Rachel Sarah XO

Hey guys!

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and ate lots of food and got lots of nice prezzies.
I will be putting a link to each item (or something similar) so you know where you can buy it from if you like it or whatever.

I shouldn't have to put a disclaimer on this but it looks like I'll have to. I am in no way bragging, these are all presents I received off my family and I'm appreciative of every single one of them.

Let's get to the haul!

24pc Make-up Brush Set.
I received this from my auntie Elaine and uncle Stewart. They asked me and my sister if we had any ideas for presents so we just send them the links to stuff we'd like and this was one of them. I will not be using these brushes with anything other than powder products as I found out yesterday, they soak up all of your cream/liquid products so I will probably just be using these for eyeshadow and bronzer/blusher/highlighter.

Stone Heart Plantpot.
Unfortunately I couldn't find this online, but my mum bought me this from The Range (I picked it out, haha) it was around £3.99 and she got me it to put those brushes in.

These are just a few bits from my stocking.

Haribo Starmix
I received these from my auntie Victoria and my uncle Steven. Me and Hannah may have done a swap since Hannah is madly in love with Haribo Tangfastics and I really like Starmix, haha!

Kinnerton Halloween Chocolates
In Norfolk is the huuuuge Kinnerton chocolate factory in Fakenham and next to that is a department store that sells loads of the Kinnerton chocolates super cheap, obviously the halloween ones were left over from when mum got me them but I like weird, creepy things so they're perfect! Taste good too.

Hello Kitty Plus Coin Purse
Not the exact same one as the one in the link (sorry I couldn't find the one in the photo) but again, mum bought it from the Kinnerton chocolate shop, yey! It's so cute and soft, it's like a little cushion.

Avon Orange and Ginger Shower Gel and Orange and Ginger Body Spray.
These are presents from my mum and dad and they know how much I love the scent of ginger, it's one of my favourites and I've never owned ginger scented shower gel so this should be a fun experience, haha!

Avon Cherry Blossom Shower Gel and Cherry Blossom body spray.
These are also presents from my mum and dad. (Obviously my mum picked all these out, hahaha) She knows how disappointed I was when The Body Shop discontinued their Japanese Cherry Blossom scent range and she found these on the Avon website, unfortunately these are now discontinued also :-( (hence the lack of links for this one)

Vanilla and Ginger Candle.
This was also from mum and dad and was also from The Range, I picked this candle out (seeing a ginger theme here?) although unfortunately they don't stock this on their website so no link, sorry! It was about £2.99-£3.99 I think. It just smells like Christmas in a jar, eeek.

Emily The Strange Bath and Body Gift Set with Wash Bag.
I received this from my auntie Victoria and uncle Steven, the funny thing about this gift is that on Christmas Eve I was so close to buying this from Boots as it was in the half price sale and I was like 'hm I might buy it with my Christmas money' and then when I unwrapped it on Christmas morning, I was so happy. It comes with a body lotion, bubble bath, shower gel and a gorgeous wash bag which I may use as my everyday make up bag now as my other one is getting a bit small (I own too much make up hahaha.)

Katy Perry 'Purr' Perfume: 50ml.
This is another gift that I'd sent my auntie Victoria and uncle Steven the link to and I was so pleased when I received it, it's so much prettier in person. LOOK AT THE BOTTLE, IT'S IN THE SHAPE OF A CAT. It smells gorgeous too! (The bottle isn't black, it's a really bright purple but the flash from the camera made it look black.)

I received all of the DVD's from my sister except the Lizzie McGuire Movie.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
My sister bought me this, she made me go into Tesco with her and pick a couple of DVD's out, obviously as she's only 12, she needed someone to go in with her so she could buy the DVD's that have a higher rating than 12, haha! This and Anastasia were on a 2 for £5 offer in Tesco.

Anastasia.
This DVD was my entire childhood, it was my favourite film, that and The Little Mermaid (notice the nostalgic DVD pattern? hahaha) Again, bought in Tesco on a 2 for £5 deal.

The Little Mermaid (Two Disc Special Edition)
I'm pretty sure Hannah got this from That's Entertainment but I'm not entirely sure. I'd been wanting this on DVD for aaaages, and only a few weeks ago, this was put on the Sky Disney channel so I was a bit annoyed that Hannah spent £10 on it when it's now on Sky Movies, bless her. She didn't let me watch it on Sky until I received the DVD on Christmas, aw!

