Chinese New Year

So I have been incredibly slack lately. I wish I could say I have been extremely busy and will be posting about all the amazing things I’ve been doing, but I haven’t. Basically I have been overloaded with school work and have 4 internal assessments due within the same week, which is driving me nuts. During all of this craziness I managed to find time to go to one of my favourite events of the year, which is the Chinese Lantern Festival. In Auckland City, they decorate the whole of Albert Park with lanterns. They place them everywhere possible, in fountains, dangling from the trees and over the paths. It is so beautiful, my photos don’t do it justice. If you live in Auckland and ever think of going, I definitely recommend that you check it out. Basically it marks the New Year that starts in China, and I decided seeing as my New Year’s Resolutions failed as per usual I figured I would set the Chinese New Year as my start of New Beginnings and New things.

 

 

The first one is one I have been intending to do since I started high school yet have never had the motivation to start. Get Involved. When I started College everyone enthused to me how I should ‘be a part of as many things as you can’, and ‘sign up for lots of things!’. I’ve always looked past what they’ve said and thought ‘yeah, yeah who really has time to do all this’, and I’ve realised that it’s not particularly difficult to ‘make time’ for things that are important. I seem to have realised that you really do get out, what you put in (if that makes sense). In short I think if you put in a lot of effort to get involved and try new things you will get so much out of it like good experiences, new friends and new skills you may have otherwise never gained.

I have only been doing these new things and already been able to meet and get to know some amazing people who have already had such a huge impact on my life. I also feel having doing more things I have a tonne more energy and look forward to my day, instead of praying something would be cancelled or that I didn’t have to get out of bed in the morning.

 

 

Another thing I’ve been aiming to do, that I’m sure 99% of people aim to do, is to go to the gym more. Now, like all humans on the planet I have given myself the typical tasks of ‘eating healthy’ and ‘going to the gym more’ etc. I’m not prepared to comment on the healthy eating part (Thanks Tasman for getting me hooked on banana cake again, which has been breaking me out, but is still TO DIE FOR) but as the gym part goes I really do feel I am getting the benefits of going again. Sure, whilst doing classes or any physical recreation you are pushing yourself hard at you feel like your legs are going to fall off and your arms will NEVER feel normal again, and the next day every stair you climb hurts 10x more than the last, every time you sneeze your abs burn. But it can only get easier right? Exercise is not only good for the body, but it is truly GREAT for the mind. I have never before regretted going to the gym but I have often regretted NOT going.

 

 

 Socializing is always something I haven’t been particularly great at. The thought always hovers over my head that ‘no one will come if you organise it’ and ‘everyone is probably too busy’, which has basically stopped me from organising things and going out and being social. Truth is in the past I have been the one constantly organising things for people to do, like trips to town, movie days, bowling trips and many other things along those lines. I have only recently realised that no one’s going out doing these social things anymore, because no one is planning for them to happen and the planner (myself) has become incredibly lazy and doesn’t make the time to socialise. So, My Chinese New Year Resolution is to start organising things and making more time for my social life.

 

 

Another thought that does kind of fit with my ‘socialising goal’ but does deserve its own goal, is to say ‘YES’ more. I know this seems awfully simple but it sometimes really is a problem when sometimes your iPad loves you more than your friends and there’s an 8hr Keeping up with the Kardashians marathon on. Really though, sometimes it is easier to just stay in and not bother about leaving your cosy room and going out to socialise with people and know that there is a risk of being out of your comfort zone or put in an awkward situation. When I really think about it though most of the time I have been talked into going out I have thoroughly enjoyed it and was so glad that I went. Since I’ve started saying ‘yes’ to more things I’ve gotten to meet new people and even been able to catch up with people I otherwise would’ve never seen.

 

 

 

In a way all of my Resolutions link together and If I start by achieving one, It will help me to achieve them all. Like since I have been doing more exercise, like going to the gym, I feel more confident and like I have a lot more energy. Seeing as I feel more confident and have more energy I can sign up for more things and get involved in more sports. Getting more involved has introduced me to many new people and I have made so many new relationships and built stronger bonds with people from different groups. Since I’ve been friendly with different groups I have been invited to more things and been given the opportunity to socialise more and say YES to more things.

So If you are ever thinking or procrastinating about making changes in your life, starting in one aspect of your life can greatly influence others and you’ll never look back.

Talk to you soon

 

- ellaarosee

 

Shaaanxo and SaturdayNightsAlrite

Hey Everyone!

I haven’t updated my blog in a couple of days and I have gotten up to some pretty cool things this week so I thought it might be worth a post today. Basically, I spend a lot of time on YouTube. I really don’t know what it is, but I just seem to find everything on there too interesting or funny and all the people are FAR too attractive. I quite quickly find myself watching a hundred videos and when I look at my history I pretty much start at people covering songs to cute animal things.

