My 20th Birthday!

This weekend I 'celebrated' my 20th birthday. I say 'celebrated' because I didn't want to be 20 and still don't want to be 20. I still look and feel about 15!

The first 'birthday surprise' I received was after pottering through the door when getting back to Canterbury, after the Christmas holidays. The photo says it all.

Saturday 24th January 2015

My dad and his girlfriend (Lorraine) came to visit me at uni in Canterbury and stayed over Saturday night. But they were late picking me up and I ended up being zipped into a suitcase, being dragged down the corridor, took a trip down in the lift and a lovely ride in the boot of a car. My flatmates are lovely, lovely people.

When I escaped the suitcase and my dad turned up, we obviously started as we meant to go on, by heading straight to the pub. We ate at a lovely Italian restaurant called 'Pinocchio's', and then headed to a bar called 'The Loft'. Wouldn't recommend going to a bar full of students with your dad; a guy sat down next to me and started hitting on me. The random guy was in one of my ears asking for my number, and my dad was in the other, telling me to inform said random guy that he's a black belt in Judo. If you didn't guess, random guy was not successful. 

Sunday 25th January 2015 

The following day, we surprisingly started off in the pub. Had some good pub grub and browsed in a couple of shops. Whilst we were getting ready, walking round, eating and drinking, my mum and her boyfriend (Matt) were driving down to Canterbury. I met these two after having lunch and then said bye to my dad and Lorraine as they were leaving that afternoon. We then drove back to my uni campus as my mum had brought me a load of clothes etc. down from home, along with my gorgeoussss birthday cake and 11 portions of chilli and rice...

We then took a wander down the high street, went to a few pubs and had a meal at a Mexican place. I tried drinking but it really wasn't working out for me - I was knackered and just wanted a cup of tea. What a bore. 

Somehow though, I managed to make it to midnight and was greeted by Daisy and Anna serenading me and delivering my presents.

Monday 26th January 2015

My 20th Birthday

Mother turned up at about 11am to force me to wake up and open cards and presents. Anna (my flatmate) then made me breakfast - as usual - whilst my mum and Matt went to pick my brother up from the train station. Weirdly, we decided to drive to the beach. In January. Mum's bright idea, not mine. So we ended up in Margate, so Ange could eat fish and chips - which then ended up being thrown to the seagulls. I hate birds as it is, never mind a crap tonne of the bellends swarming me.

After being attacked by birds, we took a walk down the beach where my mum and Matt looked for shells - he also found and chucked a crab at us. Plus, Jack and I got our own back on the birds - we ran through and chased a load of stationary seagulls, like the mature adults that we are.

Like true British seaside tradition, we then made use of the arcades and 2p machines. Along with a shooting game, which Jack won and a game of air hockey, which Jack also won. Jammy git.

We then drove back to Canterbury so the fam and flat could sing Happy Birthday to me and more importantly, so we could eat the amazing cake that my mum baked. Cheers Mav!

I then said bye to Mother, Matt and Jack so I could start getting ready for my birthday night out with the flat. Long story short, prinks happened, we went to 'The Cuban' and then went home - which is where the funny stories mainly happened. 

Story 1: 

Our friend Dominic was extremely drunk and proceeded to tell us everything that happened in every Harry Potter film - well he called them episodes - after somehow associating Daisy's plain black bag with the Gryffindor house badge. He also reviewed and expressed his opinion on every character going. Just to let you know... 'there's nothing wrong with Dumbledore, he's sick', his Filtch impression sounded more like an Indian accent and Voldemort 'walked up to Harry Potter's house and was like "you know what yeah? I don't like your son" and killed Harry Potter's mum for no fucking reason whatsoever'. So that's story number 1.

Story 2: 

After he was finished narrating and reviewing Harry Potter, Dominic disappeared. He then came back around 10 minutes later and told us he went to the toilet. Only, he decided to use Anna's toilet. Anna, by the way, was asleep as she didn't come out, and was woken by Dominic bursting through the door and turning on her light. After, ordering him to get out, he apologised and shut the door. Anna thought he had left, until she heard him pissing in her toilet. Eventually he returned back to the kitchen, after leaving Anna's light on, pissing all over her floor and using her dental floss.

Absolute leg end.

If you actually read all that - props to you. I'd have just browsed through the photos.

Thank you to everyone who came to see me, gave me gifts and wished me a happy birthday. It was actually a great day. Even if I am old now.

Ciao 

x

Eyebrow Routine

'Ello

After getting compliments and comments on my eyebrows, I thought I'd put up a step-by-step post. So this is exactly how I groom and fill in my eyebrows. 

Firstly, I'd like to apologise for the shite quality of the photos. Being a student, I can't afford a snazzy camera so just pretend they're really high quality. 

Step 1:

This is how my eyebrows look before I touch them. I tend to deal with them after I've completed my 'base' makeup (foundation, concealer, power etc.) but before I do my eye makeup - aside from a little eyeliner. 

