On my bookshelf - The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Helloooo,
I am notoriously crap at finishing books. Honestly, name any classic book ever written and my reply will always be "I read the first half...". I don't know what it is, maybe I just have a really short attention span. Whatever the reason, working in a book shop for two years sure was embarrassing when you haven't read any of the 'must-reads...'

Anyway, for my birthday a lovely friend bought me a copy of "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" by Mohsin Hamid. He claimed it was his favourite book and so he wanted me to read it (also I think my indignant 'I never finish books' stance was getting a bit annoying.) Well I finished this one! So here's a lil ol' review like thing

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - buy it online here (not reluctantly at all...)

The Plot
This was one of those nice wishy washy books that doesn't really have a plot - which I quite like. The story revolves around a Pakistani man named Changez. He moves to America for college and ends up working for a huge corporation. Whilst still in his youth, he falls in love with a girl called Erica who's battling her own demons. The book culminates at the 9/11 attacks, at which time Changez feels increasingly isolated from everyone especially Erica. All the big things he used to love about America seem stale and he becomes really disenchanted.

What I liked
The book is written as one half of a conversation. I'd never read a book like this before and it was a cool style to read in - made it feel like the author was guessing all the questions you might have. It also raised loads of really interesting questions for me about how we treat outsiders...

What I didn't like
Sometimes I felt like Changez was bit wallowy and it almost made it difficult to like him...but he does go through some tough stuff so it's justified!

Recommended? 
By me - Absolutely, espesh to anyone interested in politics and America...
By Waterstone's - 3.9/5
By Amazon - 4/5

Have you read this book? Or any others recently? Recommend me something below...

Quote Me On It #2

Welcome back to my weekly cheesey fest! 

Review | Planet Spa Indulgence Mini Kit

Hiyaaaa,

So a little package arrived through my door a few days ago. It was a birthday present from my Auntie over in Portugal. Presents from her are often from Avon because she's one of their representatives. I'm more than happy about this because I lurrrrve Avon products - especially their make up range. I hadn't used many of their bath products or moisturisers before but I was pretty sure I was going to like it...

The kit included; Dead Sea Mineral & Caviar Refining Facial Treatment, African Shea Butter & Chocolate Truffle Silky Body Soufflé, Thailand Lotus Flower & Champagne Velvety Smooth Bath Elixir and Mediterranean Olive Oil Reviving Facial Gold Glow Gel. Very la di dah!

So by far my favourite product in the kit is the Refining Facial Treatment. It's a really thick and creamy moisturiser. I've been using it at night just before I go to bed because it's a bit to heavy to use as a day cream. I've been using it for about a week now and when I wake up my skin does feel really soft.

The next product in the box definitely fulfils my chocolate addiction. It smells just so amazing I can't even! I have to actually stop myself from eating it. I'm not 100% sure what a 'Body Soufflé' is but I've put some on my arms and legs and it made my skin really silky. Also the smell stays really well so you smell like chocolatey goodness all day.

When I first opened the kit I wasn't so sure about this 'Bath Elixir'. I'm not really a bath kind of person so I didn't think I'd really use it. But recently I've been a bit under the weather so suddenly a bath sounded like a lovely idea...Anyway ramble over, I poured a load of this in it and it smelled delicious! I thought this was going to be like a bubble bath but it only made a few bubbles which didn't last very long so I think it's more of an in-bath moisturiser. I used it with a SexBomb Bath Bomb from Lush for a lovely bathey combination!

The final little bottle in the box had 'Reviving Facial Gold Glow Gel'. I'm always soooo skeptical of facial glowing things because I always find they're just glittery and I end up looking like a fairy. This stuff is basically the same and is really glittery. It's nice and moisturising again but I don't really like the glittery-ness of it. Also, I'm not sure if it's meant to go on top of my make up or under it which confuses me too.

Overall, I really like the kit! It smells lovely (especially the chocolate one) and each of the products leaves your skin so soft and so refreshed. Really nice and definitely a good gift set idea!

Quote Me On It #1

Hiyaaaa,
So I don't know why but I'm a real sucker for a good quote. All over my house I find scraps of paper with random quotes written on them ranging from Shakespeare to Oprah. Sometimes they might seem a bit melancholy but most of them are just things I find inspiring, interesting or funny. So I wanted to start a little series on here called 'Quote Me On It'.

Every Sunday (if I remember) I want to post a quote I like or that relates to the week just passed...pretty simple stuff. I hope you like it.

If you like the quotes I pick out you can follow my quote board on Pinterest (that's where I'll be getting most of these things from)

That is SO punk rock

Hiyaaa,

Don't know about anyone but my eyes are still reeling from some of the catastrophes that occurred at the MET Ball. I know it's not fair to target a woman who's with child and I hate to jump on a bandwagon but Kim K's dress was just the biggest disaster in upholstery I'd ever seen!

Despite this there were some pretty rocking dresses going on. Ma faaave lady Anne Hathaway looked stunning with her newly bleacher hair, Cara Delevingne looked as punk as she always does and even Sienna Miller left boho behind for the night.

Hot weather and leather are not two things that usually go together but I think this punky, studded, black leather look is gonna stay around for a bit longer and the best thing is it's totes easy to replicate on a budget...

Happy Punking...

