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, by missaleshajade

In april, haul

Random April Haul

Despite the fact I am the owner of my first car now, I am still terrible with managing my money. So far this month, I have picked up some things - both that I need, and things I do not need. To be honest, I don't NEED anything, but some things just make life a little easier, and some things are didn't need at all.

Hollister Grey Halter-Neck Top and Sports Leggings

So during a spontaneous trip to my local Outlet Shopping Centre, I picked up a really cute top - I really like the style of neck with the halter-neck and the V-Neck style. I also picked up some leggings that are perfect for working out in. I wear leggings for both work and for the fitness classes I go to, so I needed some specific leggings for workouts. I really love Hollister as a brand, I love both the style and quality of their clothing, so the Outlet store is perfect for saving money and still getting really nice clothes from the brand!

(Hollister Grey Halter-Neck Top, £5.99 and Sports Leggings, £9.99, Hollister Outlet Store)

Note To Self by Connor Franta (Book)

Not only is this book aesthetically pleasing, but it also happens to have been written by one of my favourite YouTubers - Connor Franta. I love his inspiring content, and insane photography. I haven't yet read the book as I purchased it two days ago, and I'm currently reading How To Be A Bawse by another one of my favourite YouTubers - Lilly Singh (otherwise known as iiSuperwomanii).

(Note To Self by Connor Franta, £7, Tesco - also available in well-known book stores)

iPhone Power Bank/Charger

Next month, I'm going to two concerts in London, two nights in a row, and I have a serious obsession with having a high phone battery percentage because otherwise I feel genuinely anxious. So knowing that I will be in London for various day trips coming up, including some super exciting blogger events, I decided I would need a good quality back up charger. Searching through Amazon, and with the help of my friend who's a total technology nerd, we researched various iPhone chargers, this particular Coolreall had really good reviews, as well promoting its ability to charge an iPhone 6s up to 7 times fully!

(The Coolreall 20000mAH Power Bank, £15.99, Amazon)

Weekly Planner and Notepad

Randomly, whilst food shopping last night in my local Sainsbury's, I came across a huge sale in their stationery section including this adorable Weekly Planner - featuring the perfect amount of space for organising my week including revision sessions, etc. I really like how you can peel off each week and move onto the current week. I also picked up just a plain A5 size lined notepad, both were super cheap and look really cute on my desk. I always think that the cuter your stationery, the more you feel inspired to use it and organise everything!

(A3 Sized Weekly Planner, £1.20 and A5 Grey Notepad, 80p, Sainsbury's)

Waterless Wash Spray

And finally, as I mentioned at the start of this blog post, I am the new owner of my own car - so the lame person I am, I spent a silly amount of money on Amazon, ordering various car accessories including a mini car vacuum cleaner, some Yankee Candle Clean Cotton Air Fresheners, but I would just like to mention my favourite Car Purchase apart from the car itself! I saw this Waterless Wash on Amazon under Best Sellers and immediately added it to my basket based on the amazing reviews. Essentially, I am fairly lazy and hate washing cars with a bucket and sponge because EFFORT, so this bottle of Waterless Wash is the perfect item for me - I simply spray it on the car and wipe it clean with the fibre cloths it came with. It both washes the car and gives it an amazing shine like a polish! I am so sad, but new car owners may understand my laziness and weird obsession. If not...awkward.

(Diamond ShineWaterless Wash 1Litre Spray, £12.99, Amazon)

Thank you for reading! If you want to read some more lifestyle and beauty-related posts from me, then you can sign up to receive an email telling you when I next upload! (Every Saturday Evening - between 6pm-9pm UK Time)

Love Alesha xo

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, by missaleshajade

In easter,

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! With Easter Sunday being tomorrow, I wanted to write about some of my favourite Easter-themed products. As it's Easter, the products are mainly food-related, including baking, and general chocolate treats!

Cadburys Easter Eggs.

Okay I could not write a blog post about Easter without including the best chocolate ever. Cadburys. I'm very much a Cadburys girl, and this is my favourite time of year for chocolate - purely because my favourite chocolate is actually Easter eggs. There is something about the chocolate being in a hollow chocolate egg form, that makes it that much more enjoyable. I have already consumed an embarrassing amount of Cadburys Easter eggs already this year - I started in February...because after Easter, they'll be gone for another year! I have to appreciate them before they go again, or maybe I'll have to stock up before they go!

M&S Chocolate Chip and Honeycomb Mini Cookies

I saw these cookies whilst browsing the Easter selection at the Marks and Spencer Foodhall, and I won't lie if I say I didn't pick them up because of the cute bunny packaging - but I also really like honeycomb. Although they were really nice, I must admit, I didn't see the connection with Easter apart from the packaging.

Baking: Chocolate Easter Nests

I absolutely love making these classic Easter inspired treats, incorporating mini eggs, dairy milk chocolate and shredded wheat. They look and taste incredible, and they're super easy to make!

