ZoellaBeauty Soak Opera & Let's Glow Review

Hello all, 

As many of you all will be aware Zoe (Zoella) recently released her beauty range 'Zoella Beauty'. Just like many others I was extremely excited to get my hands on some of her products. As soon as it was released in my local super drug store I was straight down there to buy whatever I could. The products were so popular that almost everything was out of stock so I was left with 'Soak Opera' and 'Let's Glow' which were high up on the list of things I was most excited about. I was slightly disappointed by the fact Superdrug had run out of 'Blissful Mistful' which I got to test in store and smelt amazing. So lets start by reviewing these two items.

Soak Opera:

Well I guess the first place to start with this is the packaging! It's super cute and so Zoe. That's what I particularly like about this range; it reflects Zoe in so many ways. The bottle size is perfect and I can tell it'll last me a while. I do love a good bubble bath and tend to go a bit over the top when it comes to bubbles but I used a fair bit of this and it hardly left a dent. The scent is exactly how I like it light and fresh. I guess you could say it was slightly floral/fruity. One things for sure this scent definitely isn't is overpowering. The scent sticks to you for a fair while after the bath which is also an added bonus. The cream is in no way drying on the skin leaving it feeling super soft. Finally probably the thing I love most about this product is the fact it's bubble bath but you're also able to use it in the shower as a shower cream! I can tell i'll be using this time and time again. 

Let's Glow:

Anyone that knows me would tell you candles are literally my favourite thing! I could spend an absolute fortune on scented candles so when I heard Zoe was releasing her own scented candle I could hardly contain my excitement. This scent is super light and goes perfectly with the scent of 'Soak Opera'. It's the perfect candle to have lit in the autumn or whilst having a pamper evening as the scent is in no way over powering. The packaging is once again adorable and I especially love the fact it comes in a tin accompanied with a lid. This makes it perfect for storing avoiding damage and allowing you to get the most out of the candle. 

Have you tried any of Zoe's products yet? What do you recommend I try next?

Lots of love

Jessica x

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Choosing The Right College and Course For You

Hello all,

It's that time of year again, that time where all the colleges hold their open days and you're expected to make what seems like the hardest decision of your life. I hoping that by writing this blog post I may make you feel a little more confident when choosing your college and courses. 

In no way am I an expert in this i'm purely speaking off my own experience seeing as I was in this position just a year ago. 

My first tip would be to keep open minded about all the colleges you are going to view.  Before even viewing the colleges I went to see i'd already made a judgement of how much I'd like each one and it's fair to say that what I thought was going to be my least favourite is now my college today. You can't make a decision when you don't really know anything about the college so try not to make a judgement before visiting. 

Secondly don't be afraid to ask questions. Many people give up their own time to help out at the open evenings and are purposely there to answer your questions so please use them. In each department there'll be both teachers and students of the subject able to give you first hand information on the course. This is particularly useful if you have a few colleges in mind as you'll be able to compare what each college will be able to offer you. This is also extremely helpful if you are unsure what courses to take as you can ask for information on the subject that you may previously never thought of taking! 

As well as this i'd visit subjects that I feel i'd be interested in however not definitely going to take. You may find that one of the courses you choose doesn't work out so it's always a good idea to have a backup or two. Don't feel pressured into taking a course you won't enjoy because of pressure from friends as this will dampen your whole college experience. In the first couple of weeks most colleges will allow you to move courses around to make sure you're completely happy so if you feel you've made the wrong choice you'll always have the chance of changing courses later down the line.

Furthermore if you have a set career goal or an aim of a specific university course now is the time to start looking at this also. Some universities/jobs require certain A levels so it'd be a good idea to find these out early so you can choose the right colleges courses that can lead onto further education. 

Finally look at as many colleges as possible. Make sure you look at every college in a commutable distance so you can compare and make sure it's a place you can see yourself. Don't worry about where your friends are going just make sure you choose the right college for you. 

I know this whole experience can be extremely daunting however once you've started I believe college is 100x better than high school as long as you keep on top of the work load and attend every lesson. I could go on for hours about this topic but I won't waste anymore of your time. If you'd like to ask any questions then feel free to leave them in the comments and i'll reply asap. 

