Slicked Back - Photoshoot

Here's another shoot from my recent university project. This set is entitled "Slicked Back" and is probably my most favourite set of images to date. I had some really amazing feedback from my fellow peers on this which was so amazing to hear as I normally feel like studio work is my weak point. Overall I'm so happy with the end results and can't wait to put these in my own personal portfolio! 

Model: Sanya @ Model Students Agency
Photography and Styling: Myself
MUA: Sanya

OOTD #27

I recently jumped on the sleeveless blazer bandwagon after initially being really against them. I picked up this little white one from Cameo Rose - a label stocked in New Look. Most of the white sleeveless jackets I've seen retail for about £30 - £40. This however, only cost £19.99, plus I was able to get student discount on it too so I ended up getting a really good deal on it! I wasn't 100% sure how I'd find styling the blazer as I have nothing in my wardrobe remotely like this, however I've been wearing it a lot recently and find styling it very easy. It smartens up the simplest of outfits, just like this one which consists of a really basic black dress and some sandals! 

Cameo Rose Sleeveless Blazer - New Look
Black Ribbed Bodycon Dress - New Look
Black Chunky Sandals - New Look
Round Sunglasses - Primark
Black Bucket Bag - Primark

My Week In Photos #6

Once again I'll admit this isn't the most exciting round up of photos. It seems that whenever my boyfriend is working I don't really do anything! I did however do a little bit of cooking, tried pub golf for the first time (although admittedly didn't do a lot of drinking due to my condition) and I visited an adorable local cafe which I plan on doing a blog post about very soon! 

1. Cooking Sweet Chilli Chicken for my mum and my boyfriend

2. Made Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins

3. New Missguided top

4. Tuna Mayo Sandwich and PewdiePie

5. Making my own fancy little jar of Fruit Infused Water 

6. Pub Golf Score Card

7. Pub Golf Team

8. OOTD

9. Visiting Tea Jenny Cottage 

Vivid Hues - Photoshoot

It's been a while since I shared any of my photography work on my blog and as some of you will know photography is what I study at university. We're usually set a brief each term / week at uni so I have to create images which fit a few rules therefore for most of the year I was producing work that I wouldn't ever put in my own personal portfolio. However during our last term at uni our brief was completely self directed, meaning I could do whatever I wanted. I defaulted back to my usual interest which is fashion / beauty photography. This shoot in particular was beauty themed, focusing on dewy skin, strong brows and a bold lip. We switched the look up a few times, even deciding to change the theme completely at one stage and create a fake freckled look.Overall it was a really fun shoot and something a bit different for me. I've done a few beauty shoots before but this was my first one in the studio and my first using coloured card to create the bright backgrounds. The lipsticks, eyeliners and eyeshadows I featured in yesterdays post were all purchased and used in this shoot so as you can see the colour pay off from the £1 lipsticks is pretty impressive! 

I plan on doing a few more posts in the future to show more of my portfolio work, so if you're interested in seeing more of my photography then keep checking back or alternatively you can have a look at my photography page which I'll link below! 

Model: Chelcie @ Model Students
Hair: Savanna Kirkpatrick
Make-up: Chelcie
Photography: Myself

Model Students |  Chelcie's Portfolio | My Photography Page

Beauty Haul

Today on my blog I'm going to be showing you a few products I've recently picked up during my last few trips to Superdrug. I've been going there a lot recently, picking up little basic things for myself and a variety of make-up bits and bobs for the photoshoots I've been doing as part of my last uni project. So with that being said, I finally felt like I had gathered enough items up to create a blog post. 

I'll begin with the only skincare products I picked up. The first thing was a repurchase of a favourite product of mine which is the Simple Kind To Skin Hydrating Light Moisturiser. I believe I've mentioned this a few times on my blog before so I won't say too much about it other than it's a firm favourite of mine that I would highly recommend to anyone looking for a nice, light moisturiser especially for the Summer months. I then also picked up two packs of Superdrugs own Cleansing Facial Wipes for sensitive skin. They're really cheap and do a pretty good job at taking my make-up off when I'm feeling too lazy to do it properly so it's always handy having some of these laying around!

