Take a break

 (You can see how small it is in this picture- the whole town of Ballycastle is situated on that hill)

Sometimes when you find that life is rushing by and you're doing things 110 mph and forge how to relax a little break away is in order-and for me this break came in the form of a remote town BallyCastle. I used to visit all the time when I was a child but after the summer of 2006 we just stopped. I've always wanted to go back but my family were never keen until my sister asked last week did I want to go for a drive somewhere and of course my first suggestion was BallyCastle. As I expected she took a little persuasion but we got there in the end. I endured a 90 minute drive through the little country roads but when I caught the first glimpse of the sea from the car I couldn't stop a little squeal escaping and turns out my 25 year old sister was just as excited as I was. BallyCastle is so small and quaint that it only takes around 40 minutes to get from one side of the town to the other. It was nice to be a child again for just one day and play in the old park I used to play in when I was little and chill on the beach and dig in the sand and just relax.

Do you have one place that you go to escape when life gets too much?


ray♥

my week in pictures #1

This week has been a very tiring week with an exam at the end but just as busy and fun as usual. So I had Monday off school, thanks to the bank holiday (not very relaxing however).

1. On Bank Holiday Monday my Dad and Brother ran the Belfast City Marathon to raise money for the Children's Hospice, a worthy charity. They finished in 4 hours 55 minutes!

2. It was a lovely day on Tuesday so we sat outside to eat lunch, Shannon was adamant to get a photo!

3. What can be better than a cold drink or an ice lolly on a sunny day? Oh I know, hot fudge cake with custard courtesy of Rebecca.

4. Studying in the library was so boring but I had an exam on Friday, Carly and Amy are working hard in that photo.

5. I actually did something social on Friday night and I went to see Oblivion in the cinema. I would not recommend it AT ALL it was too confusing, riddled with scientific inaccuracy and poor acting. 

6. I was looking forward to a relaxing Sunday but instead I have to sort this mess. How fun.

See you next week for "my week in pictures #2"

RAY X

Current favourites!

I've decided not to commit myself to writing monthly favourites because I know I'll never stick to it so every once in a while I will just collect together a few skincare/haircare/makeup items to share with you guys. Here is what I have been loving over the past few months:

 Garnier Pure deep pore wash(£2.53 Boots) Simple light moisturiser(£3.79 Boots) Topshop Blush in "Flush" (£6 Topshop) Rimmel Lycra Pro nail polish(£4.59 Boots) Real Techniques expert face brush(£9.99 Boots) MUA Lipstick Shade 7 (£1 Superdrug) Maybelline Pulse Perfection vibrating mascara(£7.99 Amazon) Osmo Deep Mositurising shampoo and conditioner(£14.20 feelunique.com) Garnier Refreshing Gel-Cream(£2 Boots)

(Sorry about the flash but it's so hard to photograph gold packaging) This combination is incredible. I have very heat damaged hair and thought that a deep mositurising shampoo and conditioner would do wonders for my hair and I wasn't wrong. They left my hair feeling lightweight and the conditioner was especially good, the ends of my hair were super soft I just wanted to run my hands through it all day. While washing your hair the products do have a strong scent, it's not a bad smell (infact it's quite delightful) but it is strong although it's not noticeable when you're hair is dry.

This mascara is by far my most used of the past month or so. I'm not a fan of the vibrating feature as I don't feel like it does anything for my lashes, it simply doesn't vibrate strong enough to have any noticeable impact but the brush and the formulation are wonderful. It's not flaky, it doesn't smudge, it will stay put all day and it adds a lot of length and volume.

I chose to talk about the 2 skincare items together. First, the moisturiser. The main reason I purchased this was for the promise "absorbs instantly" and I wouldn't say it was "instant" but substantially quicker than any other mosituriser. I have the grape scent and it smells super fresh and it's nice to apply. Next, the deep pore wash. This works wonders for my skin. I use it every 2-3 days and if I miss even 1 session of using it I would breakout or get bad dry patches so it just keeps my skin under control. It has microbeads in it to exfoliate which helped with the dry skin on my face and I just LOVE this product.

I'm really enjoying the Simple light moisturiser because it does exactly what it promises without being too greasy so I can use it everyday. My MUA lipstick has been a favourite of mines for a while because it is a very wearable colour for a natural look and it is shimmery but not too much plus it smells really nice which is important to me because you can smell it all day as it's right under your nose.I've been loving the Topshop cream blush because I absolutely adore the formulation. Usually I'm a bit scared of cream blushes but the cream-to-powder formulation of this makes it easy to work with although I wished I'd have picked a slightly more subtle colour.(That's just an excuse for me to go back and buy another). Lastly, of course everyone in the beauty world loves the Real Techniques brushes but my favourite has to be the "expert face brush". I find it so useful for everything. I use it for foundation, cream blush, highlighter and bronzer(which explains why it's so dirty in the picture ew gross). 

I have not stopped wearing this nail polish for the past few months, I switch it up for a few days but I always go back to my trusting Rimmel Lycra Pro in 440 "orange bliss". It's the perfect bright orange/coral(it shows up more red on camera but it's more orange than it appears). It has the wide brush for mistake free application which is important to me because when I paint my right hand it usually goes everywhere so I find the maxi brush very useful. I'm going to have to go get myself some more colours.

That's it for my current favourites, I hope you found this post informative and sorry if it's a bit long! 
Until my next post,

Ray X

dublin day out! (vlog)

I went to Dublin yesterday (Saturday 27th April) for the IYMAs (Irish Youth Music Awards) and it was fab and I vlogged so here it is all edited and lovely for you guys x

p.s If this video is bad quality I may just upload it from Youtube instead.

follow me on twitter

Quick post guys just to say follow me on twitter if you would like to see updates on my life and what I'm having for breakfast etc. I promise I'm fun on there:)
https://twitter.com/rachelvslife


p.s April favourites will be my next blog post and it'll be my first favourites blog post so I'm SUPER excited, watch out for that!

I'm an awful vlogger!

I attempted to make some interesting vlogs for you guys this week but on Friday I was super busy with "Gig Night" so even though I was planning to vlog I couldn't (cry) but I thought I'd redeem it by making a cool vlog for Saturday.
"Where is that cool vlog?" you might ask. Well, basically I am an idiot and an amateur and I left my camera at home. 

Today I:

• Went to my dance/drama classes

• Got my second piercing in my left ear (ouch!)

• Walked practically all over the city centre to find somewhere that my friend Shauna could get an industrial bar piercing but sadly no luck for her.

• Ate subway

• Went home and chatted to my sister about childhood memories with her (super nostalgic)

• Socialized with my cousin Chloe 

• Watched youtube videos

• Wrote this post

So as you can see the start of my day would have made a great vlog, that is if I had remembered something to film it on but I solemnly promise now that next weekend I will make super interesting vlogs because on Friday I am going to a play that my friends are in called "West Side Story" then on Saturday I am taking a trip to Dublin for the final of the Irish Youth Music Awards and on Sunday I am volunteering at a show doing some Front of House/usher type things i.e greeting the audience, tearing tickets at the door etc.


My lack of post ideas is so upsetting too, I'm so unimaginative so if you have any suggestions give me them:)

Ray x

Olly Murs stalking

Don't suppose anyone would like to see my little vlog(featuring Amy and Rebecca) I made today whilst waiting to meet Olly Murs in town? If you would like to watch it well, here it is...

I'm also going to meet him tomorrow where I'll probably make another one! I really enjoyed filming and editing it