How To Get Your Blog Noticed

I have yet another post for all you newbie bloggers and those who are simply looking to up their game and get their blog out there! With new blogs popping up left right and centre, it can be difficult to make sure your's is one of the ones that gets noticed. Every blogger will at some point feel like their blog deserves to get more attention (including me!), but there are certain ways in which you can help yourself by making your blog somewhere that people want to go and visit! So here is my advice for getting your blog noticed!

Photos

This is personally the thing that I feel is most important when it comes to running a blog. Make sure that your photos are as good as they can be. Compose them in interesting ways, edit them to make colours stand out yet look realistic. Photos are key in getting your blog noticed as many people like to simply look at the pictures and if you have dark, grainy photos they are less likely to revisit your blog. If people like your photos, chances are they may even read the content that goes alongside it. If you are new to blogging and are looking at improving your photos - I have written a bunch of tips, even sharing how I take and how I edit my blog post photos.

Content

Create content that you yourself would want to read. Make it interesting, do your research on products and topics, and think of what could be appealing to likeminded people. If you use the Blogger platform, you can even use Google Analytics to see what your readers are interested in so you can tailor your posts to suit your audience. And remember - personality gets you everywhere! So crack jokes, use italics, bold and underlines to convey your tone of voice. It seriously helps your readers connect with you and your blog. 

Check, Check and Check Again!

Always, and I mean always make sure you proof-read your posts before publishing them. There is nothing more embarrassing than finding a mistake after people have read the post and it is too late. Alongside your blog posts, check all the links work in your side bar (or wherever you have them). It is so annoying when you go to click an Instagram/Facebook/Twitter link to get the 'this page does not exist' message.

Get Your Name Out There
Comment on other people's posts, and I don't mean something along the lines of "check out my blog" or "follow for follow"! Leave feedback engaging with their content, constructive criticism, and make sure you leave a link at the end of your comment and people in the comments may pop over and visit your blog! Talk to people on social media, just be yourself and people will start to take notice of you.

Design

If your serious about getting into blogging, it can be worth investing in a template from places like Etsy. Since I took the plunge and purchased one from PipDig in January, my blog has had so many more visitors and I think this was the reason why! The look of your blog is extremely important. It needs to be well laid out with a clear blog title, social media links and a brief description of yourself. You should create pages so its easy for readers to navigate around your site. And most importantly, your blog posts should be easy to see and read - with a comments section so you readers can get in touch and leave nice messages!

Got any tips of your own? Leave them below and share the love!

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

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9 Things Nobody Tells You When You Start Blogging

Something a little bit different for you all today. But I found myself very reflective recently, which isn't entirely unusual for me. But in recent weeks my attention has been around my blog. I've been blogging here for over a year and a half now and during that time I have had a lot of shocks and surprises! So here we are - the things nobody tells you when you first start out in the blogging industry:

1. If you go to a blog event, everyone is awkward. It's just the way it is. You aren't the only one that feels all nervous and shy! But you can literally talk about anything. Instagram, cats, food, blogging, makeup, shoes - ANYTHING! And don't worry, none of the bloggers I've met (well the ones I've met anyway) turned out to be axe murders or catfish. 
2. You will never be completely happy with your blog. Whether its the amount of reads your latest posts get, your blog design or simply the number of followers you have. There will always be something you don't like or wish you could improve. In many cases there are things you can do to help. For example, if your blog isn't getting readership - share your posts on social media more. Plug yourself like crazy. It takes a lot of time and effort, but the results are worth it! 
3. You will get some strange PR requests. And I mean strange. Oh you want me to talk about mens underwear on a blog targeted at women? You want me to share an outfit idea for a stripper in Las Vegas? OK. I'll definitely reply to your email straight away. (NOT!) These are genuine requests I have been sent too! 
4. Coding is incredibly hard and you will probably end up paying someone to design your blog for you and maybe even install it for you. Even if you try googling how to do something, chances are you won't understand ANY of the results that come up. 
5. Every single time another blog with a similar amount of followers gets asked to go to an exclusive event or gets their hands on the latest beauty releases. You will get incredibly jealous. Like is my blog not good enough for you?
6. Some free blogger samples are not worth the amount of effort it takes to get them. You've taken two months to send me the products but you want me to write a post about them and mention them on my social media 272678976 times in 24 hours? Goodbye. 
7. When you finally get to meet a blogger in real life who you have been talking to on pretty much a daily basis, you will be shocked when words come out of their mouths. And their voice sounds completely different from how you imagined.
8. Buy a domain name from the start if you are wanting to buy one. Otherwise old followers or readers won't be able to find you if you spontaneously decide to purchase one at 4am on a Thursday morning. 
9. You'll run out of mobile data on a regular basis. Refreshing the Bloglovin' Popular page to see if you've 'made it', tweeting every blogger in the world, and uploading that Instagram of your latest buys or your delicious lunch will lead you to run out of data and will take away those precious pennies that could be better spent on something else. 

