Wake me up.

I don't know about you but I occasionally  have problems waking up in the morning. I lie. Everyday I have problems waking up in the morning. And I don't know what it is because I have a set idea the night before of what time I am going to be up, giving me enough time to shower, do hair, makeup, pick out an outfit and have some breakfast before my 45 minute commute. But, it never works out this way. Soooo... I have looked into some ways that may help you and myself in changing this and making us get up earlier whilst feeling refreshed. 

Firstly, here is a link to a small blog post from Cosmo written by sleep specialists. 

https://www.facebook.com/Cosmopolitan/posts/10152129041367708:

Over the last couple of weeks now I have tried really hard to make sure i wake up on time by being organised and therefore making me more relaxed in my morning routine. 

Before I go to bed I always follow the same routine. I firstly will pull my hair up into a top knot and take out my contact lenses, wash them and place them in solution. I will then wash off my eye makeup using an eye makeup remover. Then wipe of the rest and base makeup with a couple of either makeup remover wipes or regular face wipes. I then use a daily facial mask and scrub combo. Leaving it in for 5 to 10 minutes. Whilst this is working its magic, I make sure my room is neat and tidy and pack my bag or organise what I am taking with me the next day. I then go and wash the mask off in circular motions making sure it takes off any excess makeup. I would then re rinse my face and, one dries. Apply a moisturiser which I will wear over night. At the moment I am using this Olay night cream. 

I might then read a magazine or a book for a while and probably paint my nails for the next day. I may also do a bit of work on my laptop or in my sketchbook. I will then use a sleep mask to block out any light from street lamps, etc. I will also make sure that I have a bottle of water next to me in case I get thirsty throughout the night, this way I won't have to get up and get a glass of water meaning I will wake up a lot more an find it hard getting back to sleep again making me more tired in the morning.

My phone alarm will be set for 2-3 alarms (for example- 6.00,6.05 and 6.10) any more than that will mean that I will get used to turning the alarm off and won't end up waking up at all. 

In the morning I will wake up at one of my 3 alarms and maybe turn my tv to wake me up. I will then go and wash the moisturiser off my wash and go and have a shower or a quick bath. I will then get back into bed and apply my makeup. Then get up and make my bed. Choose my outfit for the day and do my hair. I will then get my stuff together that I need to take with me for the day. Go downstairs, have a light breakfast and head off for the day. 

Doing this routine has helped me feel more awake, not just in the morning but throughout the day too. 

I hope it helps you out a little in figuring out what you can do to reduce tiredness.

Megan x

P.s. I found this tip in a magazine for sleep hours- 

Need to figure my time out now. Tiring. 

Smell good. Feel good.

I recently read an article on some of the best ways to smell good all day long, including some simple things that I have never even thought of.

#1The obvious one. Perfume. 

This may seem like the most obvious thing in the world, but there is more to it. If you want to be recognised as having a certain smell, find a perfume that you adore and stick to it. It then becomes your signature scent. A perfect example of this world be the queen of beauty herself, Marilyn Monroe.

Her signature scent was Chanel No 5 and everyone knew it. But finding this, is easier said than done. I am still trying to find mind after about 7 years but I have a collection of favourites that I keep re-purchasing, that way I can mix it up. A different scent for a different occasion. 

Another perfume tip is to keep an oil version of your perfume handy with you or just using an oil perfume alone. These perfumes last longer due to the particles being more dense, you could apply this later on throughout the day, making you smell gorgeous 24 hours a day. 

P.S - don't rub spray perfume in as it crushes the top notes, leaving with just the medium and bottom notes, meaning is will last less time and won't smell quite the the same. 

#2 deodorant. Duh. 

Again, stating the obvious, but, as I have found from personal experience, it isn't a case if just picking up the first one you see. The way I see it, or smell it (sorry), it is the same as perfume in the way that you have to find a scent that works for you.

