How To: DIY Pretty Mid-Term Academic Journal

Hey Guys! Today's post is a little bit different than usual, a how to: DIY pretty mid-term academic journal. The reason I decided to do this type of post today is that last year, near the end of summer, I decided that I wanted to get a journal with all the days of the year in it that I could write homework assignments for college and to do lists in. But when I went shopping for one, I noticed that all the cool academic journals with the entire school year going from July to the next September were all ugly, plain black leather ones, and all the pretty looking notebooks were just plain lined pages and I wanted my journal to be both useful and nice looking so I came up with the idea to make one myself. So I made one myself and used it all year round until it came to July and I decided I should make a new one for this year.
Here is what I used to make it: 
1. A plain mid-term academic journal  (you can get these a most book shops for around €8.99)
2. A nicely designed gift bag, preferably two different colours (my one was €3.80 from The Card Company)
3. Any clear,extra strong glue.
4. A scissors

What I did:

1. I cut one side of the gift bag out and fitted it to the journal to try and figure what way I would have to cut it to make it fit perfectly around the front of the journal and this is the shape I got. 

2. I then did the exact same for the back of the journal. Because there was two holes in the front of the journal (where the ribbon was before I removed it and cut up the gift bag) when I placed the cut out gift bag on the journal, I decided to put a bit of ribbon through it and tie it in a bow. And when both back and front are placed on the journal (Not glued yet) it will look like this:

3. Next I cut out a big strip from the pink part of the gift bag and tried to figure out what way to cut it to attach it to the spine of the journal and this is how it came out:

4. I then placed it on to the spine of the journal and bent the tabbed parts in to the back and front covers of the journal so it looked like this:

5. Then, when I was 100% sure that everything would fit right I glued each side one by one, putting glue on both the card and the journal and then leaving a heavy book on top of it while the glue set.

The Finished Journal looked like this:

With the inside looking like this (This picture was taking before I covered it)

                         Before                                                                               After

Hope you liked this post. Please leave a comment if you want me to do more posts like this in the future :)
P.S. A special thanks to my friend Aimee who helped me figure out how to make the first one last year xx

Friday Favourite #9 Benefit's High Beam

Hey Guys!! This weeks Friday Favourite is one of my favourite highlighters; Benefit's High Beam. It is the most beautiful pink-tinted shimmery highlighter and I just love the packaging, it looks kinda like a nail varnish and it is applied with a little brush that is attached to the lid which makes it look even more like a nail varnish. My little sister once saw me put it on my face to highlight my cheekbones and she thought I was crazy, putting nail varnish on my face haha. I use it as a highlight on both under my brow and to highlight my cheekbones, and sometimes even to highlight my cupids bow. I just dot it on with the brush and then rub it in with my fingers. It is so nice and satiny it leaves my face glowing and very radiant looking. It's definitely a favourite of mine lately!

The one issue I have with this product is how expensive it is. It around €28 and for a highlighter, I find that really expensive and don't think most people would spend that much just to highlight their face. I, however, am not most people and love makeup so much that if I know a product is a good quality product and I like it, I will save up so I can buy it and will definitely repurchase this when it's gone (This is my second one). A very good upside though is that IT LASTS FOREVER. Even though this is my second one, I still have my first one thats nearly gone and just thought that I needed a fresh one because I had the other one for literally years. If you are willing to spend the money, I would really recommend this highlighter just for how dewy it makes your skin look. If you would like this product, you can buy it here on Amazon.

Hope you liked this post :) What's your opinion on Benefit's High Beam? Do you think it's worth the money or not? Please leave a comment below :)

I've Joined Twitter!!

Hey Guys!! This is just a little post to say that I've finally joined Twitter. I've been putting it of for a long time but now I can say that I am a member of twitter :) If you want to follow me just click here to find my Twitter.

Liebster Award!

Hey, Guys! I have been nominated for the Liebster Award by the lovely Aman from Coffee Chic. Make sure to check out her blog. It's amazing!! The Liebster Award is a great way to find new bloggers and blogs. It is a chain blog award given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 hundred followers and I was so excited when I saw that Aman had nominated me for it :) Thank you so much, Aman!!

The Rules:

You must link the person who nominated you.
You must answer the 10 Liebster questions given to you by the nominee.