And that's the end of my list! Anything I've missed? Share it below!

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

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Simple Ways To Improve Your Blog

Hello folks! If you couldn't tell, I've been really loving sharing my tips with you lately. So here I am with yet another post, but this time I'm sharing some incredibly simple ways to improve the quality of your blog! I'll try not to ramble too much - I promise! 

Learn how to use your camera properly. A good photo can honestly say a billion words! You could write one of the best blog posts in the world, but without some quality photos to go alongside, you won't engage people visually! I have done quite a few posts (here, here and here at least!) about blog photography, and I have a couple more in the works for the next few months - so stay tuned for more tips! 

Use social media. Use Twitter and other social media to promote your posts and get you blog out there. Pinterest can be a really good website for bloggers. It is not only a great place to share and promote your posts and drive traffic to your blog, but is also a great place to look for inspiration! I think of so many ideas for blog posts when I'm browsing through Pinterest at 3am! I've recently changed over to a business Pinterest account which is recommended for bloggers. 

Filter your posts by category (and have a search bar). Attach labels when writing your posts to help future readers locate specific posts. If someone is wanting to find a review for a moisturiser that you wrote a couple months ago, make sure your posts are tagged with things like 'moisturiser' and 'skincare' so posts are easily located from your archives. 

Display a list of your popular posts. They are your most popular for a reason. Display them somewhere on the main page of your blog, alongside photos so new readers can see things that might be of interest to them. Maybe display them down one side of your blog under your sidebar? If you use the Blogger platform, there is a widget you can install in the 'Layout' section.

Invest in some business cards. If you a dead serious about blogging, why not invest in some business cards? I know, I know - the first time someone told me I needed some I laughed questioning why I would need some as I am by no means a 'professional blogger'. But then I was asked for one whilst out and not having any, I knew I needed to get myself some! If you are going to buy some though, do make sure they have a similar design to your blog as it showcases your brand.

Post regularly and try and stick to a schedule. If you stick to a schedule, readers will know when you have new content going up so they can pop back! It increases your return readership and is such a simple thing to do yourself. Pick a day (or multiple) and stick to it - I post every Wednesday and Sunday and I have it mentioned on my blog.

Get rid of the navbar. If using the Blogger platform, get rid of the nasty navbar that comes built in at the top of the screen. It looks soooo unprofessional and tacky. I did this almost a year ago and I am so glad I did! I was a little hesitant at first, I thought I'd hate it but it made my blog look so much more sleek. Plus if you really don't like it, it is really easy to get it back.

Are any of you planning on making any improvements to your blog? Let me know what you plan to do - it's always interesting seeing other peoples plans! 

