Kiera Rambles... Self Love♥

Hello lovelies. It's been a while I know, but school's been hectic with exams and constant revision. However, today I'm back and starting a new little series called 'Kiera Rambles'. Since a lot of my most popular posts are my rambles or rants. I thought you guys would enjoy this little series, where I can talk about topics that I'm passionate about. Starting with self love/care - something I'm a huge advocate for.

Loving yourself is more important than loving anybody else. You are the one person guaranteed to always stick by your side and support yourself through the toughest moments. Sometimes we kick ourselves whilst we're down, or only ever pick out what we see as flaws and never allow ourselves to see the good. Loving yourself doesn't make you vain, it's sanity. I know how it feels when your anxiety creeps up on you and you want to curl up in bed forever, but that isn't always the answer. Here's some things that can hopefully help you to love or care for yourself...

1. Take A Long Nice Relaxing Bath 

Light some candles, pour in plenty of bubbles and grab a book. There isn't much a bath can't fix to be honest. If you're feeling like shit then I can't recommend this enough. Switch of your phone, grab a book and relax. This gives you time to wind down and re-evaluate situations without social media influencing your thoughts. Taking time to yourself is one of the best ways to gain self love. 

2.  Be Kind 

I know a lot of you like me, has at some point had a lot of contempt for yourself and sometimes dislike yourself. It's easy to look in the mirror and only see what you hate, it takes a lot of courage to look in the mirror and tell yourself you look beautiful. I know whenever I get like this I question how I would feel if somebody else constantly picked out my flaws. Horrible. So why do it to yourself? All your flaws are beautiful and they make you, you. 

3. De-Clutter 

If my anxiety is particularly bad and my room's a mess, my mind just can't settle and I find myself feeling on edge. For me de-cluttering is such a big part of self care and can really help to lower my anxiety levels. Clear out your wardrobe, sort through your makeup or have a quick speed tidy around your room, These are such small things but help to make me feel organised and a lot less stressed. 

4. Stop Comparing 

You are who you are and comparing yourself to others won't make you feel any better. Everybody has flaws and that's OK. I used to look at my friends a lot and compare myself to them, but I used to find this made me feel a lot more less confident. You have to keep telling yourself that nobody is the same. 

Hopefully this helps some of you to love yourselves more & be a lot more positive. 

Kiera 

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♥

Here's to 2017...♥

Happy New Year lovelies!

I hope you all had a lovely NYE, whether you was out partying with friends and family or having a quiet night in. I'm currently feeling very sorry for myself, I have a pounding headache and in need of lots of food and sleep. So today's being spent wrapped up in my duvet watching lots of films, 

2016 was definitely something, a roller coaster of emotions and some of my favourite memories created, whilst feeling hurt I didn't think was possible. This year made me realise how incredibly lucky I am to have an amazing group of friends and family who have stood by me whatever mood or situation the year had thrown at me, I'm a strong believer that everything happens for a reason, even if you don't know or understand that reason, and that it will make you a much stronger person. Always remember that, and don't let any boy be the reason your mascara smudges or highlight doesn't glow, a mistake I made. Here's my resolutions for the year ahead, I'm determined to make this my year and make myself a much happier person. 

Work On My Blog 

This year I'm so proud of how far my blog has come, and how much my following has grown. It put's a huge smile on my face knowing that a group of people enjoy my rambles and sassy ways. Definitely a  massive highlight of my year, especially since it gave me the opportunity to make some amazing friends.  This being said, this year I really need to kick myself up the butt and work at my photography. I want to create myself a space where I can take blog photos because it would make my life sooo much easier. I would also quite like to upload a lot more content and more regularly too. 

Read More Books

I love reading but it's something I don't do often enough. I have so many books lying around waiting to be read, and whenever I do read it always reminds me of how much I love it. I just never make time for it for some silly reason. So in 2017, I vow to make time to read more instead of always scrolling through my twitter feed. 

