Seasonal Coffee

Hey guys,

Okay, so get ready for my basic bitch moment...I LOVE AUTUMN. There, I said it!
I know this will probably sound so generic but autumn/winter are without a doubt my favourite seasons. I love the hot drinks and the changing of the leaves and the weather that allows you to incorporate brown into your wardrobe without looking like a dud.

Fresh Start

Hey there,

I'm sorry for being rather absent for a while but getting ready for Uni is super stressful and too much has been happening in my life lately. But now I'm back, ready for a fresh start. So can we start again?

Running in Nature

Hey guys!

What's up? Okay I'm so sorry for the 2 week break but I was just feeling really uninspired to anything, to write, to compose to get out of bed.... But I'm back and I'm actually going to tell you guys what brought me out of my slump....running. I'm not even joking. 

Trying To Be Healthy

Hidey Ho Internet peeps!
Hows it crack-a-lackin?!?.......I'm sorry.....
I'm so sorry this is a day late but my internet was out for most of the weekend but its back now so onto the post!

OOTD : Cool Summer Days

Hey there!

So I know its been a while, and I'm really sorry about that, but A Levels were so hard it was just horrible. But alas they are over now and I know I've said it before but this time I mean it, I'm determined to start uploading here and to my YouTube channel at least once a week. And I don't just want to blog about beauty  but about everything, so there should be something for everybody :D (PLEASE hold me to that!) Anyway this week the weather has been just gorgeous! I really liked what I wore to church today and then to my mums birthday lunch so I decided to document it for you lovely people. I'm trying to branch out when it comes to my style (basically anything that's black because black is slimming right?) and wear things I wouldn't normally wear (so colour). 

So this is the result of that! I teamed a loose fitting black tank top with a SUUUUPER comfortable kimono from Primark (Its so comfortable its unreal) and some basic jeans from Forever 21. I got my sunglasses from a beach hut in Dubai and kept my accessories and make-up simple.

I like how I stayed in my comfort zone with the black top but branched out with kimono, making for a minimal and effortlessly chic look. 

I hope you like the pictures and if you have any comments or questions, please leave a comment below, I basically reply to all of them. If you made it to the end then you are awesome and we should get some imaginary strawberry and banana smoothies because they are the BOMB.
See you next week, 
With love,
Natalie x

Top - Primark

Kimono - Primark

Jeans - Forever 21

Bag - Primark

Necklace - Primark

Sandals - New Look

Lent

Hello incredibly gorgeous people of the internet! 
Too creepy? Sorry...

Anywhoo, I don't normally observe Lent as in my eyes its more to do with Catholicism rather than Christianity (Protestant/Pentecostal/Evangelical). However this year I thought it would be good to give up my vices and spend more time getting closer to God as that was one of my New Years Resolutions.
So for Lent I'm going to be giving up *drumroll* Coffee and Sweets!!!! 

Recently I've jumped back onto the lets eat nothing but sweets and drink 6 cups of coffee a day bandwagon and that's not really in keeping with my goal to lose weight and after finally being freed from the clutches of puberty induced acne, my skin is actually starting to get worse!

So here I am, first day of Lent and I have survived... to say the least. It's actually been rather okay and not as hard as I thought it would be! In the morning I subconsciously gravitated towards coffee, but after realising what I was doing I had Earl Grey tea instead and then in an effort to lay off caffeine, a lovely cup of Green tea with a hint of lemon :) I loved it, and in the space of a day has replaced Chai tea as my favourite drink! And by throwing out most of the sweets in my house last night, and angering my family, I've been eating fruit instead!

I'm also planning on doing about 30 minutes of bible study later tonight, and I'm really excited for that as I have not been reading my bible much lately *insert incredibly guilty face here* and I'm really trying to get back into the habit of reading it regularly and not just on Sundays.

Anyway I'll hopefully be updating you guys weekly and my YouTube channel too if everything goes to plan! Which it has so far! 

However, this was the first day and Lent isn't over till Easter, so I've still got a long way to go! So wish me luck!!!

Do any of you guys observe Lent? And if so, what vice will you be giving up this year?

Thank you so much to everyone who read this! I love you forever and you get an imaginary Red Velvet Cupcake from me!

Until Next Time,
Natalie x

My Outfits in Dubai

Hey there! So I recently got back from my Christmas trip to Dubai and I thought that I'd share a few of the outfits I wore whilst I was away on holiday. Hope you like!

 At Chili's! On nights when we didn't like to go all out for dinner, this was our go-to!

We spent Christmas Eve at the Beach :)

Haha, so as you can see, I had a pretty good time in Dubai with my family. We went during Christmas because we don't normally go away during the summer and its always nice to travel and get away for some winter sun :)
Anyway onto the outfits! Almost everything I got was in the sales and so is most probably not around, but I hope this gives you some ideas! Dubai is very hot and it seems to get more humid as the year goes on so the key was to dress light whilst not obstructing the dress code as I didn't want to offend anyone.

So this is the outfit I wore on Christmas day, its a shift dress I got from New Look and I just paired it with my sandals from Peacocks. I kept my accessories to a minimum and wore my owl earrings from New Look and my ring from Primark. I decided to go with a bold lip and wore my Sleek Lipstick in the colour Vixen, which is a bright red that I absolutely adore. I also wore my Revlon Nearly Naked Foundation in the colour Cappuccino. My hair was in curls and that's about it really. 

 This dress is from Primark and I have to say this was my go-to dress! Whenever we were in a rush or decided to go somewhere in the spur of them moment, this was the dress I wore! I paired it with some flats from Primark and a plain black cardigan from H&M.