The Lizzie McGuire Movie.
I received this from my auntie Victoria and uncle Steven, I asked them if they'd buy it used as the brand new version is pretty expensive for some reason, it's in basically perfect condition though! I absolutely adored this film when I was younger and I owned it on VHS but as I no longer have a VHS player, I felt like I needed the DVD version in my life, haha!

The two Mario games came with the DSI XL console itself as a bundle offer. And all of these were from my mum and dad.

Mario Kart DS.
This game came with the DS in a bundle, was so pleased though because I absolutely adore Mario Kart for the Wii so that's fun!

Zelda: Phantom Hourglass.
I've been wanting a Zelda foreverrrr and was so pleased when I was able to find this.

New Super Mario Bros.
I'd been wanting this game for ages, my sister has it for the Wii but it's not the same as playing it on a handheld. One thing I hate about it is that if you go over your 5 lives you have to start from the very beginning of the game. :-(

Lego: Lord Of The Rings.
Lord of The Rings are some of my favourite films and them in game form sounded great at the time, whilst playing it, I noticed the graphics are awful and the storyline isn't thrilling. D:

Pokemon Nintendo DS Travel Case.
My sister bought me this lovely little travel case for my DS and my games. It's so cute, it even comes with a black and white large stylus and a Pokemon printed cleaning cloth. (Hannah didn't pay £32 for it as it says on Amazon though hahaha)

Wine Red DSI XL.
This was actually mostly bought by myself and my parents chipped in a bit but wouldn't let me have it until Christmas, haha! It's great. So glad I didn't get the 3DS, the games aren't that great yet and I can't see in 3D. :-(

Sonic Screwdriver DS Stylus.
This did actually come in a twin pack and me and Hannah split the price and I gave her one for her new 3DS XL and she gave me the other one. We're huge Doctor Who fans so it's just perfect really. :-)

Carpe Diem Journal.
I actually asked for this from my auntie Elaine and uncle Stewart, I saw that it's goal is to help you achieve goals and to give yourself goals for each day, there's also like 5 pages for writing down feelings and stuff.
I thought this might help with my anxiety.

£10 Debenhams Gift Card.
I received this from my auntie Victoria and Uncle Steven, along with £20 Christmas money which I'm so appreciative of. I've already spent the gift card along with £5 of my christmas money on a MAC lipstick in Candy Yum Yum, it was only £15 so. :-)

Fujitsu Lifebook AH512.
This was my main present this Christmas which I actually received in August a results present as I needed a laptop for when I started college in September as my other one was absolutely knackered. (and look how that turned out) I felt really bad taking a laptop off my mum and dad as I felt like I'd failed them by doing so badly and they just went 'consider it a pity present', hahaha. (Excuse the dirt, I haven't given it a proper clean since I received it.) It's specs are pretty good. 320GB hard drive and I also have a 320GB external hard drive aswell, 4GB RAM and 2.2GHZ Intel Pentium processor.

GUINEA PIGS.
No, you can't buy my guinea pigs anywhere. This is also my main present this year. I also got my guinea pigs as an early present, we saw someone advertising guinea pigs to a good home and £20 for the cage and I instantly fell in love with them, we collected them the same day in October and I've loved them ever since.

I also got £40 Christmas money and the £10 Debenhams Voucher, and I've already managed to spend all my money, haha! I'll include these in here but I'll also do a seperate haul on them.

Sleek Vintage Romance Palette: £7.99
Kick-Ass 2 DVD: £9.00
Real Techniques Core Collection: £14.46
The Knife Of Never Letting Go book: £2.81
MUA Luxe Liquid Lipstick in Kooky: £3.00
MAC Lipstick in 'Candy Yum Yum': £15 (+£3.99 shipping)

Whilst I'm here, have some photos we took yesterday during Christmas day.

I'm so grateful for everything I received and I'd just like to thank my family for all the wonderful gifts!
I had a great day and I hope you all did too.

Comment below your favourite gift you got given and what your favourite part of Christmas is.

Thanks for reading,

Rachel. xo

14:31 7 comments

Hey!