Positivity  

I'm a very happy person if I'm honest. However, I spent far too much of last year isolating myself away from others crying or feeling like utter shit. Of course everyone has a right to sit and sob their heart out, every now and then. But this year I'm determined to not let stupid boys get to me in that way. If something's hurting me or getting to me so much that I can't even bring myself to go out then instead of dwelling on the situation, I'm going to act upon it. I've also learnt that I need to give myself more me time, and allow myself to have some down time every now and then. 

Staying Organised

Staying organised is a skill I definitely lack and something I'm determined to work on. This would probably be made a lot easier if I was able to keep my bedroom tidy especially considering this is where I blog and do any work for school. I don't have a blog schedule because I know that I wouldn't be able to stick to it no matter how hard I try. Although it would be made a lot easier if I kept my work space tidy and didn't spend so long procrastinating every little task. 

Skincare Routine 

For as long as I can remember I've been unhappy with my skin, but I'm all for complaining about it and never do anything about it. Recently I have started to look after my skin a lot more but I've never had a proper skin care routine that I stick too. This year I want to actually give myself a skincare routine, remove my makeup properly and not with a wipe, and to moisturise! Why do I feel the need to always skip out on moisturiser, this year I will get clear skin. I'm already working on it.

Kiera 

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♥

The Christmas Tag♥

Hey lovelies, en-light of Christmas being nine days away I thought it would be the perfect time to do the Christmas Tag! Throwback to when tags were the ' in thing ' , I thought this one would be super fun to do especially as it's Christmas themed. Also I'll admit it's a bit of a lazy post if I'm honest but it's still something, right?

NOT MY OWN PHOTO - TAKEN FROM PINTEREST 

1. What is your favourite Christmas Movie/s?

If you're like me and bloody love Christmas, then you'll know that over the festive period you end up watching a fair few Christmas films, making this question soooo difficult. This being said nothing beats Home Alone, this film is an all rounder for me. It's had me in fits of laughter, tears streaming down my face and also moments of 'this film sums up how weird my family is' too. I have the box set of all the Home Alones, but 1 and 2 are by far the best. All this aside, who doesn't love Elf? I could honestly recite a fair few quotes from this film to you, one of my favourites being ' there's room for everyone on the nice list'. Of course the Grinch and Love Actually are up there too.

2. Do you open your presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?

Me and my family have this tradition, that every Christmas Eve we receive a 'Christmas Eve box' which inside usually contains; Christmas themed pj's, a bath product of some sort - usually a bath-bomb, a Christmas film and a whole lot of chocolate. But, the rest of the gifts remain until the morning. I'll admit these are usually opened whilst eating the box of celebrations or biscuits in place of breakfast. Who has time to eat breakfast on Christmas morning?! Not me. The excitement is too much, I'm such a kid when it comes to Christmas. I know you are too.

3. Do you have a favourite Christmas memory?

Ooo this is a tough one - I have so many. I think my most loved memory is when me and my sister were younger, and we'd wake up super early to open our stockings together snuggled up in my bed. Usually at a ridiculous time of morning, like five am. I know. Why so early. Then we'd run into our parents room, jumping about excitedly because we were so eager to go downstairs and see what Santa had bought. This still happens know in all honesty haha. 

4. Favourite festive food?

You must be joking if you think I can name only ONE food that I love to indulge in around this time of year. I want all the food, all of it. Oh, but you can keep the sprouts. Do you know what I do love, a Terry's Chocolate Orange. I could do with one of those right now. 

5. Favourite Christmas gift?

When you're a child, I personally think everything is so much more exciting. I used to be so happy with every gift I received.  So this made choosing a favourite, very hard. However, I think it might have to have been my Littlest Pet Shops. Who remembers those?! I was so obsessed and I used to collect them like a mad woman. 

