Loving yourself.

Helloooo! I have just recovered from my exams- THEY'RE OVER!! *jumps with joy*. It has been a really hard year, but I'm proud to say that whatever happens, I know I worked my ass off and optimism is the way forward :). I believe if you view life in this perspective, it will make things seem more clearer. There's no point of being pessimistic: take every opportunity as a positive one. If you fail? Try again and again. 

I think I've gained quite a lot of inspiration from viewing videos on youtube, such as Bubzbeauty- i've watched her since I was twelve.. She's a true inspiration. I think that recently, I've learnt to love myself more and appreciate who I am. I may not be great at some things such as maths or being great at physics,but I can tell you what I am good at!

• I like to consider myself as a good friend- I'm quite caring.
• I love English and History- debating, arguing, analysing..
• NO.1 top best hugger
• I am honest.
•  I'm good at writing
• I can make people laugh

The list could go on, but the main point is, love yourself. It's a waste of time comparing yourself- whether it's grades (WHICH i am guilty of), appearance, personality and what not. Love yourself for who you are- cheesy as it sounds but you were born to be different so be original and not a copy. 

The best advice I can give you is to just look at things optimistically. On one hand, I can think how my results may be horrible and I will cry all night- yes that might happen (because alevels are a little poo head), but on another hand, you can look at things overall and in a optimistic way. Okay, I did not manage to achieve this but I tried my hardest, and now I need to figure out what I need/want. Don't sugar coat things, don't be over confident, but be loving to yourself and be honest. You are your own best friend. Even surrounding yourself with the right people makes a huge impact. 

Love yourself.

Stay beautiful, Elaine Chu. xxx

Dear the procrastinator in me..

Hey guys.. its currently 1:17AM and I've been revising for just around eight hours today of pure history.

I have procrastinated so much in the last few years when I had exams, now not so much. Why? I have kind of deleted all my social media. I used to just go on my phone so much, refresh my snapchat feed or whatever, or just eat.. It's kinda ironic because I'm procrastinating now than doing my history. The only reason why I'm revising at this time is so it doesn't ruin my schedule. I'm also ill, the best way of delaying work, huh? 

This blogpost is realllllllllly pointless because I'm just so exhausted- but I warn you, don't do alnighters revising, I know I am now but I only do it 'occasionally'- oh and don't drink energy drinks. CAFFEINE IS NOT THE WAY TO GO. In fact, I'm not a huge fan of coffee or energy drinks as such. 

Sorry, this is a pointless post, but I thought why not? Sometimes have tired Elaine talking so much blabber than elaine having a lot of energy, haha. 

Stay beautiful, Elaine. xxx

Meet my boyfriend & Valentines Day ❤

I woke up one morning (this morning..) questioning everything that I've done in my life. (pretty deep, huh?) well.. I knew I abandoned my blog for a few months. I could use the a level excuse and also down to pure laziness. I felt like whatever I wrote had to be really exceptional. Despite the fact this blog is not the most popular read thing, I do still care about this. So anyway.. A lot has happened within the space of this few months. Allow me to go on. 

Meet Haroon! If you follow me on social media, you probably would have seen a cheeky picture or two, or three, of my boyfriend. I've been dating him currently for three months and  we're very happy. I don't like going into full extreme detail of my relationship or past relationships because it is very personal to me. But overall, he's pretty amazing.

On February 14th, Haroon took me to Zizis (an Italian restaurant), near London Bridge, with a view of the river! They do realllllllly good panna cotta- It was my first time trying it!

After, we walked around London, towards London Bridge, which is next to The Shard. If you don't know about The Shard, it's the tallest building in the European Union. We went to the viewing gallery at night. Obviously, I was expecting to be amazed by the beauty of London, but when I really saw London at night.. Words could not explain how beautiful London really is. It's that time of deep thought where you take appreciation of the city you live in. Amazeballs, stunning.

PS, MORE BLOG POSTS TO COME! Follow me and keep reading!

Stay beautiful, Elaine Chu xxx

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Hello! After a good 2 months I've returned back to give you guys a christmassy blogpost! 

Christmas is that time of the year where you spend time with your loved ones: presents galore, the time of month where it's socially acceptable to eat as much as you want, laugh a hella lot and watch christmas movies whilst snuggled up with hot chocolate. 
I'm going to share with you guys what I got for christmas! 

These are my family gifts and friend gifts given, I don't particularly ask for much but yeah these are a few examples of my presents!

Thankyou for reading this post,

Stay beautiful,

Elaine Chu xoxo.

UPDATE: fringe + hair advice for bleach blondes

Hellooo! 

I've been away for SO long, I felt like I had to update you on the fact I got a fringe! 

Basically..

I've had a full fringe over the years and it's been quite on-off, however, I always end up sweeping it to the side because it is HIGH MAINTENANCE. 
Most people who have my type of hair can vouch that it is sooo long maintaining a fringe, and I'm a really lazy person: when i mean 'my type of hair', I mean my hair is not the same texture as other asian people. Oriental people usually have dead straight, but due to my mother's genetics, she has curly hair and my father has dead straight hair = wavy hair. My hair isn't THAT wavy but you can tell theres slight waves in my hair and that it doesn't go straight. Also, my hair has alot more volume in comparison to other asians I know (isnt because I put hair products in such as hairspray) but because i guess of my mothers genetics. How does this relate to the fringe? ('the fringe' lol the one and only) is because my fringe usually goes into a huge wave when it is cut short, so it's hard and I therefore have to straighten my fringe everyyyyday.

Once I got this fringe, i've been told by friends that my fringe always looks different and that's because I haven't found a proper system of how to straighten my fringe? Many girls don't even straighten their fringe which shocks me alot. 

Is there anything annoying about having a fringe?