The lovely Imogen Brown shapes (waxes) and tints my eyebrows (click her name to check her facebook page out) roughly every 4 weeks when I'm back from uni.

Step 2:

I got this spoolie/angled brush with a random set, probably a brow set. I thought about buying a decent one but I like it being short - as I have a lot of control over it. 

Every month or so - or whenever I notice my brows getting out of hand - I groom them by trimming them. I have really thick, dark hair so my brows tend to get long and straggly, if that's a word...

Anyway, I brush the whole eyebrow upwards with a spoolie so I can see which wanderers need to be tamed. 

Step 3:

 With a pair of nail scissors (because I'm a tramp) I cut along the top line of my brow. You can use any scissors you want, but obviously I'd advise a pair of small ones. 

This is what they look like after I've trimmed them both.

Step 4: 

Luckily because I have really dark hair, I can get away with using just any black eyeshadow to fill my brows in. Most people will have lighter hair than myself so just try a few colours out until you find a good match for you.

Using an angled brush, I start filling my brows in from the arch, so around the middle of the brow - because this is where you want the darkest colour. I draw an outline over the top of the brow to shape them and then do the same with the bottom. So, you should have two lines that create the outline of the arch.

Step 5:

Next, I fill in the space between the outline. So, half of the brow is filled in.

Step 6:

DO NOT ADD MORE EYESHADOW TO YOUR BRUSH.

I like my brows to be lighter towards the start of them - so nearer the nose. So, without adding more eyeshadow (there will still be enough on the brush), draw a faint line along the bottom half of the brow that you haven't filled in.

Step 7:

Then, with upward strokes (still not adding more eyeshadow), fill in the rest of the brow. I start from the point nearer the arch then work in towards the start of the brow so they continue to get lighter. 

Step 8:

Finally, to make them look a tad more 'square' I just press the brush vertically against my skin at the point where I want my brow to end - or start, whatever. But do not add more eyeshadow to the brush, or you'll have a stupid-looking dark line at the start of your brow. 

I then obviously do the same to the other brow. 

Here's what they look like finished.

Try it out and send me some photos via twitter or instagram with #charlottesbrows in the description. 

Twitter - @charl0ttehoward

Instagram - @charlottehoward

Let me know if you have any comments or suggestions!

x

New Year - Jan 2015

2015

Year of the green wooden sheep/goat.

Whatever that means. 

Being honest, I'm not one to make new year resolutions; they're never fulfilled and you can set goals at any time of the year. So the answer is 'no'. I don't have any.

What I do want from this year however is to be happier than the last. Last year was a bit up and down for me; this year seems appropriate to promise myself to create my own happiness, rather than relying on someone else to make me happy. 

Instead of creating goals for myself that I definitely wont keep, I thought a better idea would be to think about positive events I have to anticipate in 2015.

Here's what I came up with:

1. My 20th birthday on 26th Jan.

2. Being reunited with my Flat18 bellends at the end of Jan.

3. Finishing 2nd year of uni, hopefully with at least a 2:1.

4. Summer - no stress of exams or coursework; actually having time to work to save money; fingers crossed travelling somewhere to get my tan on.

5. Starting my 3rd and final year of university. Hopefully at the same place this time. 

6. Moving into a house with my top two bitches in Canterbury - more of Anna's delish cooking.

7. Thinking about what I'm doing with my life after uni: Where the shit am I going to live? Do I get a job or apply for a masters course???

8. Not being fully skint from spending all my dolla on student accommodation. 

9. Driving more often when I'm back home in Nottingham.

10. Obviously, coming home for Christmas again. 

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy 2015. All t' best.

x

New Year's Eve 2014

HELLO 2015,
and erm you...

Here's a late NYE post for your eyes to enjoy. 

New Year's Eve is always expected to be a big night, yet always ends up being shite. Spending last New Year's Eve behind a bar wasn't one of my favourite things to do, so I promised myself I wouldn't work this time around; this time I would be at the better side of the bar. 

All of my lot from school decided we would do the Sawley shuffle again, like we did on Christmas Eve. Pretty self-explanatory really but for those of you who are a bit dim - we basically shuffle/stumble round the pubs of Sawley. 

But since we're students and we like to skimp and save however we can, it was only appropriate to drink a bottle of Pimm's and a bottle of wine before we stepped foot in a pub. 

Downing a load of alcohol to old school tunes

('Dancing in the Dark' by DJ Cammy

and a shit load of Neyo, Mario and R. Kelly):

Apparently we required a family photo:

Pub #1

This is Mark.

I have no idea who Mark is.

Mark took a liking to me and followed me round.

I spent a lot of the night hiding:

Actually really enjoyed this New Year's Eve! Got to spend it with all my school friends and my best friend of 16 years, or something ridic, was my midnight kiss.

Hope you all had a smile on your faces entering 2015!

x