With love

Jessica 

x

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My Autumn Essentials!

Hello all

Yesterday was officially the first day of autumn and as anyone that knows me would tell you autumn is my all time favourite time of the year! I absolutely love the crisp cool air in the morning upon your face and the excuse to just snuggle up on the sofa in front of your all time favourite movie. I thought now would be the perfect time to let you in on my autumn essentials. 

1) Grab a mug of hot chocolate. Everyone knows that when the weather outside is a bit nippy we all crave the warm loving feeling that a hot drink gives us. Hot chocolate just screams out autumn for me so this had to be included in my list of essentials! 

2) Invest in red. When I think of autumn I instantly think of the colour red. That beautiful red that the leaves change to fills me with absolute excitement. If I could my entire wardrobe would be filled with these gorgeous shades of red during this time of the year. My absolute go to would be a red flannel shirt accompanied with a pair of skinny jeans and black ankle boots. 

3) Stock up on candy. We all know autumn means halloween and lots and lots of movies; this all calls for one thing! CANDY! Don't have the embarrassment of having no candy on halloween night so why not stock up now? If it somehow manages to vanish before October 31st it gives you the perfect opportunity to go and buy some more!

4) Snuggle in a big warm coat. When the weathers a bit cooler than you're used to having that extra layer is much appreciated. A nice big coat is super comfy, practical and offers a big fashion statement. 

5) Lots and lots of candles. I have a slight obsession when it comes to candles and when the evenings start drawing in I can't help but light a few candles around the room and relax in that calming glow they give off. Scented candles are my guilty pleasure and I could spend a fortune on them. 

With love,

Jessica

xo

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The Pointless Book Review

Hello all, 

Today I thought i'd try something a little bit different and do a cheeky book review for you all! As i'm sure most of you are aware Alfie Deyes (pointlessblog) recently released his much anticipated book 'The Pointless Book'. 

Ever since Alfie first mentioned the fact he was bringing a book out it was hard to contain my excitement and it's fair to say that this book definitely hasn't disappointed. For those of you that aren't sure what 'The Pointless Book' is it's very simply an activity book full of everything from playing games with your friends to baking a cake in a mug. You could say that Alfies book is very similar to the likes of 'wreck this journal' however the overall aim isn't to wreck the book. 

There's no competition with the book you simply complete it at your own leisurely pace however it's fair to say that it should take to a fair while to carry out all the activities and most of the activities you can carry out time and time again. It's definitely safe to say this isn't a book you'll get bored of quickly. 

The thing I like the most about this book is how interactive it is. The book comes with it's very own app which you can easily download straight to your smart phone called 'The Pointless Book App'. Some pages feature an image of a smartphone which instantly tells you theres a video that Alfie has created exclusively for the book giving you access to extra content! you simply open the app up and select the 'scan the page' option and a video linked to the page should pop up on screen! It's all magic if you ask me. 

Overall I believe that this book is a must have wether your a 'Pointlessblog' fan or not! 

RRP: £8.99

Available in most leading book shops.

Much love ♡

Jessica Benson

xo

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♡ NCS - Week 3 ♡

Here is an extremely long over due post about my final week on NCS a month over due in fact. So let hop back onto this old bandwagon and begin. 

Week three is all about pursuing our campaign as well as completing a 100 challenge challenge day. 

Monday was a day off however this didn't stop us from all meeting up to start preparations early. Around nine members of our team headed towards 'Hobbycraft' to buy the materials needed to create a tree. (our campaign idea is on the previous post click here to see it) We bought two massive pieces of cardboard, some paint and paintbrushes. We noticed that inside hobbycraft there was a table free so on the off chance we asked a member of staff if we'd be allowed to use it. After explaining what we were doing they happily lent us the table for the afternoon and offered all their help by supplying us with things like scissors and craft knifes while we were there. As teamwork goes I think we worked well finishing most of the tree off by closing time.

Day two was left for shopping however as our team had already bought a majority of supplies the day before and online we only had a minimal amount left to get and this included glitter.. lots of glitter. We returned back to our meeting venue early and finished the tree off completely. We were all extremely happy with how it turned out and finally felt as if Friday was going to be a success. 