Miss Real Leather Cut Out Dress. New Look. £9 // Cross Print Leggings. Forever 21. £7.25 // Knitted Ladder Jumper. Topshop. £15

Leopard Print and Studded Hotpant. Boohoo.com. £18 // Punk's Not Dead Tee. ASOS. £45. // V London Tie-Dye Leather Skater Dress. New Look. £19.99.

FireTrap Draped Dress. New Look. £55.99 // ALDO Cut-out Boots. ASOS. £100. // Studded Ankle Strap Sandles. New Look. £19.99 // Silence + Noise Cut-out bralet, Urban Outfitters, £30

And some accessories...

Studded Top Visor Sunglasses. ASOS. £20.  Neon Spiked Earrings. Regal Rose. £14. Barbed Wire Upper-arm Bracelet. Regal Rose. £13. Skull & Cross Knuckle Ring. Regal Rose. £6

Birthday Bonanza!!

Hellllo there, see I promised I'd be back again soon and for once I actually delivered.
On bank holiday Monday it was my birthday (chocolate cake in bed please!) so I was obviously given a few bits and bobs by my ever-so-generous family and friends. Thought I'd share them on here because I'm seriously chuffed with what I got.

I'm a major Soap and Glory addict and spend the vast majority of my time boring my friends and mum about how much I love it and how good it smells so it wasn't really a surprise to me when I got given a load of it. Some of the things I was given were old favourites like Hand Food which I am never without a bottle of. I was really excited to get some products I'd never tried before - especially the Glad Hair Day Shampoo and Conditioner so I'll probs be sticking a review up of those soon.

My mum also added fuel to my growing nail polish addiction by adding two colours from the Bourjois Paris So Laque Glossy range to my collection. She picked 05 Taupe Modéle and 06 Adora-bleu (as modelled on my very chipped nails - "lasts up to 10 days" pah!) Love these colours and they're not ones I would normally pick which makes them even better! She also got me the Bourjois Paris Magic Nail Polish Remover. I'd seen this all over blogs and vlogs so I was totally overexcited when I unwrapped it! It's fantastic and works brilliantly (not so great on glittery nail varnish but hey what is?!). I don't know why Bourjois are trying to claim it's "red berry and vanilla scented" it's not, it absolutely stinks of nail varnish remover - but I still like it!

From friends I also got One Day on DVD. I went to see this in the cinema went it came out and loved it (well it is starring my best-friend-to-be Anne Hathaway) so my lovely friend Anna gave it to me. Another friend also gave me a copy of the boom The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid because it's his favourite book and he thought I needed to read it. I got this a few days before my birthday and I've finished it already. Can't recommend it highly enough!!

Again from my dear mother, a few items of clothing! I'm pretty sure these are all from TK Maxx but I'm not absolutely sure. I'm loving monochrome at the moment so I really liked the colours she picked. The collared shirt is absolutely amazing: contrasting patterns, button up collar it's like someone read my mind. The t shirt on the far right is adorable and pretty similar to a t shirt I
saw on Asos a while ago so I'm a fan of that too and the t shirt on the far left looks like a big lovey-dovey heart! N'awww

The pièce de résistance this year was this beautiful, leather satchel from my dad. I picked mine in a beautiful teal colour but there are loooooads of different colours available - it was a complete nightmare trying to decide! I am so utterly in love with it and cannot WAIT for uni to start again so I can show it off in all my lectures!! 

So anyway, that was my nineteenth...a pretty unimportant birthday but some wonderful gifts even so! 

Anyone else had a birthday recently? What d'ya get? I love having a snoop!

Just in case there's anyone out there gagging for a fight - this is obviously not a showing off post, if anything I'm showing off how wonderful my family  and friends are rather than my presents. I'm more than grateful for everything I was given and I just like to share things...

Quick Apology

Oh hey remember me? No me neither...

Yeah I haven't written anything in forever and a day. Muchos apologisos! I've been really busy recently with lots of exciting (but mainly boring) things going on!

First - I finished my first year of university. Oh my God I can't believe it either, as if I survived. I honestly believe that I am the proof that anyone can survive uni as long as they have pasta, wonderful flatmates and friends and a hilarious Twitter feed on hand for those near exam breakdowns! The last 2 weeks or so have been revision heavy what with having three 2 hour exams! Going out on a high eh! Anyway I finished on the 10th which was actually quite a while ago but there have been many alcohol induced escapades since then so time has pretty much passed me by!

Too much fun had post-exams

Don't drink, kids. 

Finishing Freshers means I'm moving out of my cupboard (if you don't know I live in a teeny tiny shared room)! I'm so excited to move out of my Harry Potter like existence and have a proper room which I can dance around in without having to worry about my poor ol' roommate. Although I am super sad to be leaving halls! It's been such a crazy experience and one that I guarantee I'll never have again - so glad to have lived here!!

Flatmate love!!

On a more exciting note...I am now one of the Features Editor for the Norwich Tab. If you're not familiar with it The Tab is basically a student tabloid, it was set up in Cambridge by a couple of students but has since spread round the country! It's pretty much known for being the lighter side of student news! Anyway, I'm absolutely thrilled to be part of the team here in Norwich, they're all so lovely and funny some of the nicest people I could hope to work with! So if ya fancy killing a couple of minutes check out the Norwich Tab (or whichever one corresponds to your uni!)

Outfit for the summer ball just in case you care - love a good clashing pattern

More posts on the way asap! What have you been up to? Anything fun? I'd like to hear from you so drop me a comment puh-leeeeease!!!

p.s it's ma birfday on the 27th...just in case you wondered hahaha