Monday 27 February 2017

My February in pictures

Hey guys! Today I am doing a relaxed chatty what I've been up to in February/ my February in pictures. This month has been quite busy and I've been up to some really amazing things so I thought I'd show you through my pictures, in quite a similar way I used to do over on my life blog.

Firstly, as you guys know it was my birthday on the 5th of feb and I came home from uni for the weekend. On the train home I started reading "A little something different" which made such a lovely train read!
For my birthday weekend, I went for afternoon tea with my mum at Hotel Chocolate which I loved! It was so nice! Then later that day I went to jump arena with my boyfriend, friend and her boyfriend which was so much fun. In the evening they came back to my house and we played loads of games and had a good laugh!


On my actual birthday, I opened all my presents and had a lovely Sunday dinner with my family and picked out a cake, which was so yummy!
Unfortunately, I had to go back to uni on my birthday, back for a stats exam! I get the results back this week so fingers crossed.

After my stats exam was over I went out with my flatmates and had a lot of fun.
Then it was valentines day and me and my boyfriend celebrated by going to Annie's Burger Shack in Nottingham which was amazing, they have loads of cool burgers. I got a fajita burger and my boyfriend got a Sunday lunch burger which came with roasties and a Yorkshire pudding! After we went down to the bar underneath and they have board games and an old fashioned video game console there so we stayed for a drink and played some games which was lovely.
Later on in the month (The weekend just been) I went home again to see Cirque Du Soleil which was fantastic! I would recommend going to see it if you ever have the chance!



I also have some really exciting things coming up next month! Firstly, I am helping to run the @abunchofgirls twitter account so it would mean a lot if you went over and gave it a follow! Also I may be auditioning to be an extra in a film this month! It's a bit up in the air so I'll let you guys know how it goes over on my twitter (@ellie_smithxo). Another exciting thing is I'll be starting my volunteering this month, for a charity in Nottingham called Improving lives. I am quite nervous as I have my first shadowing session on Thursday. Finally, my boyfriend's band have their album launch this month that I am going home for so that will be nice!

I hope you enjoyed this post! What have you been up to? Do you have anything exciting coming up?
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Monday 20 February 2017

Elysium MUA eye shadow palette review and swatch

Hey guys! Today's blog post is going to be a review and swatch of MUA's Elysium palette! If you read my what I got for my 20th birthday post you will have seen a received this from my friend for my birthday and I wanted to do a review of it. Also, can I just say, I'm writing this at 5 and it's light outside still I can't believe it! I love watching the nights stay lighter for longer and not waking up at 8 and it still being pitch black. I am so excited for summer. Anyway on with the review.



First of all, I really like the layout of the palette, kind of split into a "day" and "night" section which I think is the point but I love matching the colours. I love these colours too, my favourite two are the two browny matte crease colours in Charm and Refine they're so lovely for a transition or crease colour. I also love the dark pink colour Astral. The only colour I am not a fan of is the light pink colour Cherub as I don't find it as pigmented as the others (you'll see what I mean in the swatches) but the other ones are so pigmented and blend so well.

This palette also comes with an eyeliner and highlighter both of which seem really good. I prefer to highlight with a shadow and to eyeline with my Rimmel kohl but I still like it in this palette as it makes it really nice to travel with. You can create a lot of different looks with this palette too and it's been really fun to experiment with.

I have done some swatches of this palette, first of all the "day section"
From left to right, these are the colours Air, which you can barely see I could not get this to show up at all! Cherub which as you can see is very sheer, It's a pretty colour and I love shimmer eyeshadows but this is almost too shimmery and chunky, I think it would have to be used on top of a matte light pink colour instead as on its own on the lid it's too sheer and bitty! Next is Charm, Astral and Grace.

This is the "night" side of the palette! These colours are a lot darker so they can be seen more!
The first colour refine which I talked about earlier is probably my favourite colour in the whole palette such a lovely taupe brown that's almost a little purple. Then we have Entrance which is similar to Grace and I don't use this colour too much. Then Adore which is a nice deep purple and Smoke which is a matte black and is so useful to have in every palette! Finally, Seraphic which I obviously love! Although I haven't been wearing golds so much recently they'll always be my thing!