6. Favourite Christmas scent?

Gingerbread, I don't even have to think about this. Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you that around this time of year I become obsessed with the scent. I have a gingerbread room diffuser and I also find myself drinking one too many gingerbread lattes. I just love it soooo much. 

7. Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions?

My family don't really class this as a tradition but every Christmas Eve, we hand out our Christmas Eve boxes and then we usually snuggle up, binge watching all the Christmas TV on offer and of course films too. Mum usually likes to make hot chocolates too. This helps us to feel super festive and get us ready for Christmas Day.

8. What tops your tree?

An angle, we've always had an angel. I don't know why in all honesty, we've had the same angel on top of our tree for as long as I can remember. And if I'm honest I wouldn't be too fussed if one year my mum switched it up and put a star on top. I just don't really have a personal preference. 

9. As a kid what was the one (crazy, wild, extravagant) gift you always asked for but never received?

I don't remember asking for anything too wacky - I probably asked for a weird toy at one point that was probably a load of rubbish. However, I can't pin point anything as extremely out there. 

10. What's the best part about Christmas for you?

I love Christmas Day, but it always seem to be over in a flash. For me it would have to be the build up, I love the Christmas shopping, all the music, films and food. I also love how everyone is always in such high spirits and the cute fairy lights along side eyeing up all the new beautiful makeup sets. The build up is just so magical and is what I look forward to most, I mean come on you get a piece of chocolate everyday?! Who isn't excited for that!

Kiera 

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♥

Five Ways to Wind Down | Winter Edition♥

Hey lovelies. 

Sleep to me is kind of a big deal, like most people if I don't get enough sleep I'll wake up the next day feeling super cranky. In which causes me to snap at almost anybody who crosses my path, apologies. This also causes me to come home from school and nap for hours, which then just completely messes up my sleep pattern altogether. 

Recently I've noticed the importance of taking some 'you' time to just chill out and wind down, this means not sitting up stalking ASOS's website until you literally can't keep your eyes open. I've found myself a little routine which helps me to shut off, without further or do...

Switching off - 
I don't just mean your brain. By this I mean switching off your phone, restraining yourself from watching Netflix into the early hours of the morning. Put all the screens down, I promise by doing so you will see a huge benefit. I personally like to put them away about an hour, to half an hour before I plan on sleeping. This way my brain can shut off and won't be left wandering for hours. This is probably the main reason why you're laid awake at night frustrated, cursing about how you can't just drift off like everyone else. 

Read a book - 
I honestly can't recommend this enough, if you don't already, read before you go to bed. This helps me sleep so much, and also helps my brain to shut off. By doing so, it also means that I forget about anything that may have been bothering me, or had been playing on my mind during the day. This is so much more beneficial than reading your twitter feed, as I'm sure some of you will know this can sometimes just piss you off even more. 

Have a soak - 
Is there anything a bubble bath can't fix? I'm up for a bath any time of the day, any time of the year. Whether it be to help with stress, bad period cramps, or just to help me dose off that little bit easier. I'm hardly going to turn down a nice long soak in a bath full to the brim with bubbles, surrounded by candles. This more than likely solves any problem your having. 

Getting cosy - 
This one might seem pretty obvious. However, when I want to wind down I absolutely love too light some candles, turn on the fire and grab a huge cuddly blanket, and just chill the fuck out. At this point, I restrict myself from replying to any emails, or even just glancing at them.  I stop doing any work around 8pm and I call this my 'me time'. I usually like to make myself a cup of herbal tea at this time too, and drink this whilst again giving my read a book. 

Cleanse, Detox & Face mask - 
I'm all for a skincare routine on a night. I love nothing more than taking off my makeup, giving my skin a good old clean, and popping on a face mask. To me, there's nothing more relaxing than sitting with a face mask on drinking a warm cup of tea. Personally, I just find giving yourself a little pamper the ultimate way to wind down for the night. 

These are my favourite things to do when I wanna chill out and wind down, what are yours??

Kiera 

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♥