The F-word and why it's not a dirty word

The F-word - you're all probably thinking 'f*&k' or some other typical swear word - nope, I'm talking about Feminism. 

Before I start, if you're a troll or you're just going to be one of the keyboard warriors then please do not waste your time reading this or even bothering to comment. They'll just be ignored and deleted. This is not a hateful post, this is me as a blogger expressing my thoughts and feelings about Feminism and why I - the owner of this blog - believe we still need it today. 

Firstly, contrary to popular belief, Feminism is not about men haters who burn our bras in protest all the time! It's actually about equality for both women and men across the board of society. If you check out the Oxford English Dictionary - you'll see the definition there too.

Image from www.quotesvalley.com

This post has come about because I was in my Women's Writing & Feminist Theory class the other day and I just went into a deep thought about the struggle for equality throughout the centuries and the inequalities we face still today. It was pretty emotional, my mind was just mind blown. I've always known that as women we have been disadvantaged because of our gender but I've not actually  thought about how disadvantaged we actually were and are.

Arguably, we have made great progress with the idea that we have access to education, voting, birth control etc. But then in other parts of the world in the 21st Century there are countries where women are even more disadvantaged purely because of their gender. It's actually quite upsetting to think that we have these basic human privileges and there are still young girls and women who don't have access to them. It just makes me sit and wonder - what if I was in their shoes? How would I cope? Would I try and break the mould or would I just accept that it's just 'how it is'? Honestly, I really don't know - until I'm in their position I can't comment on the situations, I can only wonder.

People will say things like ''Feminism isn't needed'' or ''Who even cares about this stuff anymore?''

When in actual fact, Feminism is most definitely needed and people do care. Think about all the women of history who have fought long and hard for the privileges we have today - the vote is a prime example and in some countries they still don't have the vote.

The ongoing discussions of FGM, arranged marriages, trafficking in young girls and women (this also happens for young boys and men), unequal pay, unequal maternity/paternity leave, the list could go on. Rape is something else entirely - the stigma with rape, how people go years without saying anything because of the rape culture that exists today - how a woman dresses or looks "Oh she deserved it, she was asking for it" - No. No she wasn't and no she does not deserve it. People need to learn the word NO and the definition of consent. Same goes for women who rape men - there is a particular stigma around that too which needs dealing with because rape is rape and entirely unacceptable in every possible aspect.
These are all just examples as to why we still need Feminism. 

Another thing as well - people are afraid to outright say : ''Hey, I'm a Feminist!'' - I was one of those people. It wasn't until I came to uni and was actually educated on Feminism and equality that I was like yeah ok, I'm a Feminist! I think the word Feminism brings in a lot of negativity from social media and it shouldn't. The amount of times I see posts like "Oh, Feminists are all bra burning, men hating lesbians" Well... I'm a Feminist. I don't hate men, I don't burn bras and I'm in a long term heterosexual relationship!

Something I want to know is why are people so afraid of equality for men and women? Like why is that such a scary concept for people? Don't you want to be treated the same? Don't you want equal pay? The same rights that men have? If you do then you are a Feminist.

I asked a few people what they think Feminism is and this is what they had to say:

First up is my housemate and best friend Jade. She stands up for what she believes in, she says it how it is. Jade commented on a blog post I did a couple months ago about clothing sizes in retail - you can check that post out here. Jade pretty much hits the nail on the head with her comments about Feminism because she's right - we don't hate men, we want equality for both women and men!

Next is Jessie Bartholomew, who also commented on one of my previous posts surround clothing sizes in retail. Jessie is the Women's Officer for University of Lincoln, so I was dying to get her comments because I knew Jessie would have so much to say as she is super passionate!

Now, I really struggled to find any males willing to make any comments or contribution to this post, I knew it would've been difficult because of the stigma attached to Feminism but I didn't think it would be THAT tough. Thankfully - Rob was lovely enough to help me out. Rob pinpoints everything wrong with society and says it so brilliantly, I'm in awe of him. 

