I'm back!: Battle with anxiety, music blog and education.

Hello!!

I'm back after 5 months without blogging!!

The main reason I stepped away from my blog was because my anxiety had gotten pretty bad, making me pretty miserable. I had a rough few months at Sixth Form, but I have now sought help so hopefully things are on the up. I've completed my A-levels, they didn't go very well but hopefully it's enough to take me to the next stage of my life. I'm now on a gap year and seeking employment to save money to travel next year. As some of you may know, I started to branch out with this blog and wrote a few music posts every now and again. I've now decided to pursue a career in the music industry, so my aim for the next couple of months is to apply to Uni to take a music business degree. I've also started a new blog which is solely music orientated so Sparks of Serenity will go back to being a beauty blog.

So yes, that's pretty much a brief summary of where I went, and where I'm hoping to go now I'm back. If anyone's interested in my music blog then do let me know and I will send you a link. I'm also contemplating blogging about my anxiety (which seems to be mainly social anxiety) so people can gain a better insight on it, but I'm going to wait and see how my treatment goes before I go ahead with that.

Thank you so much for sticking by me whilst I've been away,
Charlotte x

Blackberry Bath Bomb from Lush

Hello! 

I have been absent from my little blog for a wee while now due to my laptop totally dying, acute tonsillitis (& an allergic reaction to my antibiotics for it) and now exams! 

After a long, hard day of lying in bed doing nothing apart from feeling sorry for myself and how ill I felt yesterday, I found an old (out of date but let's pretend it's not) bath bomb from lush and I was so desperate for a pick me up, I used it. It smelt absolutely amazing, the scent was so strong but I have no idea how to describe it to you...it definitely wasn't the scent of blackberries though!

I took a few snaps and thought I would share them with you!

 

For the next 2 months it's most likely my blog is going to have to take a back seat in my priorities but I promise as soon as my exams are over I will be back in full swing! 

Speak to you soon,
Charlotte x

Empties!

Hello!

I am the type of person who usually fails miserably finishing a product, so the fact I've got a collection of empties to share with you is a rare thing. 

Please excuse the spider chilling in the top left hand corner... I was too scared to move it!

Not much to say on the Batiste Dry Shampoo apart from bravo to Batiste! I wasn't very impressed with Superdrugs own dry shampoo, and will be sticking to Batiste from now on. Superdrug's own didn't really give my hair any volume or make it any less greasy, although it did change the smell which was good! I think I would use up another bottle if I had it lying around, just for those moments when your hair doesn't smell it's best such as after cooking. The Schwarzkopf got2b texturizing salt spray is a product I'd recommend to anyone and everyone! I've already got another bottle and I love it. I did a blog post on this in the summer so please go and have a look at it by clicking the link here. 

Moving onto facial skincare and a regular empty of mine is the St Ives apricot facial scrub (blemish fighting). This is definitely my holy grail product (as mentioned in my previous post on my current skincare favourites) which I've always got a tube of. I got the No.7 cleanser and toner as part of a gift set and they worked really well on my skin so I'm definitely going to re-purchase those. Then of course the L'Oreal Paris Skin Perfection 3 in 1 Purifying Micellar Solution has made an appearance, this too is one of my favourite products and I use it most days. I did a blog post specifically on this a few months ago here. 

Then finally, body products! I'd used the impulse loving words spray a lot last summer, it was easy to just throw in my bag and spray myself to feel more fresh in the muggy weather. I've only just gotten round to finishing it; it's not a scent for winter at all so when summer next comes around, I will be wearing it a lot! I didn't really like the body shop cocoa butter exfoliator, I found it rather oily and hard to wash off (I'm quite fussy with exfoliators though!) The brown colouring also seemed to get EVERYWHERE which was a nightmare. The scent was lovely though, and I do like the cocoa butter bath and shower gel. I also finally used up a Philosophy bubble bath (I can't remember the exact one and I've thrown the bottle away now... sorry!) It was a very perfumed product, but it didn't irritate my skin which is unusual as my skin is quite sensitive - so I was very impressed with this one! Now onto the Soap and Glory Clean on Me... I don't really need to say much about this! Amazing. I loved it and it lasted me a really long time, I can't recommend it enough. Finally the Champneys Body Butter: I wouldn't say I loved this but it was okay. It had a nice clean smelling scent (kind of reminded me of talc!) and absorbed quickly. 

That's all for now! I hope you've enjoyed this post and if you've got your own empties posts or recent hauls then please leave the links to them in the comments below as I'd love to have a look. Thank you for reading,
Charlotte x

My 13 Favourite Albums Of 2013.

Happy New Year! 