On Wednesday as a team we went and volunteered at a local charity shop called 'Relate' the staff were extremely lovely and seemed very excited to have us there. They had us doing all sorts of things for example: Setting up a book sale, working in the stock room and handing out leaflets to members of the public in the street. It was a great day and gave us all the opportunity to get experience of working in retail and giving back the community. 

On Thursday we carried out 100 Challenges to raise money for 'Relate' overall we did very well and raised quite a bit of money. The aim of the event was to complete 100 challenges in our town within about 5 hours. We managed to complete about 97 challenges in the end. The challenges included things like start a conga line and get 5 people to join in, Do the Macarena in public and start a Mexican wave.

Friday was the big day, the day this had all been leading up to. CAMPAIGN DAY. As a team we all walked into town carrying all our equipment for the day. It's fair to say we got a few strange looks from the public when they saw us carrying a massive cardboard tree. We got to town and chose a spot to set up. It started off s a huge success and our tree was filling up with lightbulbs nicely however at about mid day this began to slow down a bit. Some of us went off to lunch and noticed that the town centre was much busier than where we were originally situated and so we decided to move. We managed to attract a whole range of new people and even had people asking about what we were doing and about NCS. At around 2pm a huge thunderstorm came over and resulted in us having to close the campaign early however I believe it was an overall success. 

This was then end of NCS and we were all so sad that it was all over! I haven't all met up as a team as of yet but we're trying to plan something for the near future. 

I would recommend NCS to anyone aged 16-17 and it really is an opportunity of a lifetime. 

I hope you have all enjoyed these little NCS blog posts. Let me know what type of posts you'd like to see in the future by leaving a comment below! 

- Jessica x

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♡ NCS - Week Two ♡

Hello all! 

I'm back again to tell you about my experience of week 2 on NCS. During week 2 you stay in university accommodation as well as studying 1/6 subject choices in the university. Of course I chose media so I was in my element video editing, filming and trying out a bunch of new equipment.  I can only tell you about the media side of the programme however there's also the choice of: Sport, Enterprise, Music, Drama & Photography.

During the first two days as a team we visited a local elderly home where we spoke & interviewed some of the residents as well as staff. It was great to hear all their positive stories about the home and how the home doesn't live up to the current awful stereotypes. We filmed the residents and some of the activities that they took part in to make a short promotional film for the home to use. On the second day we played carpet curling against the elderly residents which they won and seemed extremely proud of. 

On Tuesday evening (Day 2) we all took part in a talent show which our team were awful at! Our excuse was "we're the media, we're meant to be behind the camera not in front of it". After much debating we came up with the idea of 'aeronicks' where our team mate Nick lead an aerobics session. The talent show was a lot of fun even though we came last.

Wednesday (Day 3) was left for editing. We had a mad rush near the end to make sure everything would be ready for the showcase which was that evening. During the showcase family and friends came to see what each group had created. Each of our team members got up and said a few words before presenting our short films, this was more of a challenge for some than others. The showcase was a success and i'm so proud with how our short film turned out. 

On Thursday (Day 4) we left the media side of the programme behind us and it was time for us to come up with a campaign idea. We wanted to raise awareness of something and many ideas were thrown around before we came up with the idea of Depression and Anxiety. Many of our team members currently are or have suffered from these conditions so it was something we were all passionate about. The main aim of our campaign is to raise awareness and to make people suffering from these mental health issues not feel alone. As a team we decided to call our campaign 'Turn On The Light' and used the hashtag #comeoutthedarkness. We also created a Facebook page to raise awareness which you can check out here. We came up with the idea of having a tree, which we would make ourselves, and hanging lightbulbs onto it with the publics small fears/phobias that they're comfortable to share. 

On the Friday (Day 5) it was pitch day! This was the day that we'd pitch our idea to local MP's and they'd give us a budget to allow us to carry out our idea. We spent the morning writing out a script for our pitch, making sure we all had a part, and learning it off by heart. Pitching to the dragons was a very scary experience and so stressful! They asked us many questions that made us think and we were all so worried about saying the wrong thing. Once it was over we all came together as a wave and they told us how much they were willing to give each team. We were lucky enough to get the amount we asked for which was £80.

