesday,
Scarlett x

Negative Capability 🌹🍂🌷

I first found out what negative capability was last year in my year 12 English Literature lesson, when we were studying John Keats’ poetry, but I actually only fully understood what it was recently.
I learnt the term in English, and it basically means appreciating something for what it is, rather than looking  too much into the reasoning for it. For example, rather than looking at a tree and thinking ‘why do the leaves change colour in the autumn? How do they change colour?’ etc etc, just looking at it and thinking ‘those autumnal leaves look really lovely”. It basically means that appreciating beauty is something that is pretty fundamental for a foundation of positivity.

I feel like this links to my previous blog post (here) about how this is a stressful time of year, and I feel that it is important to take a step back and actually appreciate the beauty of things around you, rather than just be absorbed in the stress of school and/or work. I believe that this is the reason I have just come to terms with the true meaning of Negative Capability; taking time out to appreciate the beauty of things really helps when trying to de stress. For example, going on a walk somewhere nearby and just appreciating the lovely bits of nature around you will actually help take your mind of things for a while.

Expressing creativity is another way of portraying negative capability, and just showing who you are through what ever you love or see as ‘beautiful’. Two of my lovely friends do this in both very different ways, one of my closest friends Grace has a blog (here), and she writes in such a lovely and down to earth way, which expresses her sense of creativity. And on the other hand, my lovely friend Lois expresses her creativity through what she wears and her makeup with some of the coolest looks; she does tutorials which are linked here. 
I felt like this post was just a little remind to destress and take some time out to appreciate the beauty in things 💞
See you next Tuesday,
Scarlett x

Something To Think About..🤔💭

This time of year…
This time of year is usually my favourite, with Halloween, Bonfire night and Christmas and all the festivities; it’s a very exciting time of year. However, I feel like right now there is a constant reminder that “This time of year is CRUCIAL” and the “Most important time of year”. In fact, I feel like since September this year I have been reminded that this is the “most important year of my life, as your A-Levels decide your future.” 
Having this constant reminder of how ‘important’ this year is puts a crazy amount of pressure on us as A-Level students, despite the work load. Obviously I understand that working hard is pretty crucial, and getting good grades IS important, but are they the only things that really dictate our future? Its crazy to think that we are pressured to the point where we feel like getting a grade B isn’t adequate, and only A’s and A*’s are worth anything, when in actual fact its not; getting a B at A-Level is amazing and something you should be proud of, and not ashamed of. We’re made to think that those 3 grades that we get on a piece of paper in August are the only things that will open up doors to success.
This brings me onto the pressure put on us about going to University. At the end of year 11, I had my heart set on attending University in London to study Fashion Journalism, and I knew that’s exactly what I need to study if I wanted to become the Chief Editor of Vogue one day which I did at the time (yeah I know..talk about aiming high😂). Back then, that was my dream job and it was 100% what I wanted to do, so on results day I chose the appropriate A-Levels: Media Studies, English Literature, Textiles and Psychology (I know psychology isn’t as relevant, but I took it purely because I enjoyed it). Throughout the course of year 12, my dreams changed. I dropped psychology as I figured it really wasn’t for me, and as it wasn’t relevant for my uni course it wasn’t a major issue dropping it early on. I then thought about the idea and concept of actually moving to London, and after thinking long and hard about it I felt like this really wasn’t for me, and I knew I wanted to stay living in Manchester. Another thing that also changed was the course I wanted to do; I then wanted to do Fashion Promotion and Marketing. Throughout year 12 up until the summer holidays this is what I wanted to do, Textiles and Media were my favourite subjects, so why not combine the two? But again as you can probably guessed, my dream job shifted. I felt like I excelled more in media that in textiles, and I really did love media, and I still do today. Its something I’m heavily passionate about doing, so now I have moved on to wanting a career in Marketing. I have made a firm decision about this matter now, and this is what I have applied to do at university, however now again I am unsure about what I wanted to do, but the decision this time is university or an apprenticeship? And to be honest, I think doing an apprenticeship would be best for my career path. 
Many people approve, and many people don’t due to my target grades A*,A,A. I’m not trying to brag or anything by stating those grades and to be honest I’m pretty proud of myself, but this just makes people presume I’m going to university, and they disapprove when I say I want to do an apprenticeship, which actually shows they don’t really understand the concept of what an apprenticeship is. But for me, I’m thinking, well if I know what I want to do, why don’t I just go out there and do it?
I think the moral of this post is the fact that there are more options out there than just university, and I believe that dreams and aspirations are just as important as what grades you get. And the fact that it isn’t all about your grades!! You decide your future and how it turns out, not a piece of paper with 3 letters on it. 
Find something that drives you and helps you work harder to your end goal, whether thats money, fame, making a difference, changing somebody’s life or WHATEVER, if that helps you get where you want to don’t let anybody put you down.
This post was a lot longer that I expected, and sort of turned into a slight rant, but I feel like its important to discuss matters like this 😬. 
See you next Tuesday,

Scarlett x

Body Confidence 👙✨💖

Body confidence is something that has been affecting women of all ages for many years, but I feel like at this moment in time its something that keeps popping up on my social media a lot, so I thought maybe I should discuss it.
The image of the ‘perfect woman’ has changed drastically over the past few years, and how men AND women visualise what the perfect body should be changes all the time, putting an increasing amount of pressure on women to look at certain way. The pressure starts from a young age, and I know especially from around the age of 12ish is when girls begin to feel uncomfortable in their own skin, and they begin to understand the aspects of body shaming. 

