Sunglasses Splurge | Raybans

Whilst I was in London and browsing the stands in Selfridges, we stumbled upon a very friendly and helpful sale man in the Rayban section. There was a deal on buying two pair of sunglasses for a discounted price, which drew me and my mum straight in. I have never owned an expensive pair of sunglasses before, mine have always been from H&M or Topshop, therefore I knew nothing about what UV protection they had other than that the more expensive sunglasses are the better, obviously! This man was brilliant in showing us the level of darkness in the lenses and the different finishes the lenses could have. As well as this he was great at telling us which shapes and styles suited us!

I came away with Round RB2180 710/73 in Tortoise Shell, these are in 3N meaning they can be used in high brightness and the lenses are quite dark. This rounded wayfarer style is what I tend to sway towards in glasses whether for seeing or in shades as they suit my face shape well. My mum got similar ones with polarised lenses for antiglare so that she could drive in them easily as this it what she uses them for the majority of the time.

I am so happy to finally have a pair of decent sunglasses that I know will protect my eyes properly as well as lasting a long time too. I think this is a classic frame and colour that won't go out of fashion and I can see myself getting a lot of use out of these, especially this summer! If you don't know what I'm talking about check out this post for more.

Love Beth x

You can get your hands on these below!

America | Camp and Travel

(These are not my photos and are not associated to the camp that I am visiting)

I'm really excited to write a post about this and hopefully it will be one of many. So as I hinted in this post I am going to America this summer and the reason is I am going to be a Camp Counsellor at an America Summer Camp and after that I am going on a trek around California.

I've always wanted to go on a summer camp and and have been incredibly jealous every time I've seen a film with American one's (Parent Trap, Camp Rock haha, Beaver Falls). Even though I know they all may be ranging from slightly to very far from the true camp lifestyle, I have always loved the friendly, team building atmosphere, out in nature, sat around a campfire, making new friends and helping kids to come out of their shell.

So when I was told about Camp America at the start of my gap year (after my original plans had changed), I gave it a bit of research and dived in head first! Now I will say that it is a lot more work than I originally thought and I haven't even left the UK yet! However I'm getting more excited the closer it gets (40 days as of this post going up) and I can tell it will be so worth it! 

I thought I would write this post so that I can see for myself how I felt and what I expected before I went so that afterwards I can look back and see how it met those expectations. As well as that I am going to be out of the country for around 3 months and obviously I don't want my blog to be inactive that whole time, so I am currently trying to plan some posts that I can write and schedule for that time. I will try and post something while I'm out there, possibly some diary like entries just to record my adventures and so that I can look back when it's all over.  

(These are not my photos and are not associated with the trekking company that I am using)

Finally after I finish my camp experience I am doing a trek around the west coast of America. I am so unbelievably excited for this and it will be so nice to relax and just enjoy the sights after 3 months of rallying kids around! I'm visiting so many sights I've always wanted to see, and there will most definitely be a couple of posts on these travels.

I can't wait for the next couple of months, I'm so looking forward to sharing my adventures. All I have to worry about now is the packing!

Beth x

Late To The Bandwagon | MAC Velvet Teddy

In my previous post (here) I mentioned a cheeky shopping trip to London and whilst browsing the beauty hall in Selfridges I couldn't help myself from taking a look at the MAC counter. The closest MAC store to where I live is at least and hour away so I don't tend to get the opportunity often, therefore it would just be unthinkable not to pick something up while I had the chance right?

Or so I told myself and my card was in the machine before I could think twice! 

Obviously this is a well known lipstick, ever since Kylie Jenner admitted to using it, but I've held off buying it just for the hype. I wanted to try it in person to see if I actually liked it. Lo and behold, I did, and now they have my money and I have this. 

Firstly, I love the smell of MAC lipsticks, it's just a bonus really when your applying it. Anyway, for those who don't know this has a matte finish which I was looking forward to trying as before this one I hadn't even tried a matte lipstick from MAC. Including this one my collection is to the extent of 3, Crosswires and Plumful are my other two; both Estee Lalonde recommendations. 

Even though this is a matte finish it still applies really creamy and easily, it's got a brilliant opaque colour and stays really well even whilst drinking; I haven't eaten whilst wearing it yet so I can't comment there. 

I love this brown toned pink on my skin tone and can see myself getting a lot of wear out of it, so I'm very happy with my purchase. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is still dubious about the hype or even has not heard about it yet (which rock have you been under?) and was looking for an everyday lipstick that will go with everything.

Beth x

Shop this below!

Selfridges, Shopping & Lunch | Visit London

So last week I travelled all the way up to London with my mum for an appointment at the US embassy (I may write a post about why soon). It's quite a journey from where I live so I fully intended to make the most of my time up there! Luckily I was done and dusted with all the serious business by 10 and we had the rest of the day to wonder London and shop to our hearts delight and our banks dismay. 
And shop I definitely did!