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

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How I Take My Blog Photos

A while ago I shared with you how I edit my blog post photos, and since then I've had a couple of requests to share how I take my photos in the first place! Logically it would have made sense to write them the other way round, but it's good to be different - right? First of all, I use the Nikon D3100 with a standard 18-50mm lens. It's a fairly cheap camera and there are certainly better ones out there (at a much higher cost), but this has served me well and I'm extremely familiar with all the settings and features. I could probably take a photo with my eyes shut! Just so you know, it doesn't really matter which camera body you get as long as you get one with a standard size lens mount so you can get lots of different lenses to build up your camera kit. 

Timing. I tend to take my photos mid-morning or in the afternoon after the midday sun has started to lower in the sky. As I only use natural light for my photos, I've found that these are the best times to get well lit photos with minimal shadows. I never use flash and I urge you never to do so either. It creates glare and can ruin your photos! When taking my photos, I place whatever objects I'm taking in a well lit location onto of a self made backdrop (large sheets of thick paper) to keep my images looking bright and crisp. 

I shoot on manual. I always shoot on manual. I've shot like this for a while, as a professional photographer once advised me to do so and I've never looked back since! Shooting on manual allows you to adjust all of the settings on your camera to suit the lighting conditions at a time! I usually set my ISO to 100 and if the lighting isn't so great I go up to 200 - but never higher than that! If you shoot using high ISOs, you come out with a super grainy photo, so unless you're a concert photographer or are aiming for that effect - stick to a low setting! Shutter speed and aperture are probably the most important settings when it comes to taking any photo. You want to aim to have a shutter speed of around 1/125 to keep your photos completely in focus. This means that the shutter opened and closes pretty quickly, leaving you with lovely crisp images. Adjusting the aperture on your camera, adjusts how sensitive the sensor is to light. A low aperture, lets lots of light into the camera and a high aperture leaves out the light and gives you dark images. It helps to think about it as a 24 hour clock. At 9.00 (e.g low aperture of f/6.3), it is light and bright and at 21:00 (e.g hight aperture of f/22) it is pitch black dark! 

I take my images in a JPEG+Raw file format. Saving a 'Raw' file helps in that if you completely mess up with your camera settings, but have taken a well composed image - you can go into Photoshop (and some other editing programs) and change your camera settings HOW AWESOME IS THAT?! You can essentially go back in time and alter how you shot your photos! MAGIC! 

Manual focus. As well as shooting on a manual setting, it is also important to focus your DSLR manually. Although it takes more time and effort - the results can often be so much better! You can play around with the focus to add depth to your photos, it always looks nice to have some bits out of focus on purpose. 

I hope this post has helped some of you! If there's anything that you feel I haven't covered - please let me know and I'll get back to you or if there's a lot of topics to cover I'll include them in another blog post! Oh and if you have any tips of your own, feel free to share them in the comments to help each other out!

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

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Cocktails and Canapés: Revolution Relaunch Party

Hello everyone! Last week I was invited down to sample the new food and drink menu at Revolution in the Electric Press, Leeds. They have just reopened with a brand new look and a revamped food and drink menu. I like to drag my friend Fern (Hi Fern!) along as my plus one to these events as (honestly we just like the free cocktails) we use them to catch up with each other! 

When we arrived, it was absolutely chaos! Aswell as it being a press/blogger evening, it was also open to the general public. They had what I understood to be a designated area for those, like me, sampling the new menu - but were so many people crammed into this area that it soon became difficult to move around. It was also a Friday night, so everyone (and I mean everyone) was out! Once staff had realised, they began asking people to leave their tables so they could be packed away. Meaning there were no seats for anyone. Fern and I eventually found a table with a lovely couple sat at it, and they offered us the spare seats. Once we had found somewhere to sit, we began sampling some of the delicious cocktails on offer. 

