Easy Updo: Messy Plait Bun

This is my go-to hairstyle for casual wear, date nights and even events (particularly weddings!) and I love it because it's so damn EASY to do! I'm sorry I don't have any photos of the process, but I'll talk you through it step by step:

1) Section off the front part of your hair (or your fringe if you have one) and french plait this along the front of your head, securing with a clear or thin elastic (you'll be hiding this later)

2) Plait the rest of your hair on one side and secure it with another thin or clear elastic, pulling parts of it loose to create bigger sections in your bun

3) Twist your plait into a bun, securing with bobby pins as you go to create a tight side-bun, making sure that both clear elastics are tucked within your bun

4) Pull out sections where you want to create the effect of loose plaiting

Et Voila! Set with hairspray if you need this look to last, and do what I did and take lots of arty photos!

Budget Birthday Celebrations: Sushi Sunday

When asked what they would like to do for their birthday, most people will say they want nothing more than a day with friends and/or family, and so finding a fun way to spend an evening which didn't cost the earth was the number one priority for us, a group of students, on a friend's birthday! Eventually settling on a sushi evening, we enlisted the help of our wiser (and far more cultured) friend to guide us, although I'm sure it could have worked just as well with a YouTube tutorial, and sharing the end result (however awfully they may turn out) and splitting the price of the ingredients just make this all the more attractive as an idea! All in all I was particularly pleased with my slightly misshapen sushi rolls, however bad they may appear to a more experienced sushi chef, and I like to tell myself that it's definitely the taste that counts in this situation...

All of the ingredients required can be purchased fairly easily at a local supermarket, although if there's one near you, the Japan Centre is well worth a visit for the most authentic ingredients - and you can pick up some amazing sweets there, too! Site link at the bottom of this post.

 https://www.japancentre.com/en

Things I Realised When Sharing a Bathroom

With three showers between fourteen students in my flat, things can (understandably) get a little tense now and then, and all sorts of rules have been born out of necessity following rather  *ahem* interesting experiences. Such exciting circumstances have led to a few realisations for me, many of which I wish I'd been aware of before arriving.

The first of these is that it will always be damp.

You know that disgusting feeling of cold water under your feet in swimming pool changing rooms? Yeah, that. That is constant. It's quite unsettling the first few days when it takes you by surprise, but, worryingly enough, I can't say I notice it any more.

Secondly, people pee in the shower.

This is one of those situations that led to a rule. With a wet-room style shower, peeing is really not ideal for anyone, and the smell lingers (sorry for that thought). Thankfully, this hasn't happened since, and I'm really hoping it stays that way.

You can't keep your stuff in the bathroom.

There are two parts to this one. Firstly, there just isn't the space for it. For a flat designed for so many people, the storage really isn't optimal. For this reason, I'd recommend investing in a shower basket which lives in your room on a shelf and you can just pick up and take with you. Quite possibly the best investment I've made this month. Secondly, although this hasn't happened in my flat, I've heard tales of 'borrowing' from others. I guess this is where I'm grateful to have such fantastic flatmates, because if I had space I'm confident we wouldn't have this issue, but it is a thing. That happens. Just not to me.

You need to reconsider your shower schedule.

You're a morning showerer? So are seven others. And all of you are trying to lie in for as long as humanly possible in a personal game of 'how quickly can I get ready?' Waiting for a free shower can take a while, and when one is free you have to get in there quickly, because I can guarantee that someone else is also on the lookout. This isn't helped by the fact that I, along with most of my flatmates, have a shower of preference. It must also be remembered that point number one still applies when you finally get into one.

Despite my grumbles and complaints, however, sharing showers really isn't all that bad, and once you're into a routine it flows pretty easily. It also makes for an interesting conversation starter when one has a plumbing issue, to shine a positive light on a less than ideal situation!

Selling Ice Cream to Hipsters: Vintage Clothes Fair

In true East London fashion, myself and a few friends decided to spend our Saturday fighting off hipster types and rummaging through piles of vintage clothing in an 'everything £1' warehouse sale. Underestimating the level of interest, we turned up at about 11 only to stand in line for a good hour and a half before finally entering the building and grabbing everything that came to hand in a vicious scrabble that brought to mind the Hunger Games (with me as Katniss, of course). With neither time nor space to try anything on, this was a bit of a guessing game with some items, but I managed to pick up four pieces I was really happy with, and so I think the ridiculously long queue was worth it. Plus a guy came past selling ice cream and sorbet, so I was happy. I'll upload a post about my purchases on another day, when they've been washed and dried, but until then it's goodbye from me and have a great week!