White Chocolate Easter Bark

I wanted to make another Easter treat that incorporated colour and with the mini eggs I had left from the Shredded Wheat nests, I decided to add them into melted white chocolate. I've seen people make chocolate bark before, but I wanted to make it more Easter themed by adding the colour confetti, white balls and Mini Eggs! This was so fun and super easy to make!

Easter Themed Gifts

So for gifts, I saw this adorable lamb mug from Sainsbury's, they also had bunny and chick mugs but I decided to buy the lamb one for my grandma; they were £3.75 each. Again, from another supermarket, I picked up these Easter themed socks for my mum, they were £2.50 from Tesco.

Love Alesha xo

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, by missaleshajade

In beauty, lush

Things I Wish I Hadn't Bought

So, as a lover of retail therapy, there will always be things you buy and love, and things you don't like so much, after a recent Twitter poll, my followers asked me to write a little blog post about things I wish I hadn't bought, and that's what I'm about to do...

ELF Illuminating Palette

In terms of beauty products, I purchased this highlighting powder whilst I visited America, from Walmart. I was recommended this brand by a friend and a YouTuber, and I absolutely love that the brand is cheap and do not test on animals. However I really did not get any results with this illuminating palette. I used to more yellow-toned powder to get a highlighting shimmery effect, however I felt it did nothing to my skin, and the texture of the powder felt really clumpy and solid - which did not translate nicely on the skin. I purchased the palette from Walmart for $6 (about £4.80), at the time I also got one of the ELF brushes, which I absolutely love, and at only $1, you cannot go wrong! I definitely would purchase other products from ELF, I just wish I hadn't of bought the Illuminating Palette.

Lush Sakura Bath Bomb

So I am huge Lush fanatic, but I was totally disappointed with the Sakura bath bomb. One of the workers in the store showed me a demo of it, as I had never tried it before, and it looked so colourful and smelt amazing. However, when I used it last week, the bath bomb gave no colour when it fizzed, it also wasn't as moisturising as usual Lush products are - the only positive was the scent. So I won't be purchasing this particular bath bomb again, might stick to my usual Twilight.

Too Faced SweetHearts Perfect Flush Blush

I absolutely love Too Faced as a brand, and this product may be absolutely beautiful on other people - I'm aware their blushers are very much hyped up - but this blush definitely doesn't suit me. I don't wear that much makeup, and I have come to the conclusion that blush does not suit my skin tone (super pale). Despite my lack of use for the product, I absolutely adore the packaging of Too Faced products - properly what persuaded my purchase when I visited the US. It's also available in the UK for £24 ($30).

Ariana Grande Unofficial Calendar

Okay this one is a little random, but as an Ariana Grande lover, my mum bought me a calendar for Christmas (no I didn't buy it but I just wanted to mention this). Ariana doesn't actually have an official calendar - but this was the only one available - however unlike the calendar I got last year, this one doesn't feature individual boxes for each day - therefore there is no room for me to write what I'm doing everyday. Purely for this reason, I don't particularly like it!

Thank you for reading! It was a little short again this week, but I am currently struggling with the fun times of coursework. If you want to read some more lifestyle and beauty-related posts from me, then you can sign up to receive an email telling you when I next upload! (Every Saturday Evening - between 6pm-9pm UK Time)

Love Alesha xo

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, by missaleshajade

In book, review

Holding Up The Universe (Book Review)

So a few weeks ago, I made a few impulse buys on Amazon and decided to order a book recommended to me, written by one of my favourite authors 'Jennifer Niven'. When it arrived I found I had no time to read it and simply placed it on my bedside table because the book cover looked pretty. However when I finally found the time to sit down and read some of it, I couldn't put it down. I honestly love Niven's style of writing, as well as the morals behind each story she writes. Her previous bestselling book 'All The Bright Places', was one of the most beautifully written yet heart breaking stories I have ever read and I cried for a solid 2 hours after I had finished it.

I finished Holding Up The Universe within two days, (reading for a few hours each day, I could not put this book down but sleep is a thing - I like to read in bed at night). I remember I used to be a major "book worm" and read every day when I was in primary school, but as the years went on, the internet exists, life happens and I felt like I never had time to read a book. Recently I've been trying to read more (an aim of mine for this year).

The story follows the perspective of both Libby Strout and Jack Masselin, both struggling with personal issues, and their love story. Sure I'm a romantic, but this book not only links to the theme of love but also self-love, confidence and empowerment. It's one of the sweetest stories ever - a "poignant, exhilarating love story about finding one person who sees you for who you really are - and seeing them right back". As someone is who isn't exactly 'body-confident', I absolutely loved the idea of the self-confidence and exploration Libby found.

So this blog post wasn't exactly like my usual ones, but I just wanted to dedicate a blog post about one of my new favourite books. Thank you for reading! If you wish to read some more lifestyle and beauty-related posts from me, then you can sign up to receive an email telling you when I next upload! (Every Saturday Evening - between 6pm-9pm UK Time)

Love Alesha xo

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