As soon as we walked though the front door, we were given the choice of two different cocktails (sorry, they were inhaled before I had the chance to take a photo). I opted for one with strawberries and gin (GIN ALL THE WAY, AM I RIGHT?), which I believe was called 'Gin N Juice'. We decided to buy a cocktail each as it was the end of happy hour with two-for-one cocktails. We both got a 'Bramble' (see first picture), which I ended up drinking both of because Fern gave up! We were then brought a shot glass sampler of the 'Caribbean Passion', which again, I drank both of. That was it really for cocktails, we had both had enough, especially considering that we had taken up on the two-for-one offer at Slug and Lettuce on the walk up from the train station! #cocktailaddict

 The food was absolutely delicious! I didn't realise that Revolution did food, but I will certainly be popping back after sampling some delicious items of the menu! One of the first things we tried, were these little goats cheese balls with red chilli and cucumber. We had quite a few of these as they were so yummy! I wish I had caught my reaction of eating the chill, I really didn't expect it to be so spicy! I believe they are a side to some of the new main dishes on the menu, but I'm not entirely sure!

Mini hotdogs on sticks!

The mini hot-dogs (I think they actually called them dough-dogs), were my favourite! At first I thought it was a spring roll (stupid Charlotte), so when I bit into it I was both pleasantly surprised and disappointed at the same time. All of the things we tried we part of some new sharing platters, the 'Deli Crate' and the 'Street Food Crate', so I know what I'll be ordering next time! Whilst we were eating, a lovely gentleman came round and asked if he would be able to draw us. My first reaction was 'Oh God, how much is this going to cost' but to my surprise it was free! He was so lovely and we noticed a couple of people going round with rolled up drawings. I thought this was a lovely touch, and a bit different from the usual nightclub photographer. I'm not sure if he goes regularly, of if he was just there as a one off. But his drawings were hilarious! I loved them!

Also! I attempted to vlog the evening! So if you fancy watching it….

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

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Celebrating 1000 Followers With Bakerdays

UPDATE! The giveaway has now closed!

Hello friends! As I'm sure you may have noticed, in the last week I reached 1000 followers on my blog(!!) and the lovely people at Bakerdays got in touch to see if I'd like to celebrate with one of their lovely letter box cakes! I obviously said YES as who could turn down an opportunity for cake?!

When the cake arrived I was impressed that it actually did fit through the letterbox! I know, it’s a Letterbox Cake, so obviously it will fit through the letterbox, but I was still impressed! When I opened up the little box, the cake was inside a beautiful tin alongside a little note card, balloons, a couple of candles, some balloons and a party blower. I thought this was a lovely touch that made the gift seem a little more personal and worth the money - plus you can use the tin to store the cake in so it doesn't go all dry and stale!

I was excited to see what the cake would look like as I'd not given them any specific design ideas, just telling them to be creative haha! But when I opened it up THEY HAD WRITTEN MY NAME ON IT!! I've never had my name on a cake so it made it even more special! It had an absolutely gorgeous design and I'm so happy with it!

You can choose from six, yes six different flavours of cake - vanilla, chocolate chip, chocolate and vanilla layered, fruit, and theres even gluten and dairy free! My cake was vanilla flavoured, and this is exactly what I would have chosen if I'd have been placing an order! AND OMG IT TASTES FREAKIN' DELICIOUS! The cake itself lasts for around 14 days according to Bakerdays, but if I'm honest mine lasted about an hour before it was demolished. It would have been eaten quicker, but I had to photograph it for the purpose of this blog post!

You can personalise a cake with different messages, your own photos or simply choose one of over 400 pre-made designs with a standard greeting like 'happy birthday' or 'congratulations'. The letterbox cakes start at just £14.99 including delivery (price includes a 7 day delivery, you can pay to have it delivered sooner though). Simply go to their website to choose and create a special gift for someone (or even yourself if you're in the mood!).

Giveaway Terms and Conditions 

Bakerdays are offering the chance for one of my lovely readers to win one of their very own cakes so you can celebrate along with me! It's very simple, all you have to do is follow the instructions mentioned below. The giveaway will close one week from the date of this post (closes at 2pm on 02/09/2015), and a winner will be selected entirely at random by myself. 

1. Follow Bakerday's on their Twitter

2. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

3. Follow my blog on Bloglovin'

4. Consider voting for me as the Best Up and Coming Beauty Blog here

5. And last but not least, leave a comment down below so I can get in touch with you if you are selected as a winner!

Thanks for reading and best of luck!