So what is body shaming? Its making people feel extremely uncomfortable about who they are and what their body looks like, and I personally feel that this is in no circumstances acceptable. Girls are made to feel ‘too fat’ or ‘too thin’, ‘too ugly or ‘too pretty’ etc etc. This message is highly confusing for young girls, as there is no clear middle ground. What is TOO thin? What is TOO fat? What does that even MEAN? 

In todays society with the introduction of social media, it becomes a gold mine for body shaming towards women of all ages, and more and more hate is poured out everyday towards more and more women. Celebrities get hit one of the hardest, and although they have such a glamorous lifestyle, its not all glam when it comes to the fact that they are the forefront of all the hate. A celebrity whom is someone who really represents body confidence and who I find pretty inspirational is Ariel Winter (Modern Family’s Alex Dunphy). I love the fact that she isn’t a size 6 and she isn’t bothered by that either. She has curves and she’s confident about that, and often in today’s society curves on a girl are frowned upon. She’s experienced some pretty extreme hate, even over her breast reduction surgery which was her choice. If you just scroll through one of her Instagram pictures, you will see the crazy amount of hate that she gets; “slut” “slag” “whore” on a daily basis. Despite this, she continues to embrace her curves and posts whatever the hell she wants, and I think the is a true inspiration.

There isn’t such a thing as the ‘perfect body’, every body is beautiful in its own way, shape and form. The attitudes of society are going to be extreme for as long as social media continues to exist; people can become anonymous and hide behind a fake profile to express hatred to others. The most important thing to remember is DO YOU AND BE WHO YOU WANT TO BE!! Body confidence is something that has taken me a while to understand, but now that I finally do, I felt like this was something I wanted to write about.

💃👙👸🏽👣

See you next Tuesday,
Scarlett x

The Development of My Love for Makeup and Fashion💅👗💄👒💋

I have to admit, this was a very spontaneous post as I’m having a bit of writers block this week! This lil post idea was given to me by my very good friend also blogger Grace, and you all should check her blog out because she is an AMAZING writer😛!! 

http://gracyviolet.blogspot.co.uk

This is going to be a short little post about how I developed such a love for make up and fashion, and how it continues to influence me everyday💋👗.

I come from very creative family; my mum is a photographer and she used to be a fashion designer, and my dad is a furniture designer; so from a young age I’ve always had creative influences in my life.

Aside from those fashion stencils and ‘fashion design’ games that pretty much every girl had when I was younger, I think with Fashion, the thing that sparked my love for it was really watching shows like America’s Next Top Model. I always loved seeing the outfits that they wore, and how the pieces were put together, and the reason behind the outfits.
Growing up, I realised that what you wore really expressed who you are, and therefore I began to develop my own style and sort of define how I went about expressing myself, and how I wanted to portray myself to other people.
I love simplistic clothes, things that are block colours (usually white, black or grey..I know, really out there…) and then provide makeup that adds that ‘statement’ to the look. However, I also like to play around with more bold colours and different patterns, yet still keep it pretty simplistic.
I think taking textiles has also allowed me to explore other peoples creative style, and how they combine different colours and patterns to get the look that they desire and expresses them the best. The girls in my textiles class are a brilliant example of this, as we all have our own individual styles and are all very unique.

Moving onto makeup, I think as a child my love for makeup was influenced by media – the magazines that I read, the shows that I watched on TV, the books I read, etc etc. I think my very first makeup product, i was a clear mascara that I got in Shout magazine in the summer holidays just after I finished primary school, which is probably the age that the majority of girls started wearing makeup. And of course, I went through that terrible blue eyeshadow and purple eyeliner phase, and also the black panda eyes with clumpy mascara and chalky foundation until I realised the ‘beauty’ of makeup. 

Now, I’m able to realise that makeup is not only in the beauty industry, but it is also considered as art. The looks that some people are able to create are just outstanding, and I love scrolling through my social media and seeing the most amazing and creative looks, that are so truly original as well. My Inspirations include those such as NikkiTutorials, Carli Bybel, Daisy Marquez, Mikala Walker and many many more; they’re so beyond talented.

This post turned out to be something a bit more than a ‘little’ post, I just got a liiiiitttle bit carried away😬😆!!
See you next Tuesday,
Scarlett x

A Trip to New York City 🗽✈️

They say it’s “the city that never sleeps” which is definitely true; the hustling bustling city of New York is a destination that I can finally say that I visited. Over the course of my stay, I realised that I did not fall in love with the city. Don’t get me wrong, it truly is an amazing place and I really did love every second, but in my opinion I would never be be able to live there.