After I only really started using YouTube I stumbled across a Kiwi YouTuber named Shannon from the account Shaaanxo (http://www.youtube.com/user/shaaanxo) and I instantly became obsessed with her videos. She runs a beauty channel and is a complete make-up wiz. I forgot to mention she is absolutely stunning and is seriously has the best tips and tricks. She makes me want to go blonde and has the most creative look books and outfits of the day. A few weeks after that I found another amazing YouTuber from Canada (living in Australia) named Karissa. She also has a beauty/fashion youtube and is such an amazing girl with an incredible fashion sense and her style is literally, perfection. She runs the channel saturdaynightsalrite (http://www.youtube.com/user/saturdaynightsalrite). She is so gorgeous and her makeup is always absolutely flawless!

Recently Shannon announced that she was moving to Auckland, and as you can guess, I completely flipped out and decided to make it my mission to meet her somehow whilst she lives here just to say ‘hey’ or ‘I really love your channel’ or something along those lines. It seemed like quite a difficult challenge and I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to work out…  But a couple of days ago Karissa announced that she was coming to Kiwi-Land and was doing a meet-up with Shannon. I instantly cleared my weekend of plans and set out to meet them on the weekend and I ended up getting too!

They are seriously the two most amazing girls and YouTube and were so sweet to everyone. They stood out in the burning heat for a couple of hours signing autographs, posing for photos and having a good chat to everyone who turned out for the event. It was so great to get to meet them and they were even more gorgeous in person. I got so many great pictures of and with them and I was also lucky enough to be able to experience it with my best-friend.  It always seems so surreal to me when-ever I am lucky enough to see a well known face. I go home and watch their videos and I’m like ‘Hey, I met them’. If you haven’t already, I definitely suggest that you check out these girls channels. If you are reading my blog Im assuming that you have an interest in make-up and beauty related things so I know that you will adore their cahnnels!

I am in the first 3 images, The other ones are of the girls with their boyfriends and other viewers. 

Anyways, That basically sums up the main excitement of my weekend. I also managed to get into town on Saturday and see some of the Simri fashion show launch and check out some of the items in their new collections. I plan on posting about that later in the week so I have time to edit all of the images I have taken and so I can procrastinate on what I actually want everyone to see.

Talk to you soon

-          - ellaarosee

January Favourites

So I have spent the past few days contemplating what my first official blog post should be about and I have decided there’s no better way to start it than a ‘January Favourites post’. I’m hoping this will help you get a feel of what the content of this blog will be and help you see the type of products I am interested in and think highly of. Most of these are beauty related, such as things like shampoos and foundations that I am currently LOVING. So without further ado let’s get cracking.

MAKEUP

I am pretty fussy when it comes to makeup I’m not going to lie. I don’t tend to venture out and try new products, but this summer (I live in the Southern Hemisphere, and YES it is summer here) I have been pulled in by the amazing colours and shades and I have persuaded myself to by some new lipsticks. The first I love is one of the Revlon ones from the Super Lustrous™ Lipstick Range, and it is in the colour ‘Cha Cha Cherry’.  Normally there is no way I would go for something this bright and I normally do like to keep it quite simple with nudes and peaches but I am absolutely OBSESSED with this lipstick. It has a crème finish and looks amazing on your lips. Personally I think it would suit almost every skin-tone. The only down-side of these lipsticks is that they don’t have the best staying power and after a couple of hours they tend to fade quite a bit. This is a small price to pay considering how easy they are to apply.

The second lipstick I am currently in love with also was quite a bit of a gamble. I was In Australia over the summer break and I managed to pay a visit to a store called ‘Sportsgirl’. Sportsgirl is basically a clothing shop, but they also stock a small amount of makeup. I ended up picking up a lipstick in the colour ‘Queen of Hearts’. It has a Pearl finish and is a very orangey red. I’m not going to lie, at first I definitely wasn't a big fan of this colour, in the tube it came off pretty orange and I was quite sure I wouldn't like the texture of all the ‘sparkles’ in it. By the time I put it on I had gotten the idea into my head that it was going to look pretty bad, but It ended up looking so nice. It is very creamy and soft and feels really nice to wear. You don’t feel the glitter on your lips, but I do find you need to be pretty careful when applying this lipstick as it can smudge quite easily. I guess you get what you pay for (AUD$9.99). Sadly I won’t get to visit Sportsgirl again any times soon as I don’t have any plans in the immediate future of visiting Australia.