I have bought deodorants before that are to overpowering or I just plain don't like the smell so try a couple out or, if you can, smell them first before you buy, and make sure that it is invisible  so it won't leave any nasty white marks on your clothes. 24 hour protection is also a bonus. 

#3 shampoo 

This may seem like a weird one to add in but there is such a thing a smelly hair.

I'm not saying wash your hair everyday because this can make your hair dependant on it and it can become greasy between washes more regularly. Washing it every other day, or even every 2 days depending on your hair type, is perfect and keep your hair smelling good. If you are conscious about your 'hair scent' there is such a thing as perfumed hairsprays,

basically perfume for your hair ,but the good thing about these is that they are not overpowering so you won't be overwhelmed by the smell all day. They are pretty subtle.

#4 Nails? 

If you like to wear nail polish, be it on your fingernails or your toe nails, you will know that is had quite a potent smell, fumigating you might say, especially to men I might add. So a brilliant solution to this would be scented nail polish. A lovely smelling one that has good has a good coverage and colour selection is the Revlon scented range. 

Well that's pretty much the best ones I came across. Hope this helped. 

Megan x

#selfie

The culture of the #selfie pretty much took over the whole of 2013 and it is still in full swing. I happened to google selfie and saw a few of the usual shots. But then I stumbled upon something really..uh.. Special. 

How not to #selfie. 

|Amanda manda manda shoooow?|

|Well. I don't really know what to say.|

|So many things wrong here. Carpet toilet, slutty outfit whilst pregnant, strange guitar wall sticker on the door to name just a few|

|Awks|

|Totally not edited, like at all|

|Hot|

|Aww, wait, what?|

|Wrong in so many levels|

|Oh hey|

|Princess|

|Oh|

|Wow|

These are just a few prime examples of the wonders of this kind that be found on the web. Arn't we all glad that snapchats are only seconds long. 

Megan x

Guerilla marketing

Bonjour.
Whilst working on my current 90`s themed project, I had to look up ways of marketing and I came across a term I had never heard before. Guerilla marketing. Not gorilla as in the fuzy monkey you see at the zoo. Guerilla as in the soldier. These soldiers use techniques in war that opposing sides see as unexpected, shocking and sometimes seen as unfair, as they use some under-hand tactics. This is where the term comes from, but translated into marketing terms, it's a strategy that has worked amazingly well for lot of companies to grab the public/consumers attention in an off beat and unexpected way, sometimes in a completely un-relevent place. Once I started to look into this, I came across some amazing examples, some are simply genius, and so I thought I would share these with you, because, well why not?

|Jeep|

|FitnessFirst|

|Sõpranos on HBO|

|AXE for men|

|Dentist|

|Vijay BBQ sales|

|National Treasure in cinemas|

|Unknown- I just thought it looked pretty, ha|

|Stop 'n Grow nail biting solution|

|CVV|

|Spoder Man 2 in cinemas|

|Unknown office supplies company|

|Nido Ideal|

|KitKat - Festival Chair|

And lastly, my favourite of all...

|Vodaphone Phone insurance| 

If you can't quite read it, basically, Vodaphone hired professional pickpockets to slip these 'phone themed' flyers into people's bags and pockets, etc. A pretty shocking tactic an I know if I were to find one in my bag it would definatly scare me into keeping an eye on all my valuables and making sure I take out some insurance if I haven't got it already! So I guess it works, haha. 

I hope you enjoyed this post, if you want to see more examples, simply type in 'guerilla marketing' into a search engine and an endless amount of examples will pop up. 

Megan x

Here we go then.

Oh Hello.
Right, before I begin, I hope you like the updated design (and if you have had the misfortune of not visiting before, I hope you like the design fullstop). I am not very good at creating backgrounds and changing the fonts and making titles and changing settings and all of that so it is a bit of a struggle for me to come up with something remotely Internet worthy.
Anyway, moving on. Welcome. Again. I tend to have the habit of starting a post on this blog saying how dedicated I am going to be and then not following through, which, for the record, I am not at all like in the real world, but I would like to assure you that I am going to try my best this time to post AT LEAST once a week. And you can hold me to that. This is one of my New Years Resolutions.
My New Years Resolutions:

1. Be more organised
2. Conduct better time management
3. Write a blog post at least once a week
4. Healthy eating and lose some more weight <- oh what a cliche
5. Get accepted into University.