Love Charlotte x

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P.S! I have been shortlisted for the Best Up and Coming Beauty Award in the #BloggerBlogAwards and I would be absolutely over the moon if you could go over and vote me as winner! Eeeeeeek!

100th Blog Post, 500 Followers and Confessions Of A Beauty Blogger

Hello lovelies! I can't quite believe it but this is my 100th blog post! I didn't really know what to write for this post, I thought about doing a 'Charlotte through the ages' sort of thing - sharing photos from my 19 years on earth. But with uni deadlines looming and working 5 days a week, I didn't have the time to sort through boxes of all my family albums. But then I hit 500 followers on Bloglovin' and this just seemed like the perfect idea for a post - letting you in on the behind the scenes secrets of being a blogger! Although if you are interested in seeing what I looked like as a child, let me know and I'll dig out some photos for my next post!

I write 99.9% of my blogposts sat in oversized band T-shirts and pyjama bottoms with my hair tied up in a messy bun - not with a full face of makeup on, wearing my best clothes

I swear that this isn't just me? Who would make that much effort to sit behind a computer screen! Unless I am shooting photos for a makeup look or outfit post, I am definitely sat at home looking like an absolute tramp. 

I don't wash my makeup brushes regularly - sorry!

Truth be told, who can actually own up to washing their makeup brushes on a regular basis? I tend to go from one extreme to another - either washing them all the time or never washing them. Infact sometimes, I've just bought more brushes so I don't have to wash them as often!

I don't remove my nail polish when it chips

I'm one of those girls that loves to have shiny painted nails, but usually when my nail polish chips, I don't take it off until there's just a small blob in the centre of the nail haha!

My bedroom doesn't look like one of those flawless Pinterest posts

My bedroom is an absolute mess! The only area that looks reasonably tidy is my window ledge because that's where I take my blog post photos (although to get there you have to make it through my army style assault course of a bedroom).

I basically wear the same makeup all the time

Don't be expecting any different and exciting makeup tutorials from me - choosing a different shade of brown eyeshadow is as exciting as it gets for me. I have absolutely no idea how to even mix up my looks!

Blogging is incredibly hard work

Even when you're not sat writing a post, you're promoting your posts on social media, replying to emails, taking photos or brainstorming ideas. It often feels like a 24/7 job - I can honestly say that it sometimes gets on top of me and I tend to go a bit M.I.A.

So I've shared my secrets! Now it's your turn! Confess in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x
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Blogging Equipment & Photography Tips and Tricks

I frequently get sent lots of emails, tweets and comments from you all telling me how much you like my style of photography, asking what camera I use and how I learnt to use it. Well, I have finally got round to writing this post especially for you guys! I don’t often dish out advice on the subject of blogging mainly because I don’t consider myself an all-knowing oracle on the subject. It’s a world that’s constantly changing, there’s no right or wrong way of doing things and I’m still learning something new everyday myself. But when it comes to photography, I like to think I know a thing or two.

In sixth form/college, I decided to take A-Level photography as one of my four subjects. I had always had an interest in photography, visiting art galleries as a kid and just taking random photos on disposable cameras. When I started my course, I didn't own a camera. I saw that as a bit of a drawback considering I needed good grades to get into university. So I saved up, and a few months into my course I almost had enough money to buy a DSLR. My mum kindly put the rest together for me as a christmas present and I went with her to pick out a camera! I chose the Nikon D3100 as until I had my own, I used to loan out the ones belonging to my college, and this (amongst a couple others) is one of the ones I liked to loan out. My 'photography' teachers were actually art teachers and one of them didn't even know how to open the cupboards to get the cameras out, so from the start I knew the course was going to be very self led. I followed tutorials online, looked through the Instagrams of photographers and just tried to replicate their styles. Over time, I developed my own 'style' and I loved the bold, crisp, colourful images that I try and incorporate into my blog posts. 