Next up is this Mitchum Roll on Deodorant. I've mentioned before on my blog that I'm really fussy with deodorants, I have no preference and find I get bored or go off the scent of them really quickly. I'm yet to find my perfect deodorant but I think (fingers crossed) that this one stands a pretty good chance. I've never heard of this brand before or noticed it in stores, however after noticing my mum had started using it and how good it smelt I decided to try it for myself. It was pretty cheap but so far I've been enjoying using it! I then also picked up the Miss Sporty Hollywood Lipgloss in the clear shade called Hollywood Boulevard. I'm not one for lip glosses however I picked this up to use for one of my photoshoots. I doubt I'd use this product for myself, however I will keep it in my kit for future shoot uses. 

On to eye products now. I picked up the Romantic Efflorescence palette from MUA which I've been looking at for a while and finally decided to try. It was only £4 so it was really affordable. I needed a purple eyeshadow for a 70's glam rock inspired shoot I was doing and this palette had the perfect shade in it so I finally had a reason to justify picking it up! I'm yet to really use this palette myself, so until I do I won't say much else about it. I also picked up 3 different eyeliners, I picked up my usual Collection Extreme 24 Hour Felt Tip Liner, however I picked up the brown shade rather than my usual black as I wanted to create a fake freckle look in one of my beauty shoots. Continuing on with my quest to find the ideal freckle faker I also picked up a brown pencil eyeliner from MUA which comes with a spooly on the other end. So handy and I'm pretty sure it was only a £1! I then decided to stray away from my typical eyeliner and went with the Miss Sporty Studio Lash The Miaoww Look Eyeliner. I've been using this for a few weeks now and I absolutely love it. In fact, I think it may even replace my collection one as my favourite eyeliner. The nib is so thin which allows me to create really precise lines and sharp flicks. 

I went a bit crazy for lipsticks as I was doing a beauty shoot which involved neon lip colours being the main focal point of the look. As I knew I was picking up multiple bright shades (which chances are I wouldn't ever use myself) I decided to stick to cheap and cheerful brands. I picked up two from MUA and two from Make-up Revolution - all of which I believe were about £1. The Orange Lipstick is from Make-up Revolutions Scandalous collection and is in the shade "Vice". The purple Make-up Revolution lipstick is in the shade "Depraved". The MUA lipstick in the white bullet is in the shade "Peachy Keen" and the MUA lipstick in the black bullet is in the shade Persian Rose. Despite all lipsticks only costing a £1, the colour pay off is really quite amazing. I was really impressed with how well they worked for my photoshoot and some of the colours could be quite wearable if a bright lip is something you're in to. 


That's all for this beauty haul, although I have been shopping again recently (whoops) so expect another haul very soon! 

Easy Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffin Recipe

Now I don't claim to be the best in the kitchen - in fact I'm far from it! Today however I'll be posting about a super simple and fun recipe I came across for Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins. Me and my boyfriend Chris had a wonderful time making these this afternoon and they turned out brilliantly. We decided to follow Laura Vitale's recipe, so please be aware that I'm not claiming this as my own - I'm simply reposting and showing my results. I'll post a link to her website below if any of you are interested in seeing the original post.

 You will need:

- 12 Cupcake Cases
- 1/2 Cup of Vegetable Oil
- 2 Eggs
-1/2 Cup of Sugar
- 3 Ripe Bananas
- 1/4 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
- 2/3 Cup of Self Raising Flour
- 1 Teaspoon of Baking Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon of Baking Soda
- 1/4 Teaspoon of Salt
- 1/4 Teaspoon of Cinnamon (optional)
- 1 Cup of Chocolate Chips 

1. Start by pre-heating your oven to 200 C and by laying your 12 muffin cases out on a tray, ready to be filled with the mixture later on.

2. Take a bowl and pour in 1 cup of chocolate chips and 3 tablespoons of self raising flour. Then mix together until all the chips are coated with flour - then set aside.

3. Take a large bowl and proceed to add in the 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, 2 eggs and 1/2 a cup of sugar.

4. Take a separate bowl and place your 3 ripe bananas inside, then take a fork and begin mashing them up until you have a thick, lumpy looking paste. Remember to try and keep some banana lumps in tact as you want to be able to really taste the banana when you bite into your muffins. Once mashed add to the larger bowl containing the oil, eggs and sugar. 

5. Add 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract to your bowl and then begin mixing it all together.

5. After mixing then proceed to add 2/3 cup of self raising flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 1/2 a teaspoon of baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and then the optional step of 1/4 a teaspoon of cinnamon for extra flavour. Whisk until all ingredients are combined.