You must pick 10 bloggers with under 200 followers to be nominated for the award.

You must come up with 10 questions for your nominees to answer.
You must go to their blogs and notify your nominees.

Here are my answers to Aman's questions.

1. Do you prefer coffee or tea?
Tea definitely. As an Irish girl, I will always have a love of tea :) 

2. What is your favourite part about blogging?

I have a couple of favourite parts. I love when you get to press the publish button on a post and it's completely finished. I also really love when I get a new follower or when I read a really lovely comment on one of my posts because It makes me feel like people actually care about my posts and makes me want to post more and just really happy for the rest of the day.

3. What made you start your blog?

I decided to start my blog because I needed something to focus on for the summer because I'm only working like 2 days a week and I didn't want to die of boredom :P I chose to do a blog because I started watching Youtube Videos about 2 and a half years ago and as more time went by I felt like I wanted to do my own, but I wanted to ease myself into it and heard Zoella started blogging and then as her confidence grew started Youtube. But now that I have started Blogging I really like it a lot and I am glad I did it first. I am still planning to do Youtube but not for another while yet.

4. Do you collect anything? 

Other than makeup, not really.

5. What is something you are willing to splurge on?

Makeup. For brands like Mac that are really good quality, I will save up over time and then spend way too much in one day in there.

6. Favourite movie? 

I have no idea. I have way too many, it depends on how I feel at the time. I saw fight club recently and loved it.

7. Favourite candle scent?

I'm not really a candle person but I do like vanilla candles because I love the smell of vanilla.

8. What is one makeup product you cannot live without? 

Either eyeliner or eye shadow. I have really small eyes so I like to try and make them stand out more with eye makeup.

9. Favourite band/artist?  

I don't have one overall favourite but I really like Conor Maynard right now.

10. Heels or Wedges?

Heels. I don't really ever wear wedges.

and my nominees are.... Rozie from Trust Beauty Dreams, Hannah from squidoodles & oodles, Phoebe Bialkowski,  Paula from Beauty by Paula, Heather from All Things Heather Lee, Gerry from Little Swirl's Nifty Notes, Salihah from Teeniolect, Kitty from Kitty Hearts, Thuy from My Life and Erika from Live Love Erika.

My questions for my nominees :)

1. What made you start blogging?

2. What is one makeup product that you cannot live without?
3. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
4. What's your favourite TV show right now?
5. Who is your style icon?
6. What is your favourite lipstick?
7. What is your favourite part about blogging?
8. What is your best makeup tip?
9. Why did you choose the name for your blog?
10.How long have you had your blog?

Hope you liked this post. Thanks to Aman for nominating me for it. Feel free to leave a comment with your answers to any of the questions even if I haven't nominated you. 

Celeb Inspired Makeup Look #1 Selena Gomez (Come and Get it Music Video)

             Products used to achieve this look:

Face

Benefit's The Porefessional (to prime face)
Rimmel's Wake Me Up foundation (in True Ivory)
Rimmel's Wake Me Up concealer (in Soft Beige)
Bourjois' Délice de Soleil Bronzing Powder (14 Olive/Tanned Skin)(to bronze face and to use on cheeks)

Eyes

Urban Decay's Primer Potion (Original) (to prime eyes)

Colours used in Urban Decay's Naked Palette:
Half Baked (all over the lid)
Smog (on the outer half of the eyelid)
Darkhorse (in the outer corner)

Maybelline Expression Kajal Eye Liner in 33 black (to line the waterline + tightline)
Essence Gel Liner (01 Midnight in Paris) (to line the upper lashline; winging it out and upwards)
Curl Eyelashes 
Benefit's They're Real mascara (applied to lashes in a zigzag motion to avoid any clumps)

Lips

Essence Lip-liner (08 Red Blush) (to line lips)

Natural Collection Moisture Shine Lipstick (Crimson) (I know this ins't the exact lipstick colour and her lipstick is more of a orange-y red, but it was the brightest red lipstick I had and I didn't want to go out and buy one because I didn't think it would be a colour I would wear again.)


Hope you liked this post. Please comment and say if you found it easy to understand or if you think I should do these makeup look posts another way :) Watch the Come and Get It music video here.