To start blogging, I’d say you need minimal equipment: a camera and an internet connection. You don’t need to splash out on fancy gadgets at all. Many of the well known bloggers started out with little point of shoot cameras. No matter what you have, whether it's your phone or a £7000 camera, as long as you know how to use it properly you are in business! My camera cost no more than £350 from Argos (I can't seem to find it to tell you the exact cost) and it is just as good as more expensive ones I have tried.

In April, I bought myself the little Sony A5000 for more on the go blogging and tutorial style posts where I need to see myself (it has a flip screen unlike my DSLR). I'm still playing around with it and getting to know how to use it properly, but I used it for the photo of my DSLR in this post and it seems to do a good enough job! It retails at £251, which is a lot cheaper than the DSLR and it does pretty much the same stuff for a fraction of the post. It is cheap because they have since brought out the A6000 (?) which is the newer model and therefore there will be less demand for it. So if you are in need of a new camera for blogging, why not check out something like this rather than a DSLR?

For lighting, I use natural lighting - which is starting to make more of appearance here in the UK! I have used artificial lighting whilst doing my photography course and I know how amazing it is, but you can achieve similar results when natural lighting is used. Especially considering how expensive lighting it! The best tip with lighting that I've ever received is to NEVER… I repeat NEVER… use your cameras built in flash! If your photos turn out a little darker than you want them, you can always retouch them. There are many free photo retouching websites and programs out there. You don't need Photoshop at all! I am fortunate enough to have it (by the way, as students you can get it for just over £100 rather than £800+) but before I bought it I managed just fine!

If you have any other questions that I haven't covered in my post, feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email (charlottesophiaroberts@gmail.com) and I will reply as soon as possible!

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x
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Choose Happy

Happiness is a choice. You have to choose to be happy. For every minute you are sad or upset,  you lose a minute of being happy.  Be happy.  Be yourself.  If others don’t like it, then let them be.  Life isn’t about pleasing everybody.

If you have the courage to admit when you’re scared, the ability to laugh even as you cry, the nerve to speak up, even if your voice is shaking, the confidence to ask for help when you need it, and the wisdom to take it when it’s offered, then you have everything you need to get yourself to a happier state of mind.

Begin today by taking responsibility for your own contentment.  Here are ten ways to choose happiness:

Choose to be the best you can be. – When I was in college, this was sort of a motto for my head of year. He'd say it at the start of every day, put it on all his power points and just tell us that this is what we should aim for in life. Give everything to whatever you do, commit to your goals, and don’t compare yourself to anyone else.  "Success and happiness is peace of mind, which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.”  Never try to be better than anyone else, but never stop trying to be the best you can be. 

Choose to be around the right people. – Spend time with nice people who are smart, driven and likeminded.  Relationships should help you, not hurt you.  Surround yourself with people who reflect the person you want to be.  Choose friends who you are proud to know, people you admire, who love and respect you – people who make your day a little brighter simply by being in it.  Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you.  Say goodbye and move on. Believe me, I've done my fair share of this. 

Choose to focus on what you have, not on what you want. – When you appreciate what you have, what you have appreciates in value.  Being grateful for the good that is already  in your life will bring you a deeper sense of happiness.  And that’s without having to go out and buy or acquire anything new (says the girl who wants to own everything).  It makes sense.  You will have a hard time ever being happy if you aren’t thankful for what you already have

Choose a good attitude. – What often screws us up the most in life is the picture in our head of how it’s supposed to be.  And the reason so many of us give up is because we tend to look at how far we still have to go, instead of how far we have come.  Remember, life is a journey, not a destination.  This moment, like every moment, is a priceless gift and an opportunity.  Be positive, smile, and make it count.  Pretend today is going to be great.  Do so, and it will be.  Research shows that although we think that we act because of the way we feel, in fact, we often feel because of the way we act.  A great attitude always leads to great experiences

Choose to smile more often. – A smile is a choice, not a miracle.  Don’t wait for people to smile. Show them how.  A genuine smile makes you and everyone around you feel better.  The simple act of smiling sends a message to your brain that you’re happy.  And when you’re happy, your body pumps out all kinds of feel-good hormones.  Every year I make a new years resolution to smile more. Every year I work towards by resolution. So by the time I'm 30 I should be a walking, talking happy emoji. 