6. Take your bowl of flour and chocolate chips that you prepared earlier and begin to fold that in to your mixture. Whisk until everything is mixed together then simply divide the batter into your muffin cases and bake for 18 minutes. 

7. After baking for 18 minutes, take a tooth pick and dip it into one of your muffins. If it comes out clean your muffins are ready to be taken out. If there is any mixture on the tooth pick, leave the muffins to cook for longer.

8. Leave to cool and then simply enjoy! 

That's all for this post, thank you again to Laura Vitale for posting such a simple and easy recipe. These muffins turned out so well and received a pretty good reaction from everyone who tried one! I really enjoyed doing this kind of post so maybe there will be more cooking related content on my blog from time to time. 

Laura's Website

My Week in Photos #5

Finally - a week where I've had something to do almost every day but today. It's been nice having so much to do this week (although some of it was just visiting doctors and picking up medicine) and it's been extra nice to feel well enough to do it all! I've recently started a new course of medication and so far so good. Hopefully my recent bit of good luck continues! 

1. Lunchables and PewdiePie

2. Made BBQ Chicken Quesadillas for the first time

3. OOTD to go and visit some friends

4. Failed cake pop attempt

5. Trying out a new primer - review to come soon.

6. A well deserved ice cream after having 5 bottles of blood taken from me

7. Strawberries, Banana, Muesli and Low Fat SKYR Yoghurt for breakfast.

8. Visiting the Dovecote Buttery for lunch

9. Strawberry picking for the first time

10. Trying out Vita Coco 

11. Nandos in Nottingham

12. Trying on stuff in Topshop (and regretting not buying them)

The Dovecote Buttery - Lunch and Stawberry Picking

Today I took a trip to The Dovecote Buttery - a restaurant and shop based at Dovecote Farm near Kettering in the Northamptonshire area. I've driven by the place countless times and today was the day I finally got to go in and experience everything it had to offer. 

In 1985 Dovecote farm began a pick your own fruit service, which over the years has expanded and now includes some veg too. In 2004 they opened "The Buttery" tea room, which has since expanded into a bigger restaurant area. The interior of the place is absolutely beautiful. It's very light and airy and is decorated in a New England kind of style with lots of shabby chic trinkets scattered all over the place. All of which are available to purchase as the place also doubles as a unique gift shop, full of candles, ornaments and various other things.

Just as you step inside the Buttery room you're met with the sight of fresh local produce, various jars of preserves, pies, cheese, pork products etc all of which are available for visitors to purchase.

We arrived at about 1pm and were seated instantly, which was a pleasant surprise as I had heard that they're often really busy and therefore being seated can take a while, however we were incredibly fortunate! The staff were very friendly and were quick to take our drink orders and give us the menus. After perusing the menu for a while I decided to get one of their delicious sandwiches served on doorstop bread. I went with the Tuna Mayo sandwich on granary bread which came with a side of crisps, salad and a helping of coleslaw. I've only ever tried tuna once before and I wasn't sure how I felt about it, however this was delicious and I can now confidently say I'm a fan of tuna! The menu had a great selection of items to choose from, ranging from jacket potatoes, soups, sandwiches etc. All of which are moderately priced. As for the drinks selection, they had a good choice of fresh juices, fizzy drinks, teas, cocktails, champagne and of course pimms! 

As you can expect from a tea room they have a wonderful selection of fresh cakes and scones on offer. Judging by this photo, the Baileys Gateux seemed to go down well with most people! 

After lunch we went out and picked some strawberries on site. Dovecote farm have a variety of soft fruit available for visitors to pick and even have a calender on their website so you can see when's the best time to go down and pick your fruit or veg. You simply pick the size of the container you'd like to fill and a member of staff will inform you which rows to go to in order for you to pick your selected fruit. Your containers are then weighed and priced at the farm shop. I've never been strawberry picking before and it was such a fun and enjoyable activity to do - especially when you have lovely weather like we did today. I've now got my strawberries chilling in the fridge and plan on having them with some fresh whipped cream later on this evening. Yummy!

All in all if you're ever in the area I highly recommend you stop by and check it out. It's a great place for all the family to visit. There's lots to do and the food is brilliant! A fantastic hidden gem - I can't believe it's taken me so long to visit!