So in this final outfit, we were going on a limo ride around Dubai and in my mind I felt like Catwoman! Though I'm pretty sure I looked like a burglar.... Anywhoo the top was from Primark and the disco pants were from Select and I just wore my lace up combat boots from New Look at Asos.

So yeah, I hope you enjoyed this! I know its not much, but I just thought I'd upload this. I had an amazing time in Dubai with my family and I can't wait for our next trip! And if anyone wants me to upload general picture, just let me know and I'd be more than happy too! Thanks to anyone who read this, you're the bomb diggity :) AND you get invisible pretzels which are the best kind of pretzels!

Well until next time,
Natalie
x

Musings: Who Am I?

Hey there!

So obviously I know who I am. I'm Natalie, plain and simple. But recently I've been feeling more....adventurous when it comes to what I like. Coming from a Christian household, brought up by Nigerian parents, I've lived a very sheltered life. Obviously I'm thankful for all my parents have done for as it has shaped the way I choose to live my life. I'm glad for being raised as a Christian, I'm also glad that they didn't try to really force it on me, they let me gradually come to the decision that to give my life to Christ. And I'm thankful for my strict, sheltered upbringing, it taught me that you can't trust someone just because they say pretty words.

However, things that I consider to be rebellious are nothing compared to other people. Me wanting to go to a party and get picked up later than 10:30 is rebellious, even though most people I know don't leave till at least 11:30. 

Recently I have been feeling more adventurous and I kind of want to embrace it. However, I'm not exactly comfortable with my body to be able to wear more exciting clothing, even though I long to. So I satisfy my need for adventure in little ways. Like I recently got a phone case which had bras on it because I thought it was the cutest thing, but part of me was freaking out, wondering if it was too much, if it was too hipstery (no offence to anyone but that was the only word I could think of) I feel like any time I do anything outside of my comfort zone, I'm suddenly exposed as a kind of wannabe, which is not what I want to be. Like a week ago, I expressed my desire to get false nails put on as I always cut them to short and so never get to use my nail polish that I've spent FOREVER buying. But when I told my friend she said, "no, don't be one of THOSE girls". Now I know she meant well and didn't want me to look tacky or portray a stereotype, but as soon as she said that I felt myself feel stupid for wanting fake nails. You see what I'm getting at?

It's ridiculous for me to base my choices on what other people think. I shouldn't let myself  be so easily influenced by other peoples opinions. You only get one life and you can't live it in fear of judgement. So I did use the phone case, and I love it, and I am going to get false nails put on, and wear my neglected nail polish! And when I do leave home later this year, I will stay at parties until I want to leave and not feel like I'm disobeying orders. If we carry on living our life in fear of other people's judgements then what life are we living?

Sorry, I know this was sort of rambly, and long, but I just wanted to let whoever reads this know that only YOU can live YOUR life. Not your parents or your friends, only YOU. You are an independent person and though your decisions may not always be the right ones, they are yours. You are YOU, simple enough. You are not who others tell you to be, only you can decide what to do with your life. So be you and go out into this crazy world and live life and be as adventurous as you want to be!

Yeah, so anyway, to whoever read this all the way through, thank you. You are amazing and I hope this helped. And if any of this applies in any way to you, leave a comment, or tweet me and we can talk it out and sip our fictional lattes and munch our imaginary cookies (like we're in a coffee shop if you didn't get that). 

I really hope this made sense, if it didn't please let me know.

I'll see you guys later,
With Love,
Natalie
x

Musings : From 2013 to 2014

Hello there Internet! Happy New Year!

I'm terribly sorry I haven't posted very much, there's been quite a bit going on and I'm still trying to prioritise. 
I just thought I'd talk about the past year and what I hope to do in the coming one.

This year was one of the hardest years of my life. And I'm only 17. Scary. I don't want to go into huge details but it really tested me as a person and made me grow the hell up. People who I thought would be in my life forever suddenly vanished without a trace and I was forced to face my demons and battle them, something that I'm still doing.

God really helped me this year. I'd like to think that I've definitely gotten closer to him and learn to put my trust and faith in him more.

However, this year made me stronger. It made me realise that you can't just wait for life to happen and adventures to come your way, you have to go and chase them. There's no point moping about how your life isn't amazing if you've done nothing to try and make it so. So this year I'm going to go and grab life and jump head first into new opportunities. I'm going to upload more to my YouTube channel and here. I know that no one really reads/watches either of them but I like posting and I want to keep doing it, even if no one ever sees. It's slightly therapeutic. 

This year wasn't all bad though, I got to go to Washington and New York with my school and spent Christmas in Dubai with my family. So I can't complain. That much. God has really blessed me and I can't let little things get in the way of my happiness.

Some of my goals for this year are:

1. to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle
2. to not shy away from opportunities
3. and to upload regularly to my channels

These are only some of them, I have so many it's ridiculous but I always thunk setting mini goals can really help you achieve your overall goal.

I have a couple of auditions for universities coming up this month which both excites and terrifies me. I'm so excited to leave school and start the next chapter of my life, but I hope that chapter involves me going to University. The thought of me having to redo my ALevels is rather unbearable and I really hope I'm not left behind whilst all my friends leave to go start their lives. But just like everything else, I tell myself to calm down. relax and just put it into God's hands.

I've decided to start calling this series "Musings" as its essentially me just doing what I do best. I plan to have a couple of new posts coming out in the next week, so hopefully you like them.

To anyone who read this, thank you so much, it means a lot to me. If you want to let me know your resolutions or just chat, leave a comment down below.

You guys be the bomb diggity ;)

With love

Natalie x