Choose honesty. – Start being honest with yourself and everyone else.  Don’t cheat.  Be faithful.  Be kind.  Do the right thing!  It is a less complicated way to live. Don’t get involved with drama that doesn’t affect you and your way of life.

Choose to help others when you’re able. – Care about people.  In life, you get what you put in.  When you make a positive impact in someone else’s life, you also make a positive impact in your own life.  Do something that’s greater than you – something that helps someone else to be happy or to suffer less. KARMA.

Choose to embrace the next step in your life. – You can hold on to the past, or you can create your own happiness in the present.  Never let success get to your head and never let failure get to your heart.  Every day is a new beginning and a new ending. A new story.  Make the best of it, smile, and keep looking straight ahead with your head held high.  And don’t forget, a smile doesn’t always mean a person is happy right now; sometimes it simply means they are strong enough to face their problems going forward. 

And remember, your mind is your private sanctuary; do not allow the negative beliefs of others to occupy it.  Your skin is your barrier; do not allow others to get under it.  Take control of your boundaries and what you allow yourself to absorb from others.

You are the only one who can create your happiness. The choice is yours.  Choose to be happy.

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

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Music for May

Tracklist

1. Take Me To Church - Hozier

2. Feel - Bombay Bicycle Club

3. F For You - Disclosure

4. Left Hand Free - Alt-J

5. Pumped Up Kicks - Foster The People

6. Take A Walk - Passion Pit

7. Let Go For Tonight - Foxes

8. She Moves In Her Own Way - The Kooks

9. Mexico - The Staves

10. Once Upon A Dream - Lana Del Ray
11. Dream Lover - The Vaccines
12. Did You Hear The Rain? - George Ezra
13. King - Years and Years
14. Desire - Years and Years
15. Someone New - Hozier
16. Stronger - Clean Bandit
17. Real Love - Clean Bandit
18. Lean On - Major Lazer
19. The Gospel of John Hurt - Alt J
20. Younger - Seinabo Sey

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

Where To Splurge, Where To Save

One of the most well argued debates in the makeup industry is the "is high end better?" debate. Now I have briefly touched on this subject before (in my 10 things I've learnt from beauty bloggers post) and mentioned that many high end brands also own drugstore/highstreet brands and therefore the products are made using similar formulations. 
But, I'm sure there are still people out there that want to have just a little touch of luxury in the lives. Soooooo, if this seems to describe you, keep on reading to hear my thoughts on which products you could splash out on and which you should save your pennies for something else. 

The general rule I tend to follow is 'how often will I use the product?'. Things like foundation usually get used up the fastest meaning that you have to repurchase it more frequently. Now I don't know about you, but I'd rather repurchase something that costs £6.99 rather than something that costs £36.99. So I try and avoid buying expensive foundations, concealers and powders now matter how amazing they sound. They could cure colds and I'd probably like to save my hard earned money for something else (waves goodbye to NARS Sheerglow and Dior Airflash foundations). 

Products I use less of or less frequently like lipstick, highlighter, blush and bronzer are the products I see the potential for spending more on. You often use less of these types of products so for the money you spend on them, the more you will get out of them. Money well spent!

Another rule I try to follow is 'will I still want to wear this in six months time?'. Theres no point splashing out on something when it's just a short lived trend. I want products that are classic and versatile. Many products have a good use-by date on them so will last you a long time if its something you really like and not something thats going to be sat in the back of a drawer gathering dust. 

What are your thoughts on this? Do you prefer to spend or save?

Thanks for reading!

Love Charlotte x

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