The list could go on but these are the ones I have come up with for now. I know it is a bit late, but better late than never. And I know that the last one isn't really a resolution as such but I do want to achieve that this year so I guess that counts.
So moving on from the relentless, often failed, NYR's, I will update on a couple of things I have been up to over the past couple of months. As you have probably already have guessed if you have read this far, this is going to be some-what of a long post but I will try and keep it as 'short-winded' as I cant :)

So, in the run up to Christmas I finished off one of my projects for my college course titled - 'Cloth, Clothing, Craftmaship'. Basically we had to create an original print and use this to create a shirt. Here is the finished piece...

|Front view of shirt, button-less|

|Close-up of print - inspired by underwater for 'Futeristic Nature'|

And there was of course, the mad Christmas rush, luckily, I did a lot of my shopping online, I know that defeats the object a bit but I did manage to get a few bits from little treasure troves here and there and when I went to London to go to an Open Day, accompanied by my cousin and good friend Alice. This trip definitely got me in more of a Christmassy mood as well, with all of the twinkly lights, and Christmas window displays, Christmassy markets and amazing Christmas themed department stores. Just CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS! As you can tell I am a little bit of a fan. Sorry if you are a cynic, I promise I will stop now. It was a really lovely couple of, very tiring. days, and a great way to kick of the festivities.

 |Harrods side window display|

|

|Side street|

|Street artist|

|Planet Hollywood for dinner, mmm|

|Waiting for the Tube|#fashionfriday|

|YoSushi|

|Stereotypical London view|

 |Us at The London Dungeons|

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, 'bumped into' Gwyneth Paltrow in Harrods kids section. We are practically BFF's now. I know, amazing, she's so lucky :P

|Gwyneth browsing the sketch books|
Then came Christmas Day, oooops, sorry I lied, more about Chrr... So I had a lovely day visiting Family, had a lovely dinner and was well and truly spoilt rotten with gifts, which I am hugely grateful for. I won't bore you with a list or something of the presents I received but I may do another post soon dedicated to it, including some pictures of my wrapping skills :S, if I can find any pictures of them. Haha.

|My table decor|Serviettes are meant to look like elf book, haha|

|Cheers|Champagne breakfast|
I always get a bit bummed after Christmas Day as all of the buildup comes to an end and I feel like there is nothing really to look forward to, but I ended up having a really lovely NYE night. I went out with a load of friends, dressed up a bit and drank alot. Apart from one little hiccup from a certain friends ex, whom I will not mention, we had such a good time, especially because I got alot of the drinks bought for me meaning I only ended up spending about £25 including club entry and taxi, and it was a great way to kick off the New Year! 

|Getting lairy on NYE|

At present I have been back to college for 2 days now. Was most depressing at first but now I have gotten back into it, it isn't so bad. I am starting on a new project which I am so in love with. It's called 'Wonderwall' and if you haven't already guessed the Oasis reference, it is based on the 90's revival which is one of the biggest trends on this season and then next one. I am loving researching all things 90's as I was born in the beginning of them so grew up with the tv shows, movies, books, toys, fashion, and so on, and I have a massive soft spot for it all, even if some of the prints are some what questionable. I will be including parts of my project in my upcoming posts. 

|Starting my research|

|In west Philadelphia born and raised...|

|So much nostalgia|
That's pretty much it to be honest, I think I have pretty much covered the major bits, sorry if I rambled on, I will create a couple of posts in the near future on Christmas, life and goings on, trends, and more on the amazing, nostalgic 90's revival. Yey.

'til then.
Megan x