I asked a couple bloggers what they think and first up is Izzy McLeod! Her Twitter name is: @muccycloud and here is a link to her blog: http://www.muccycloud.com I have only very recently discovered Izzy through her kindly helping me out with this post and I absolutely love her blog, its flawless. I look forward to every new post she does and I'm glad that I've found her blog. I definitely recommend you check her blog out - I'm sure you'll fall in love just as quick as I did!

Next is Laura, you can find her Twitter account here:@laurabutcher91 and her blog is: http://lifebylaurax.com Again, like Izzy - I didn't discover Laura until she wanted to comment on my blog and again I'm glad she did. I really enjoy her blog, Laura blogs mostly about lifestyle with makeup routines, travelling and more. She recently did a blog post about the Suffragette movie that's just been released here in the UK - you can check that out here - it's a really good read and I'm sure it won't disappoint. 

Last but not least, we have Lindsey. Her Twitter is: @SparrowsBlog You can find her blog here: http://sparrowsblog.co.uk Lindsey has the cutest puppy called Dexter, her blog seems to centre around lifestyle, food and photography. Her blog is flawless and her pictures are brilliant.

As you can see from the comments, everyone's saying similar things - so yes we do need Feminism, yes we still face inequalities today, yes we have come a long way but there are still so many more disadvantaged. No, we don't hate men. No, we don't burn our bras. If there are any Feminists out there who do behave that way - then they are what I would call 'Radical Feminists' just like you get radicals in every social group, race and religion. Something I think that is definitely helping is the amount of Celebrities speaking up and saying that they are a Feminist. There are so many campaigns going on promoting equality - we need this change. It would be just wonderful if one morning we woke up to a world declaration of equality. The sad reality is that we have such a long way to go and at this rate I may not even see equality be a thing. This is why we need to campaign for our rights. If the women in the history books did it, why can't we?

That's it for today! I hope you enjoyed the read. Like I said at the start of this post - any trolls or keyboard warriors please don't waste your time. Make sure you follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Bloglovin for updates on the blog and daily life. Thanks again as always for reading, thank you to all the people who helped me out in this post, I really appreciate it, your comments help tremendously and every little helps. I'll post again soon,

Gym Wishlist!

I'm on a bit of a fitness splurge at the moment. I think it's because I want to be in ace shape for Florida next year and this time of year I always feel a bit frumpy. Probably because I comfort eat from sitting around curled up in blankets and morph into a sloth. Also third year is turning Red Bulls and cereal bars into my best friends. Basically I'm creating a lot of excuses for myself. I find that when I pay for nice or expensive gym gear then I'm more likely to go because I want to get my moneys worth out of the clothes and trainers, which is a really weird logic to have but it makes sense to me! 

1. White Sports Longline Run The World Tank Top - £8.99 (New Look)

2. Sports Leggings - £19.99 (H&M)

3. Sports Bra High Support - £19.99 (H&M)

4. Blue Geo Print Sports Leggings - £17.99 (New Look)

5. Win Your Own Game Sports Top - £7.99 (H&M)

6. 3 Pack White Grey and Black Contrast Trainer Socks - £4.99 (New Look)

7. Nike Flex Experience Trainers - £42.00 (Sports Direct)

8. Lime Sports Water Bottle - £5.99 (New Look)

9. Nike Flex Experience Print Trainers  - £46.00 (Sports Direct)

I'm really enjoying the sportswear range at H&M and New Look right now, the prints for the pants are amazing and so bold. I love bright colours for the gym! I also love number nine of my wish list because they match my current gym trousers (which were also from H&M). All the gym gear listed is reasonably priced too. I can tell from the gym gear I have already from H&M and New Look that it is high quality stuff which is fab!

So fingers crossed I keep to this gym plan! 