Despite all the perks of having a fringe, it gets annoying: my hair tends to grow quite fast and I can not catch up with the growth of it.. so far its reached abit past my eye so i need to cut it asaaaap. 
With this, I always have to look on my phone to see if my fringe is looking decent and theres no curly/wavy parts stuck on my forehead thats not supposed to be there..
THERES ALSO +++++++++++ IN SPOTS. This may not account for the lucky blessed people out there, but my hair gets oily quite quickly and forms spots quicker than usual and takes a longer time to clean up. 

But yeah I didn't mean to rant on about my fringe, but I just liked abit of change..

Talking about hair, I'd like to add on some of my hair favourites into this blogpost! 

My hair has been getting quite dry/dehydrated recently and I knew it was the bleach talking! 
So I decided to grab a few hair masks to soothe and restore my hair back.. 

CHARLES WORTHINGTON- Moisture seal mineral hair rescue mask.

This bad boy is a hair mask which gave my hair life i tell you!
You leave it in after 1-2 minutes (so quick as im impatient) and it smells
so(oooo) good. The day after, my hair feels so soft and lovely. 
£7 i think.



Elaine x 

National Citizen Service- NCS.

HELLOOOO! 

It has been a VERY long time.. and I apologise. I've been literally busy busy busy (either camped out in my room with depression watching hours and hours of gossip girl or having writers block)

I wanted to share something amazingly significant which happened in my life this summer, and this is NCS;you've probably heard of this before but basically, it's a summer camp for 16-17's which gives you the chance to meet amazing new people, go outside of your comfort zone with activities and just having a laugh. 

The reason why I decided to do it was because I felt as if my summer wasn't going to be good, and I needed some oomph in my life- basically making new friends. 
On the first day, it was quite weird because you're surrounded by people who live around the same area as you, but you don't know any of them? However, everyone as I realised are connected to one another (mutual friends) so it made me easier to get along and start conversations.

Don't feel awkward!

Everyone is on the same boat as you are, so just relax. I felt anxious on the first day but on the second day, it felt more like I was at home and the people there are so genuine. I never thought i'd be the one telling people secrets I'd never tell my own bestfriends and they'd be the ones to understand ! People are great.

Thing is, you need to have the courage to put yourself out there- people still talk I guess: drama goes round and round and you just need to rise above it alll. 

The reason why I wanted to share this blog post with you is 1) this is one of the main reasons why ive been AWOL from the blog 2) I want you guys to say YES because this is a once in a lifetime oppurtunity. 

You learn new skills, independence, how to cook and how to give back to your community. 
Honestly, the NCS squa are like my family. I love them all to bits.




                     

Elaine x

My recent favourites!

Hi guys! I felt like I haven't posted really anything fashion wise so I thought why not! I hope you enjoy this blog post and comment/+1 this if you want :) Also you can tell me your favourites below! Make sure to follow me by email to notify you every time I make a new post.

This purse is from Primark. The best thing about it is that you can take the straps apart as there are buttons (i forgot to take another picture..) and you can easily convert it into a clutch for parties, days outs- the bag itself is very light and very affordable.

You have probably heard A LOT of reviews about the Maybeline New York Gel Liner and it is AMAAAZING. I brought this actually around three or four months ago and it's incredibly long lasting. In my opinion, I prefer gel liners over liquid because it's easy to draw new things on your eyes. eg: double wing liner- definitely worth your money-around £4! 

Next up are these chunky heels! These are from Primark and the reason I brought this is because: 1) my heels are nearly close to it's death and 2) prom time! I'm not exactly a heel person in general,meaning I don't wear these out casually to go out for a special occasion. Never the less, these heels are great- I'm so surprised I saw these, especially from Primark. If I'm honest, most of my friends resort to Primark as a place to buy heels because it's cheap. These were £12. They did get unbearably uncomfortable at the end but I'm guessing it's because of dancing. 

Let's go back to the basics of makeup- drugstore style! Starting from the left, is the Simple Care 'Kind to Eyes revitalising eye roll on'. This bad boy had been purchased 2 years ago and what it does is just wake me up because I get incredibly tired and reduces puffiness in the eyes. You apply this on the lower of your eye and sometimes I apply it on the eyelid if I need that extra wake up call. The best thing about Simple Care line is that it's great for sensitive skin (in which i have) and has lasted me a long time.. 

Second of all is the Rimmel London 'Wake me up' concealer. I haven't ever brought a concealer before but I had to purchase one and I heard a lot of raves about this. I think the concealer does do great coverage with dark circles and spots and blends quite great. However, it does take me more of a long time to cover spots which could be seen as a disadvantage. I have been told my dark circles are coming out due to all nighters so yeah. The concealer is £5.49 and can be purchased in your local drugstore.

Stuck in the middle is the Barry M 'Vernis a Ongle' nail polish. This colour is very rich and it's very easy to apply with just one coat. I love this colour because it does suit my personality/fashion sense as I tend to wear dark colours than bright. £2.99.

Last off in this picture is the 'Super colour fabu' lipstick in Blush pink.. This lipstick smells so sweet like smarties. The colour itself is a medium dark lightish-pinky colour and looks a bit purply when worn. This lipstick does hydrate your lips though and I find the product rather enjoyable. 

In addition to the lipstick club is a lipstick by Avon in 'Oxford Wine'. Unfortunately, I don't know the price of this lipstick as my auntie gave it to me as a gift. However, the lipstick is quite a dark rich colour and I wouldn't usually wear this on a casual day out but more of a special occasion or those winter days- it would look perfect on a snowy day and really compliments the skin tone if you're pale. 

Well this is it! I hope you guys did enjoy this post of my recent favourites-Till next time.

Stay beautiful, Elaine. xx