So I mentioned in my tag post last night that I'd be going out to town and raiding the charity shop for books. As my blog name suggests, I like books, hence the 'chapter'. I've just never really gotten round to talking about books and what not. So I took a list of books on Goodreads wishlist with me and found 4 of the books I've been wanting to read for aaaages. And then my little sister surprised me by going into Poundland by herself and finding a book for me. It was a weird experience being out of the house, admittedly I was only out for 45 minutes but I did and with no panic attacks! *yey*

The Pocket Book of Boosh - Poundland: £1.

Completely brand new book, retails for £10 in Waterstones (sorry what.) and whilst I was wondering round a charity shop, my sister went for a wander round Poundland and spotted this bad boy and bought it for me, bless her. I absolutely adore The Mighty Boosh and have recently gotten my sister into it, so yey!

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult - Sue Ryder (charity shop): £1.

So the condition of this book when you first see it is OMG IT LOOKS BRAND NEW, but the spine is slightly indented (I can get over it because the cover is still in pretty condition). It retails second hand for around £3.50, so a bargain! I absolutely adore the movie and I've been looking for this book forever.

RSVP by Helen Warner - Sue Ryder (charity shop): £1.

THIS BOOK LOOKS LIKE IT'S NEVER BEEN READ. SCORE. I've basically picked up a brand new HARDCOVER copy of this book that retails for £8.99 usually. Okay so it is a Chick-lit book but who cares? It's been on my wishlist for ages and I finally bought it!

Survivor: My Story - The Next Chapter by Sharon Osbourne - PACT (charity shop): 25p.

YES YOU DID JUST READ THAT RIGHT. 25P FOR A PRACTICALLY BRAND NEW HARDCOVER COPY OF THIS BOOK. OH I'M GETTING TO EXCITED ABOUT BOOKS AH.

It retails for about £4-£6 new so this is a bargain beyond belief. Sharon Osbourne is a goddess aswell so you know.

A Living Nightmare (#1 in Cirque Du Freak series) by Darren Shan - PACT (charity shop): 25p.

I've remember getting this book out from the library a while ago and never actually got round to reading it, it's quite a short book so it'll only take a day and a bit to read it. And for 25p you can't go wrong.

Sugar Crush Body Wash from Soap & Glory - Boots: £6.50.

I only went into town with £10 and I had money left over, so yeah, that happened. Sugar Crush is my `favourite scent ever so, I DON'T NEED TO EXPLAIN MYSELF, I HAVE A PROBLEM OK. :-(

I hope you enjoyed this haul! You may now realise my excitement over books and how much I love to read so yes.

That's all for now,

Rachel. xo

15:02 6 comments

01:03 4 comments

Hey guys!

So the other day I made the impulse decision to dye my hair black. I was just so sick of my damaged blonde hair and just wanted a dark colour so that I could give my hair some time to repair. Well I just love the look of black hair on people with pale skin (I'm one of those pale skinned people) so I did it! I also cut in some vintage short bangs, (that's a short, curled upwards full fringe to us English people.)

Photo taken from Superdrug.

I used the dye 'L'Oreal Feria - Blackest Black', it uses a weird dye gel called colourant gel and the smell of that stuff is absolutely repugnant. The hair dye itself is permanent and lasts up to 24 weeks and it offers a 6 week treatment of high shine hair colour. This only cost £4.79 from Superdrug, but because I have suuuuper thick hair, I needed two bottles.

As I was putting black straight onto blonde, I left the colour on for a little short of the time it recommended. It recommended leaving it on for 30 minutes but I only left it on for 20, I needed my hair in the best condition possible or else it probably would have started falling out, haha.

I'm usually not a fan of using the conditioners that come with hair dye's, but as L'Oreal Feria is the hair dye my mum uses, she always raves about how lush the conditioner makes her hair feel, so hence the need the for this hair dye over any others. The conditioner and the high-shine elixir that you put in with the developer creme and colourant made my hair feel so soft and smooth. The conditioner comes in a medium sized tube and claims that it's a 6 week treatment, meaning the conditioner will last you 6 weeks, well I put the whole tube on my head straight after washing the dye out so...

