One Night In Italy by Lucy Diamond

On the 9th of August I tweeted, "Just started reading this... anyone else read it?". Attached was the picture below, of the book One Night In Italy by Lucy Diamond. I've FINALLY got round to finishing it this week.

Whenever I blog about books I always want to reiterate that I'm never writing a book review. I have no idea how to write a book review, I have attempted them many times and to put it bluntly; I am shit. So this isn't a book review. I'm simply summing up the book because I feel it's worth a read, and so anyone who likes the sound of it, can go and read it too.

The book follows the lives of 3 characters: Anna, Catherine and Sophie. They all meet at an evening Italian class Sophie starts teaching, when she comes back home from travelling for a few years because her Dad is ill. Anna is wanting to find her Dad- whom she believes is Italian. And Catherine has just found out her husband has been cheating on her and wants a divorce, and because her 2 children have just left for University, she takes the Italian course to make use of her free time. It's a very uplifting story about friendship and how your friends can make your life so much better. It involves break ups, fraud and travel. I particularly liked Sophie's storyline about her travelling and the people she'd met along the way. There's character in this book which I think most women could relate to in one way or another- and it also shows how age is nothing when it comes to friendship. It's a very charming book and I'd definitely recommend it! A feel-good, easy read.

I'm shit at reading books but once I get into one, there's no putting it down! So if you have any good book suggestions then please do let me know.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend,
Charlotte x

Politics of the working world...

It's been a while since I updated this little blog of mine. A lot has changed, and I've become more aware of many things within this crazy little world. One of them is the grand old world of work.

I started my first proper job (full-time) at the beginning of December. Being the naïve 18 year old that I am, I assumed that now I wasn't in school, everything would be smooth-running and everyone would be nice to one another and there wouldn't be anymore cliques/bitchiness to put up with everyday because everyone I'd be surrounded by would be grown up. Oh, how I was very wrong. 

I absolutely love my job. I'm working as a Nursing Assistant in a Nursing Home and although it's very physically and emotionally demanding, it can be very rewarding. But I've found it hard to adapt to the politics of it all. I don't have any direct issues with any staff, but I've been really really shocked at just how similar it is to the stereotypical social ways of a high school! I'm not sure why the hell I'm writing this, as it doesn't have any purpose whatsoever. But I guess, if anyone reading this has dealt with the same thing in their work then how did you cope with it most? I just want to keep my head down and crack on with my job but without giving people a reason to have an issue with me. I know I'm overthinking it and shouldn't be making such an effort to not give people a reason to talk about me as this kind of thing happens everywhere, but I think hearing about other people's experiences will bring me a bit of comfort.  

Thank you for wasting your time reading this, I appreciate it!

How a quote from Mockingjay (Part 1) gave me some perspective on life

This evening I went to see Mockingjay Part 1 at the cinema. I'm not a film person at all, but I absolutely love The Hunger Games' series (both books and films). But this isn't a review. There was a quote in the movie that brought me so much comfort, and I'm sure many people have heard it before the film was even filmed.

"It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together than it does to fall apart."

For the past few weeks I've been feeling so down about the fact that I've spent the majority of this year getting treated for anxiety and depression, yet I still don't feel in a good place. It made me stop and take a look back at everything I've achieved that I didn't even give myself credit for. With things like anxiety and depression, it's the little steps forward that amount to success and recovery. I think this applies to everyone, even people who don't struggle with their mental health. Too often we don't acknowledge achievements within ourselves, which I think is a little sad. And it just gives people even more reasons to not love themselves as much as they should. 

I have no idea why I'm writing this. I have no idea what the purpose is. I just think it's a quote that needs sharing. I sat in the cinema, with goosebumps all over my body and tears filling my eyes. It was a massive realisation that I never expected to come from that trip to the cinema. So to anyone struggling - remember that time is on your side. Don't expect yourself to be fixed in a day, in a month, or even a year. Because that's not going to happen. It's going to take a while but the outcome is going to be so worth it. 

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