The 7 hour flight there actually went surprisingly quick; we left Manchester at around 1:45pm, and arrived at JFK at around 5:20pm due to the time difference which felt really strange to adjust to (and of course we arrived in rush hour, so it took us a while to get to the hotel🙄)!

Personally, I feel like New York is a completely different city during the day than at night. During the day, it really is a “concrete jungle”, you really get to appriciate the architecture and the asthetics of the buildings, as the buildings make New York what it is. However at night, this city full of mighty sky scrapers and busy New Yorkers turns into one of the most magical places I have ever seen. Comparing the view from the top of the Rockafeller Centre during the day to the view from the Empire State at night provides a complete juxtaposition of New York, and it allows you to admire the beauty  of the city im different ways. 

Visiting places like Central Park also allowed me to appriciate the beauty of New York as well – it was a contrast to the hustle and bustle of the concrete areas of the city, providing stunning areas of greenery and the perfect place for a gorgeous stroll 😍🍃🌼.

 
Of course being in New York, there are so many iconic sights and places to see and the famous sights that I was most excited to see were ones from the TV series Gossip Girl, and as soon as we arrived at Grand Cenral station, it felt extremely surreal (considering the fact that I have watched Gossip Girl at least 4 times over😁!!)

Visiting the 9/11 memorial and museum was very emotional; realising and learning in more depth as to how it effected the people, their families and not only America, but the world as a whole. The memorial created by the loved ones of those who tragically passed away was beautiful and extremely special, and a lovely place oin be able to pay respect❤️🇺🇸.

We took a ferry from Manhattan to liberty island and again it was just so surreal to see something that I have seen on TV and in films so many times! To be honest, it was a lot bigger than I expected, and standing right underneath it made me realise how big it actually was!

And finally – the shopping!! The shopping was my favourite part; Macy’s, Bloomingdales, 5th Avenue and so much more! I was in my element 😍😍

I had a fabulous time with some fabulous people and I really do hope to come back and visit the city again very soon🗽🇺🇸✨

See you next Tuesday,

Scarlett x

A little information about me 😝✨💅🦄

After providing you with an introduction, I feel like I should let you know a little bit about me before I start with some blog posts, as some may get personal.
My name is Scarlett Swanston, I’m 17 and I live in the UK, currently in the midst of my A-Levels. I attend a sixth form rather than a college, which has its perks and it’s downfalls, and I feel this way due to the fact that I like to consider myself more of a creative person. I study English Literature, Media Studies, and Textiles and I feel as though these subjects represent me well (if that makes sense?!). Its the time where we are all sending off our applications to University, and I have applied for Marketing Management, however I am still unsure if I want to go. Some people may think that’s mad; but I think I want to do an apprenticeship in marketing. Media studies is something I’ve loved since GCSE, and my love for it has grown over the past year and it is something that I 110% want to pursue as a career in the future, so why should I not just get out there and go for it as soon as I can? I’ve had 2 part time jobs and I’ve just recently started my third job at Costa Coffee. I’ve got braces, and I’ve had them for two and a half years and HOPING to be getting them off very soon🙄!! I love makeup and fashion and I consider those my hobbies, as they are things that I truly do love (and pretty much what I spend all my wages on😂). I really do love social media as well; I use it pretty much everyday. I find it so interesting in a way, like how media has developed so much that you can share anything with anybody so quickly. This also seems like a sad self promo, but feel free to follow me on Instagram – @scarlss1 and Twitter – @scarlss1.

Other important things in my life are my family, friends and my boyfriend.  Know you’re probably thinking “Oh God, how cliché!” but it really is true, they are the most important things in my life and I wouldn’t trade or change any of them for anything.
My family are very very important to me, we are very strong and close knit and I feel so lucky to have such a loving family. We have been through so much together, enough to break some families apart, yet we stick together through thick and thin!! 💪🏼

I have learnt so much about how strong friendships can be over this past year, and especially these past few weeks. Our friendship group is rather big, which obviously means that each one of us is different, but I feel like this is something that we really appriciate and the reason why we are all such good friends. You are all so strong, we have been friends for such a long time now, and the fact that next year we will all be split up is sad and I will miss you all very much💔

(Minus Sophie, Emily and Ella – I couldn’t find a picture with us all in😩)

Being in a relationship for almost a year and a half has honestly been the best thing that has and will ever happen to me. It has taught me many things, and things that I will appreciate for the rest of my life. Josh, thank you for being there for me and making me feel loved everyday, I appreciate and love you so much💖.

I know this post got pretty cringey and deep and all that, I honestly didn’t intend it to😂! Thank you for taking the time to read this – next weeks post will be about my trip that I am taking to New York at the end of this week🗽!!
See you then,

Scarlett x