Have you got anything from my wishlist? Is there anything on here that catches your eye? Let me know in the comments below what you think! Thanks for reading, I hope you liked this post! Make sure you follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Bloglovin for updates about my blog and general life bits and bobs! Thanks again,

      

Essie: Sexy Divide

I don't splash out on nail polish very often. I don't really like paying a lot of money for something I end up picking off my nails an hour after it dries or something that just seems to chip no matter what I use for top coats or anti-chip polishes, but for some reason I just really wanted some Essie nail polish. I don't really buy nail polish for the simple reason that I pick and chip so easily and I hate having to sit there for ages with wet nails - guaranteed I will get about a hundred itches in the space of drying time - does anyone else ever get this?! 

But anyway, away from my rant: I just fancied a good quality polish for a change so I decided to splash out on some Essie. I wanted a new A/W shade and I just fell in love with this one. It's called Sexy Divide (great name). It's a beautiful, rich purple and it's very complimentary to my skin tone. The colour reminds me of the cartoon grapes you'd see in the Disney movies and all the cartoons (bit of weird imagery for you there) It seems to have a matte look when it's dry and I'm a huge lover of matte things. Sexy Divide also dries pretty much straight away so I was chuffed to bits with that because as I said a bit further up I hate waiting for polish to dry.

It's not too badly priced at £6.99 from Boots. I went for two polishes - this one and a dark midnight blue (which I've forgotten the name of as I've left it back at home, sorry guys) So I think they're both fab for A/W.

As you can see below, it is beautiful in the bottle and on the nails, so I'm pretty happy with this polish considering I rarely bother with them now! I also love the names for Essie polish, I think they're great and admittedly I did stand there in Boots having a little chuckle over them all. Who would've thought I'm 21?

Have you ever tried Essie? Do you like it? What's your favourite A/W nail polish? Let me know in the comments below what you think! Thanks for reading, be sure to follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Bloglovin for updates about my blog and general life bits and bobs! I hope you enjoyed this post and thank you again, 

    

University Room Tour!

Hey guys,

I thought it was about time I did a university room tour! I know my picture quality isn't amazing but I am working on that - trying to save up for a decent camera isn't that easy on a student budget (as you're all well aware) 

This is the first time I've been in a shared house - the first two years I was in student halls. I am so glad though that I'm in a house now, although it is freezing 98% of the time and it's a super old house, I surprisingly really like it and it's just nice to have so much more room, I'm sure you all know what halls is like - loud and not as much space, so this really is a lovely change. I always do my best to make my rooms at uni as homely as possible so that's why I have so much stuff. It's also why it takes Kayne and I about four car trips to move me in and out. 

Hope you enjoy!

Excuse the brushes - they need a really good clean! 

My desk at the moment - dissertation books everywhere and my beautiful flowers from Blossoming Gifts

So that's it, my university room! I love how cosy it is, I'm very thankful to my parents who were lovely enough to get the white pod chair (the chair that came with my room gave me horrific back pain) so a big thank you for that! I don't think I've done half bad of making my room really show my personality. I am a huge lover of shabby chic incase that wasn't already obvious! I hope you've enjoyed this post today, sorry for all the rubbish picture quality - it's a working progress I promise. Let me know below what you think! 

Thanks for reading, if there's anything you like and want to know where it's from then just leave a comment and I'll get back to you asap! Make sure you follow me on Bloglovin, Twitter and Instagram for updates about the blog and daily life. Thanks again, 

Blossoming Gifts - Autumn Sunset

Hey guys,

So I was recently contacted by Blossoming Gifts - an online flower company who offered the chance to collaborate with them. If I'm being honest at first I was a bit like 'wait, what?' and I had to have a good think about it because flowers is something that I don't do very often - I don't know why I just very rarely buy flowers for myself. Secondly, I did't want to review a product that I didn't feel would be beneficial to the company, readers or myself. I only ever review things on here that I believe are worth the review and I will always give my honest opinion on the item in question. I decided to check out Blossoming Gifts Twitter page and their website to find out a bit more and if I'm being honest my breath was taken away with how beautiful they made the flowers look. The presentation, everything. Instantly the bells started going off in my head like ''Katie - do this!'' So here I am!