Borough Market

Being a self-proclaimed foodie and market lover, I of course jumped at the opportunity to go with my friends to Borough Market, just a stone's throw away from my uni accommodation. Despite the slightly drizzly day (pretty standard), I managed to get a good look around and snap a few pics. Although perhaps not the best market for low prices, you really can't replicate the atmosphere here, even on a day when it's a half market, and it's well worth a visit for the experience if nothing else - a good hour or so can be easily spent wandering around trying free samples!

Room Tour

Now that I'm all settled into my uni accommodation halls (after a good few hours of arranging and rearranging), I thought it was about time for a room tour!

'Currently' reading 'Beware of Pity', which I haven't actually started as of yet due to the busy nature of the first few days at uni, but am looking forward to greatly! I also have a fruit bowl in order to encourage my to stay healthy and not binge on ready meals for a year!

    

I'm absolutely obsessed with Jo Malone, and was given a gift set of Pomegranate Noir which included a 250ml hand soap, 175ml room spray and an adorable 30ml bottle of cologne which just lasts and lasts! So, of course, moving to uni was the perfect opportunity to make use of these, and my blog the perfect place to gush about them! I can't get enough of this masterfully blended scent, and look forward to filling my room with the slightly spicy aroma as the Winter months draw in.

All Pomegranate Noir products can be found at:
 http://www.jomalone.co.uk/products/3576/Fragrances/The-Collections/Fruity#/products/3607

Overlooking the minor error on the Hogwarts crate (which even I, as a self-proclaimed Potterhead, have managed to ignore) I'm fairly pleased with how stocked my cupboards are, and hope to keep them this way, although realistically, we'll see how that goes throughout the year...

Not pictured here is a shelf beside my sink absolutely spilling over with products from Lush, Simple Skincare and Tresemmé as well as my double wardrobe and textbooks (oops - the reason I'm here!)

I hope this was either enjoyable or helpful, depending on your motives for reading/looking!

Naomi Natters: My A Levels Advice

As I watch students go back to school this month, I remembered my own experience of school and, in particular, of A Levels, which got off to a bit of a rocky start (whoops!). One thing I'd have loved when I started Lower Sixth, however, is a bit of advice on staying on top of things and making the most of your education so that you can get the best grades possible for yourself and, hopefully, make things a little easier along the way!

My first piece of advice would be to invest in an academic planner or journal if you don't already have one, and to use this. And I mean RELIGIOUSLY. Write down your homework and coursework assignments (if you have them) and check it at night, just in case you've forgotten something! Alongside this, I found it incredibly helpful to write to-do lists for every day (which may be a bit TOO organised, but I promise it helps! Especially if your days seem to go on forever and you find it reallllyyy satisfying to cross things off), and a great idea is to get a whiteboard and stick it up at home with your work listed (This works particularly well if you do coursework subjects, because it's harder to forget to write those 3,000 words when there's a reminder above your desk, try as you might!)

Another technique that helped me a lot was to think of personal goals (bear with me, I don't wanna sound like your head of Sixth Form here...) every term, and write these on post-it notes which I then stuck up on my wall. These don't need to be unrealistic, don't go thinking you can learn an entire language fluently in a few weeks, but something simple, like 'hand every piece of work in on time' can be an interesting task to set yourself, and this is so important when you're doing A Levels, because you really do need those much loved Study Periods to...well...study.

My last piece of advice is something that I've told friends of mine and scared them with, but it really does sound worse than it is, and that is to read through parts of your textbooks every night. I did this myself during Upper Sixth, and you'd be so surprised how easily and quickly things go in if you read them just twice a week! This is the kind of thing that you can do pretty casually - I would tell myself 'I'll read half an hour of my English Language textbook, and then tomorrow half an hour of the next unit' - but I'd recommend that before doing this you read through and highlight the key areas of study. This makes the pages far less scary late at night (if you, like me, aren't an early sleeper) and means there's far less information to digest. This sounds scarier than it is, I promise, and it really does give you such a head start when you *finally* get around to revising!

I hope these helped at least a few of you out!