Another music based post today (sorry to all my beauty readers!) I'm going to share with you my favourite albums of 2013, which if you haven't heard then I would love for you to have a listen to:-) On a side note, this list is in no particular order! 


DEMI - by Demi Lovato.

OLD SOULS - by Deaf Havana.

LONG WAY DOWN - by Tom Odell.

JAMES ARTHUR - by James Arthur.

IN A PERFECT WORLD - by Kodaline.

I LOVE YOU - by The Neighbourhood.

THE 1975 - by The 1975

IF YOU WAIT - by London Grammar

PARADISE VALLEY - by John Mayer

SIGNALS - by Mallory Knox

SHANGRI LA - by Jake Bugg

SAME TRAILER DIFFERENT PARK - by Kacey Musgraves

MECHANICAL BULL - by Kings Of Leon

Thank you for taking the time to read this! Charlotte x

Champney's Spa Treatments: Citrus Blush Body Scrub

This is the first time I have spent a whole blog post purely going on about a product which I'm not liking, so I'm sorry for the negativity!

I've had the Citrus Blush Body Scrub from Champney's Spa Treatments range for a while now and it's probably the worst exfoliant I've ever had. I love the scent, it's gorgeous but the actual product itself seems to be a bit of a disaster. After rinsing thoroughly my skin is always left feeling really oily and my pyjamas (I usually use it at night!) end up clinging to my body which is extremely annoying! It also leaves a bizarre scent afterwards which is nothing like its original. Part of me is thinking that I may have had a faulty tub so I would really like to hear your thoughts if any of you have tried this product before.

 

I hope you're all enjoying the holidays, Merry Christmas!
Charlotte x

New York Colour nail polish in 'Chelsea'

Apologies for the lack of blogging this month! I've been wearing New York Colour's nail polish in the shade 'Chelsea' a lot recently; it's very Christmassy so I thought it would be appropriate to share!

I purchased this in Superdrug a few weeks ago, I can't remember how much it was exactly but it was no more than £2/3. There is only one coat shown in the image above due to my stupid habit of peeling off my nail polish if there is more than one coat!

I hope you're all enjoying getting into the festive spirit!
Charlotte x

MOTM: November

Another month is almost up, so I'm about to share with you my favorite songs of November. I have changed the format of these posts slightly to incorporate videos to make it easier for you guys to listen to the songs/watch the videos. Please let me know in the comments if you prefer this format or my old format! 


Tom Odell released his music video for his new single "I Know" yesterday. "I Know" is one of my favorite songs off his album and I love the video that now goes with it. I am pretty certain that this song is going to go far on the charts when it gets released! I was lucky enough to see Tom Odell live last month and he was featured in a post on my blog a few weeks ago which you can read here.

Since I purchased their debut album 'If You Wait' in September, I have been listening to London Grammar almost every day. I just can't fault them. Their lyrics are honestly like therapy, they are so powerful. London Grammar released their music video for their next single 'Nightcall' only a few days ago too, and I absolutely love it. If you've not listened to London Grammar before then I recommend you do so because they are about to become huge!

My next choice is by someone who has caused a stir in the media a lot lately. I did a huge long post on all the controversy surrounding James Arthur, so please do have a read of it by clicking the link here. His next single 'Recovery' is one of my favorite songs ever. It is such a powerful, relate-able song to me. It is on his debut self-titled album which I personally don't think has been given enough credit. The video for 'Recovery' has not yet been released so instead, I have linked an acoustic version of the song.

McFly have been one of the very few bands that I have loved since I was a kid, and carried on loving as I have been getting older. They are 4 of the most genuine, loving and talented men in the music industry. They are also absolutely hilarious, if I'm ever having a bit of a rubbish day then I will usually always go and youtube videos of them and be laughing within minutes. Their latest single 'Love Is On The Radio' was released last week, and I adore it. It has a bit of a country/folk edge to it which compliments their pop/rock style really well. And the video to go with it is just amazing! See for yourself.

Finally, I have an artist who a lot of people won't have heard of. Carrie Hope Fletcher. Carrie is actually Tom from McFly's sister, but I didn't know that until after I'd spend a few months watching her on youtube. I was catching up on youtube videos the other day and came across this video of Carries where she had invited some of her close friends over to ignite their problems. It was such a sweet video and the music playing to it was a song called The Way We Were sung by Carrie. This song is available on iTunes so download it if you like what you hear. Click the link here to be taken to the iTunes page.

I hope you've enjoyed listening to some of the music I have been loving this month. I'd love to hear some of the music you've all been listening to so please leave me a comment below!
Thank you for reading,
Charlotte x