My favourite foundation of January and basically my go-to foundation for anything is Maybelline’s 24hr SuperStay™ Liquid Foundation. This is a medium to full coverage foundation and promises it can

-Withstand heat, sweat and humidity

- Flexible breathable, all-day comfort

-Oil free – non pore clogging

-Suitable for all skin types

So I decided that it sounds like the dream foundation and since using it I have decided that for my skin – It is! I have a lot of redness on the apples of my cheeks which I’m not the fondest of and seriously sick of everyone telling me that I’m sun burnt  or ‘blushing’. This foundation covers my redness perfectly and doesn’t look or feel cakey if applied correctly. I have this foundation in the colour nude. It matches my body perfectly and doesn’t oxidize throughout the day which is a major bonus! It may seem pretty orange in the bottle and it does have quite a yellow base. It is pretty hard to get the right colour for you with these foundations as the colour range is terrible! I’m pretty sure there are no more than 8 colours available in New Zealand, only 3 of which are yellow based. This is a pretty thick foundation so if you are looking for something very light this may not be the foundation for you, but personally I love this foundation and when applied with a stippling brush or a round top brush you get the perfect flawless finish.

Moving on to the eyes, I have tried so many mascaras recently, from high-end to low-end and I keep coming back to the same one. Maybelline mascaras are one of the most famous products that Maybelline puts out and there is a very good reason for that. It was hard for me to pick a favourite from their range as I am in love with every one that I have tried. The colossal volum’ Express™ Waterproof mascara proved to be a godsend over summer, with being out on the boat and going from beach to beach I found that it literally lasts ALL DAY. The mascara gives your lashes the perfect amount of volume and spreads out your lashes amazingly! The mascara is pretty hard to remove, but can be easily done with the right makeup remover.

HAIR CARE

My Favourite Shampoo and Conditioner definitely has to be Palmolive® Naturals Intensive Moisture Shampoo and Conditioner. I have pretty dry hair and I find in the summer it gets extra dry especially the tips. Now let me start by saying that Palmolive Shampoos are definitely not a high end product as both the products together probably cost around (NZ$13.00). I wasn't expecting much in the way of it being able to add a lot of moisture to my hair I mainly purchased it as I had seen someone on YouTube raving about the scent of this shampoo. My hair doesn't normally hold a scent very well and I was keen to see if It could hold the scent of this shampoo/conditioner. It advertises that it smells like coco cream which I normally love, yet this Shampoo didn't smell like Coco Cream. I was pleasantly surprised to find it smelt of green-apples mainly and an assortment of other fresh scents. My hair also held the scent of this amazingly, I am onto my Day 3 hair now and I can still smell it when I take my hair out of a bun or it swishes in front of my face.

SKINCARE

A product that stood out for me in the skincare category, is The Body Shop® Duo Body Butter in the scent Macadamia. I was able to get my hands on this product at New Zealand Fashion Week last year and haven’t been able to put it to good use until summer came around. Let me just start by saying this Body Butter smells incredible! It has such a rich luscious scent. When in Australia, I didn't even need to wear a perfume this was enough and it is a perfect summery smell as well. It completely got rid of any dry skin on my body and would last at least 2 days (which is an amazing feat for a moisturiser). I love this as there is a body butter side for extremely dry skin and a moisturiser side for skin that only needs a little bit of smoothening. This is pretty pricey for a moisturiser ($32.50) but for the working power of it I would definitely re-purchase this despite the steep price.

So this concludes my January Favourites. I hope you all enjoyed my first official blog post. I really enjoyed writing this and I look forward to writing more in the future. Enjoy the rest of your week.

Talk to you soon

- ellaarosee

Introduction to 'ellaarosee'

My blogging cherry has finally been 'popped' I guess you can say. For months now I had been pondering the thought of making a blog and I now can say I have fallen to the temptation of it. The reason it seems to have taken so long is that I'm not exactly sure what I should be posting... And more importantly what do I have to say that is worth being read or heard. I have been reading a lot of other peoples blogs lately trying top get a good 'feel' of whats right and wrong in the world of blogging, and I can honestly say I have come to the conclusion that there isn't exactly a right or wrong as a blog is all about ones own opinion. I have realised that in a way it doesn't matter how many views you have or whether what you have to say has any interest to someone else. A blog is supposed to be there so you can release all your feelings to the world without having to be judged by reality. I will try to pour my heart and soul into this blog and keep whoever is reading (even if its only my best friend, or mother) updated on my interests, my world, my life and my mistakes. Even if what I write is insightful to one person or makes someone smile I will feel that its worth pursuing this blog and keeping it active and alive.

So now I guess I must move on to the less interesting part, which is who is behind the keyboard writing all this nonsense for the so called 'world' to potentially read. Well, I'm 15 and although you may think a 15 year old's work wouldn't be worth reading and her life probably only consist of school and social 'issues', you will be pleased to know in a way you a right. By making this blog I hope to add more interest into my life to keep anyone reading interested and wanting to come back in a month or so to check out my progress on making my life more exhilarating. Hopefully my first proper blog post will be live within a week and I will be able to start ranting on about everything, but until then I will leave you with a well known quote of "what would you do tomorrow, if you knew you couldn't fail?". Now go out there and do it.

Talk to you soon

- ellaarosee