I Also thought I'd swatch the eyeliner and highlighter,
The eyeliner is a nice matte black and the highlighter is a champagne peachy colour! I like this more than if they'd included a brush, I never use the brushes palette come with and have so many flat brushes I never use so I like that they put this in instead!

I hope you enjoyed this post! Have you tried this palette? You can follow me on twitter @ellie_smithxo or instagram @littleblogsfromlittlepeople to find out when I post and more!
Lots of love,
Eleanor x


Monday 13 February 2017

More Than This (Patrick Ness) book review

Hey guys! Today's post is a book review of "More Than This" by Patrick Ness. If you saw my what I got for my birthday post last week you will have seen I asked for lots of Patrick Ness books and straight away I had to jump into More Than This because I've been wanting to read it for a really long time! This review will include a few minor spoilers so if you don't want any spoilers I would not read this post! No major plot lines or twists are reviled though.



Seth wakes up in his childhood after having died and has absolutely no idea where he is but he's pretty sure he's in hell. It does seem like hell, there's no one around and not much food or water. He's covered in these strange tapes and covered in bruises. I love the premise of this book. It's so interesting and really keeps you on tenterhooks as you learn all about this strange world. I really liked the main character and I love how Patrick Ness keeps a lot of information from you at the beginning so you really feel like Seth, no idea where he is.

As the book develops you meet two more characters, Regine and Tomasz who are always show up at exactly the right time, nd who conveniently have all the answers something which Seth does comment on a lot. In fact, Seth often wonders if he's imagining this place and that's why he's always luckily saved. I think it's good in a way that Ness notices this fact, and actually comments on how contrived the story is to the point that he thinks he's imagining his own film. But it is almost like Ness can't help himself but make the story follow a "happy film like line" where the bad guys die and the good guys live.

In terms of emotions, I wouldn't say the book was happy or sad, it's somewhere in between. It has sad moments definitely and I love the flashbacks to Seth's previous life and of course the massive twists made me actually gasp out loud sometimes but they aren't exactly happy. The book does raise some really big questions about humanity and technology that I found really interesting and I would really recommend reading this.

I personally wasn't the biggest fan of the ending. It's quite ambiguous and kind of leaves it on a cliffhanger for you to make your own ending so to speak but I personally like a clean cut ending! But that's just personal choice, if you quite like those endings then you will really like this book. Despite not really liking the ending I loved this book and honestly it's so hard writing this review without spoiling some of the main points in this book they just want to explode out of me! It's just one you have to go out and read!

Have you read this? What did you think? I will be posting two times this week you lucky things so I will be back later this week. You can see what I get up to daily by following my twitter @ellie_smith or my Instagram @littleblogsfromlittlepeople.
Lots of love,
Eleanor x

Tuesday 7 February 2017

What I got for my 20th birthday

Hey guys! Last sunday was my birthday and I turned the grand age of 20! It's really insane to think I'm not a teenager anymore! I had a lovely weekend which I went home for to spend time with my family. I wanted to show you guys what I got so I hope you enjoy!



Firstly, as you can see I got this lovely candle from my sister. It smells so good and I can't wait to burn it.

My main present was my pandora bracelt. I hummed and hawed about what I wanted for my birthday and I never really jumped on the pandora bandwagon but I've finally given in and I love it! The bracelt came with the heart charm with the amethyst because it's my birthstone. My boyfriend bought me this lovely rose gold charm.


My boyfriend also got me lots of books and some tassimo pods for my coffee machine. I am currently reading "more than this" by Patrick Ness and i think I'll do a review of it when I finish it! I also can't wait to start the trilogy and I am loving the blogger book!
I also got some chocolates, Ted Baker goodies, a debanhams giftcard and a new perfume, Aura by Swarovski.
From my friends I got some really nice things. From my friends at uni I got this personalised glasses case with my initials on and a nyx blush!
 And finally from my friend Lucy I got this MUA Elysium eyeshadow pallet (review comming soon!) and this makeup revolution lip lacquer in the colour "keep trying for you."

And that is what I got for my birthday! I hope you enjoyed this post!
Lots of love,
Eleanor x