First things first I was stuck for choice - their Autumn range is b-e-a-u-tiful. I couldn't decide at all and in the end I went for the good ol' eenie-meenie-mini-mo trick. So I requested Autumn Sunset (which is what I was leaning more towards anyway) and it matches the colour scheme of my room at uni. Next thing I knew it was here on my doorstep the next morning- so 10/10 for the delivery time there. The flowers arrived in a sturdy box and was beautifully presented inside. 

I couldn't quite believe how beautiful the flowers were either, the quality and everything is just brilliant. I also received a box of chocolates - something my housemates and I will enjoy later - and a little card (which I thought was quite cute).

You can see from just the picture the quality of the flowers. The lilies haven't blossomed yet but when they do I just know they're going to make the bouquet even more beautiful. I didn't realise until I spoke with Blossoming Gifts and saw their work just how much effort they must go through to do a business with flowers, keeping them fresh - creating bouquets, getting the right flowers, sending them out, making sure that every bouquet is to a high quality, hats off to them. 

Now, the lovely team over at Blossoming Gifts have been kind enough to offer 33% off a bouquet. The only bouquets not included in this discount is the 'Flowers by post' range. But I can promise you all this - you will be stuck for choice. They don't just do floral bouquets - but chocolate and sweet ones too! (Which I'm eyeing up for mine and Kayne's upcoming anniversary) They also have a beautiful Christmas range alongside their other products such as: Flower Delivery,  Flowers By Post and Cheap Flowers

Here is the discount code for all you lovely people: BGIFTS33

If you're wanting something that's real good quality and worth every penny then definitely check out Blossoming Gifts. I can promise you - you will not be disappointed. I plan on ordering some more shortly for my relatives.

So as you can tell, this is very different from my usual kind of posts but I really did think it was worth straying off my usual posts to talk about something a bit different. I can't wait for the flowers to bloom properly and my room is going to smell amazing! I hope you've enjoyed this post today, thanks for reading, look out for some more posts in the upcoming week - Boutique of Molly, Sleek lipstick, Uni room tour and more! Make sure you follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Bloglovin! Thanks again,

My Top Four Autumn/Winter Shades!

Hey guys,

I can't believe it's October already, it really is crazy how fast this year is going. The nights are creeping in sooner, the heatings on, Halloween and Christmas are around the corner - it's so exciting. On the other hand, it means that Uni is getting more intense, I have a dissertation deadline coming up at the end of October already and I don't think I've been more unprepared for something... So naturally instead of doing diss research I decide to write a post on my favourite Autumn and Winter lipstick shades! I've been super excited to write this post because I really love this time of the year because of the dark shades. I find that they compliment my skin more than a pale shade would. I found it quite hard to narrow it down but I managed to get it down to four. They are: 

Sleek True Colour - Vamp, Kate Moss - 107, Maybelline - Divine Wine and MAC - Velvet Teddy.

Now I know some people may question the Velvet Teddy choice but for me I find it works and looks better on my lips in Autumn and Winter rather than Spring and Summer. For me it's Kinda Sexy in S/S and Velvet Teddy in A/W. Plus I felt like I needed to have some nude-ish lipstick in there somewhere! 

Kate Moss in 107 was the first dark lipstick I ever owned and I fell in love straight away, it's always been a guaranteed A/W purchase, if they were to ever discontinue this lipstick I think I would die a little inside. 

Divine Wine by Maybelline is also creeping up the ladders, I've never actually tried Maybelline lipstick before but this one is beautiful. It's matte as well which is an added bonus as matte is really the only lipstick I like to wear and what I feel most confident with. 