As we were staying in university halls it was left to us to cook for ourselves. This was interesting but luckily for us my group had a few that were experienced in the kitchen and they were able to help those that weren't so used to it. We all had our own room with an en suit which was like luxury compared to the previous week! During this week I feel like I learnt how to be more independent and learnt many life skills. 

Would you cope cooking for yourself for a whole week?

I hope you enjoyed this post. 

Jessica xo

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♡ NCS - Week One ♡

Hello all! 

Woah where's July gone? It only feels like yesterday that I was writing my last post about Hastings! 

As many of you may know I have been super busy throughout July on NCS. I decided it'd be better to write about each week with its own individual post which will allow me to go into more detail without boring you all to tears. 

Before I start i'll give you a very brief introduction to what NCS actually is. NCS is a 3 week (I want to say 'summer camp' but that's not really what it is) course away from home where you learn vital skills that you'll use in everyday life as well as have an absolutely amazing time with tons of memories and new friends. 

Our wave traveled to Devon for the first week where we took part in a number of outdoor team building activities. The first activity we took part in was hiking! We walked for 13 miles which was definitely a struggle and there were many points where I thought I wouldn't have been able to make it to the end however with the amazing encouragement of my team all of us made it to the campsite. 

Where can I begin with the camping experience? This wasn't my first time camping out in the middle of a field however I can safely say it was one of the worst! When we first arrived we were greeted by being shown the bucket that we were expected to PEE IN! That is one experience I will never forget. After this we had to assemble 5 tents to only find we had to later dissemble 2 of them and assemble a new bigger one so all of our team would fit! Whilst  all this was happening 2 of our team mates did the cooking with the help of our mentor. Dinner was meatballs and pasta however hardly any of us ate it due the the very strange consistency of the pasta (worst pasta i've ever eaten sorry guys). Sleeping wasn't all that great either! 4 of us squished into a 3 man tent which left me squashed up against the side letting all the water from outside in. I was shivering constantly all night only to find out in the morning that I was left with the thinest sleeping bag! This all made the camping experience seem awful and probably doesn't make NCS sound that fun but looking back on it I had a great time and now have so many memories! 

The next day we got up early to go rock climbing and scrambling! This was definitely one of my favourite days of NCS. We all hoped into a mini bus to drive us to the coach and we were on our way! It was in a lovely area and it's a shame I didn't bring my camera because it was the perfect place to do some photography. We started with rock climbing which is a lot harder than it looks and has made me realise I have absolutely no upper body strength what so ever. This was then followed by scrambling which of one of my favourite activities. It was basically climbing over and under rocks up hill till we reached the top at 200 meters. It was quite scary as you had no harnesses or safety equipment other than our helmets! On the way up I had to challenge myself to crawl through this tiny gap under some rocks and now i'm so proud that I did it. At the top there was a sheer drop which was called 'The Edge' it was so nerve racking knowing the quite easily you could trip over the edge and fall over 200 meters. At the top we took a team photo before making our way back down. 

The next day was also amazing! We went Canoeing, Kayaking and Raft Building. I'd never been canoeing or kayaking before however i'd always wanted to! Both were extremely fun and i'll definitely do them again. whilst doing both we played games which were great and both times the team I was on won. My favourite game being whilst canoeing collecting balls and throwing them to the instructor each time he caught the ball you'd get a point. Raft building was also a lot of fun! Luckily for us my team had a lot of scouts in which meant knot tying came easily to them. Our teams raft stayed afloat and completed the race however the other teams collapsed as soon as it touched the water but they jumped in the water and swam the race meaning they came in first and insisted they'd won.

After this we came back and rushed for the showers before the mad rush of everyone else! In the evening after dinner we all had a final night disco in the barn which was amazing and very memorable I especially enjoyed the cha cha slide. 

So that's everything I did in week 1 of NCS! It was amazing and I would recommend it to EVERYONE in years 11 & 12 if I could do it again I definitely would! 

A new post will be uploaded very soon talking about week 2 so keep an eye out for that! 

- Jessica ♡

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