After washing the dye out, conditioning and drying I decided to cut my fringe. I'd been admiring Bettie Page and Katy Perry for a while so attempted a short curled up full fringe, almost Bettie bang-like but without the shorter bits at the side. I absolutely love how my hair turned out. My fringe stops about an half an inch or so above my eyebrows so it's fairly short but too short. Just means I won't have to cut it so often when it grows out.

Here's the finished result. (Sorry for the awful webcam quality, it was the only way, haha!)

I'm really glad that I dyed it black and I don't regret it at all like I thought I would.

Gone are the days of brightly coloured hair, I think I'm sticking with this colour for a looong time.

That's all for now,

Rachel. xo

07:24 1 comments

Okay, this is my second mental health post in two days. I feel this needs to be said.

If you feel like you may have symptoms of depression, anxiety, OCD or an eating disorder. You need to ask for help. Asking for help is not going to make you seem weak like some people think it will. If you don't ask for help and you don't have that support system there for you, god knows what might happen to you. Asking for help might not even be going to the doctors to try and get a referral to see a counsellor, it could just be telling a parent, a friend, anyone that's close to you but you need to make someone aware of what you're feeling. I know I definitely left it really late, I'd been having panic attacks and having low moods 2/3 years before I even told my parents about it, I told them when things started to get debilitating which isn't good because when it came to seeing a counsellor, it was harder for her to help me because I'd let things get so bad. Also, maybe getting a diagnosis could give you some kind of closure, I wasn't prepared to start recovery until I knew exactly what was going on which turned out be general anxiety disorder, social anxiety, panic disorder and depression (yey for things! -.-).

I'm going to put down some symptoms of depression, anxiety and ocd, if you feel like you have a lot of the symptoms, you must tell someone before it develops into to something more serious. The sooner you see someone about it, the quicker they can prevent it from developing.

Depression:

continuous low moods or sadness.
feeling hopeless and helpless
having low self-esteem
feeling tearful
feeling guilt-ridden
feeling irritable and intolerant of others
having no motivation or interest in things
finding it difficult to make decisions
not getting any enjoyment out of life
feeling anxious or worried
having suicidal thoughts or thoughts of harming yourself.
moving or speaking more slowly than usual
change in appetite or weight (usually decreased, but sometimes increased)
unexplained aches and pains
lack of energy or lack of interest in sex (loss of libido)
changes to your menstrual cycle
disturbed sleep (for example, finding it hard to fall asleep at night or waking up very early in the morning)

Anxiety:

restlessness
a sense of dread
feeling constantly "on edge"
difficulty concentrating
irritability
impatience
being easily distracted
dizziness
drowsiness and tiredness
pins and needles
irregular heartbeat (palpitations)
muscle aches and tension
dry mouth
excessive sweating
shortness of breath
stomach ache
nausea
headache

OCD:

fear of deliberately harming yourself or others
fear of harming yourself or others by mistake or accident
fear of contamination by disease, infection or an unpleasant substance
a need for symmetry or orderliness
fear of committing an act that would seriously offend your religious beliefs
cleaning
handwashing
checking (such as checking doors are locked, or that the gas or a tap is off)
counting
ordering and arranging
hoarding
asking for reassurance
needing to confess
repeating words silently
prolonged thoughts about the same subject
"neutralising" thoughts (to counter the obsessive thoughts)

Please remember, there's always help whether you think there is or not. I'm going to list some links below for free self-help or counselling available in the UK.

ChildLine - ChildLine have a one to one instant messaging service where you can speak to a professional counsellor about any problems you may be facing. Or you can ring their confidential freephone number to speak to a counsellor: 0800 1111.

Samaritans - Call 08457 909090. The Samaritans are best known for being a suicide hotline, but they're there to listen to any problems regarding, stress, anxiety, depression or suicide.

PAPYRUS: Prevention of Young Suicide - PAPYRUS run a suicide hotline called HOPELine UK, Hopeline is a number you can call if you're just not coping with whatever life is throwing at you. If you're not coping, feeling suicidal, feeling as if you're putting yourself at risk, the professionals at Hopeline are there to help. Calls are free from BT landlines: 0800 068 41 41. Or you can text them on 07786 209697.

I honestly hope this post has been of some help. I'm always here for you to talk to if life just isn't going the way you'd planned, I'll be here to listen. :-)

Thanks for reading,

Rachel. xo

09:23 2 comments

Rachel Sarah XO

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