Last but not least is Sleek True Colour in Vamp. I literally bought it this week and I have been in love. I haven't purchased anything by Sleek in a very long time. I fell out of love with the brand because I wore it so much, but the little break from Sleek is making me re-fall in love all over again! I forgot how pigmented Sleek make up was which is something I always loved about Sleek. It's cheap as chips too for a high quality product so you can't really go wrong. I'm going to do a separate blog post about this lipstick soon so keep your eyes peeled for that!

You can see from the swatches how beautiful they are on the skin and how pigmented they are. That's one definite benefit about the A/W shades - one quick motion on your lips and the colour is so intense already that you needn't apply anymore! I do find however that Divine Wine and Vamp are pretty similar in colour so if you're wanting a cheaper version of Divine Wine then Vamp is the one! I find 107 to have a more pinky undertone (if you know what I mean) so it adds to the boldness of the lips.

Below are swatches of my favourite A/W shades. From top to bottom are: Sleek - Vamp, Kate Moss - 107, Maybelline - Divine Wine and MAC - Velvet Teddy.

So there you have it, my favourite lipstick shades for Autumn and Winter. You have no idea how difficult this was to pinpoint it to just four shades. What do you guys think? Do you like these shades? Which is your favourite and what is your go-to A/W shade? 

Let me know in the comments below! Thanks again as always for reading! Make sure you follow me on Bloglovin, Instagram and Twitter. I'm thinking about doing a Halloween blog post with a 'how-to' for a Zombie look - let me know in the comments what you think! Thanks again, 

MAC Pro Longwear Foundation Review!

Hey guys,

Sorry about the lack of posts again in the last week, I'm really struggling to balance work, reading, uni and spending time with Kayne. I knew third year was going to be intense but I didn't think it would be this intense. 

Today I'm reviewing MAC Pro Longwear SPF 10 Foundation in the shade NW15. 

This was recommended to me during my MAC hour, Lindsey tried it out on me and my skin looked flawless. Naturally, I bought one myself because of how good my skin looked and felt with this foundation on.

In the past I've used NW20 for my foundation, but apparently my skin is a lot lighter than I thought and NW15 was a perfect match. I was quite surprised by this because I've worn NW20 for the last two years. 

It's quite a thin foundation so to speak, it's not 'gloopy' which I quite like as I hate thick foundations. I always feel that with thick foundation I feel and look really cakey (which is not a good look). One qualm I definitely have with this is how little the pump actually gives, I have to do atleast two-three pumps to get a sufficient amount on my hand. (It's a really petty thing I know).

As you can see in the picture below, it's pretty close to my skin tone on my hand and even more so on my face. It just sits really nicely and like I've said already it makes my skin look flawless. I apply the pro longwear foundation with the Real Techniques Bold Metals foundation brush. I did contemplate getting a foundation brush from MAC but I'm in love with my Bold Metals brush so I didn't see the point. Another thing I like about this foundation is that it doesn't make my skin look shiny which is a massive bonus, I found that it makes my skin look almost matte which I surprisingly liked. It's supposed to give up to 15 hours of wear - to some extent I think I would agree. I've not actually tried it for 15 hours yet but I've worn it for long days at uni or nights out and the foundation has always remained perfectly in tact. If you've seen some pictures of me on a night out then you will know how much of a mess I am so this is super beneficial for me... 

All in all, I'm really impressed with this foundation and my only issue like I said is the little pumps it gives rather than the big ones which I prefer. I would recommend this foundation if you're struggling to find one with durability and one that provides good coverage. It is £25.00 but it is worth every penny I think. The size of the bottle too suggests to me that it's going to last a long time which is another added bonus. 

Have you ever tried this foundation? Did you enjoy it? Or could you not get on with it? Let me know in the comments below what you think! I hope you enjoyed todays post. I'm going to try post as frequently as possible but my reading at the moment is pretty intense so it might just be weekly posting as opposed to posting two-three times a week like I did over the summer. I always feel bad if I let anyone down but obviously university comes first. Make sure you follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Bloglovin for updates on the blog. Thanks for reading,