I stayed with my aunt and uncle who live near London so we had our own personal tour guide to the best lunch and shopping spots; we wouldn't have known where to start else. My mum is a massive Selfridges fan (the tv series) so of course first stop was the real Selfridges and I wasn't complaining. 

We wondered the endless rails of designers and I looked longingly at the handbags and shoes that I'd never be able to afford, whilst playing guess how much this is (we can't be the only ones who do this?). I love being able to see designers current pieces.

Heavenly place 😍

A photo posted by Beth Reeves (@bethreeves5) on Apr 7, 2016 at 12:57pm PDT

I found a stunning Saint Laurent leather jacket which I would've gladly taken home with me had it only had a couple less zeros on the price tag, along with this beautiful bomber jacket.

After a good couple of hours and a trip to the food court later we finally emerged with only a box full of cupcakes and a MAC lipstick (post coming soon), restraint I know!

We ventured on to Zara, H&M, Forever 21 and finally to Ed's Diner for a well earned bowl of chilli cheese fries, mmm.

The weather wasn't the best and we got caught by the rain just as we were getting off the train but all in all I love visiting London, and truly wish I could do it more often.

Beth x 

Getting Inspired | Life&Career

Inspiration can come from all sorts of places.

It can disappear just as easily as it can come along. 

It can be enlightening, uplifting and encouraging.

I say all of this because it is something that I do lack sometimes, but recently I have been really inspired. This has all come from a youtuber, Allie Evans. I was watching a video on Amanda Steele's channel and it said at the end that it was directed by Allie Evans; so curiously I clicked on her channel and started to watch some of her videos. From some research I have done since it obvious that the videos she has started to produce now are quite different from her previous work, however it fixated me.

I think I must've ended up watching her videos for over an hour if not more and I came away inspired! That's the only word for it. Just by watching the videos you can feel the passion and enthusiasm she has for directing and creating. The shots, music and voice overs are brilliant and only when you see her behind the scenes of the shooting do you see how much goes into them afterwards. She turns footage into stories. 

I love how someone else's passion can put the drive back into me to do what I want and enjoy. I think it's quite easy to put off hard work and put down your interests if they aren't what is considered achievable or even normal. Careers such as blogging and youtube, even now, are misunderstood and dismissed. But by watching other ordinary people persevere and continue to do what they love anyway inspire me to do the same, even if it isn't easy.

I love this blog and I don't want to have to hide it or be embarrassed by it. 

I love to read and write and while I don't know quite yet what I want to do with that passion, this blog is a good place to start.

Beth x

Ardell Demi Wispie Lashes

Recently I decided to invest in some false lashes. I've never really been bothered enough to go through the process of wearing fake lashes on a daily basis just because I don't have the time or the patience in the morning to do so. However I have been more and more inclined to wear them on occasions and the odd night out. 

I've always been a lover of full, thick, curly lashes that make your eyes look bigger. I find lashes can really open up your face and make you look more awake; this is why mascara is my favourite part of my whole makeup routine. So it's a surprise to me that I haven't properly tried them out before now! 

So, I decided to try and find some more natural looking ones that would be easier to start with, I'd heard of Ardell's Demi Wispie lashes from a few beauty gurus online and they seem like their decent quality and able to be reused without falling apart. These aren't widley available in the UK so I had a search on Amazon and found this 4 pack for a really good deal, I also grabbed some proper adhesive while I was at it.

I must admit I was a bit apprehensive to try them out at first so I gave them a go one evening when I had no where to be and a lot of spare time. Getting the hang of using the adhesive tube and figuring out how long to wait before putting them on took a bit of trial and error but I got there and in the end I was so impressed!

These are so natural looking and easy to apply, I would even say these could be worn on an average day without looking over the top. They are easy to cut down to fit your eye and can be put back in the packaging after use ready to go again. These are brilliant for first timers or anyone who wants to add a bit more to their lashes on a regular basis. They're reasonably comfortable once their on and I did find that the better I applied them the more comfortable they were to wear, so practice is definitely the key!

Overall I'm very impressed and excited to wear them more.

Beth x

I've put this easy link in for you so that you can grab them below!

3rd Birthday || Progression

Today is my blogs third birthday!

In case you haven't noticed this blog's had another facelift. What can I say? I get bored easily and the way I view this blog changes constantly, so why not change the way it looks up a bit. I tried to be the sleek and sophisticated monochrome but it just isn't the way I am all the time, so I picked something more fun and colourful.

In addition to that, I had a real battle with the name of my blog, it's now on it's third and hopefully final title: House of Figs. I struggled to find a name to fit what I want this blog to be without limiting myself for the future. In the end I went with something very close to home, my name. Bethany, is a biblical town and is derived to mean 'house of unripe figs', this can then be translated to mean potential. I love this idea and thought it fitted perfectly for my blog.

This blog has been many different things for me over the past three years; it has been an outlet for my rambling brain when I have had no other place to say my thoughts, it has been a space for me to write 3 paragraphs about my favourite lipsticks for autumn and other beauty reviews that no one else would care to listen to and somewhere for me to pour out wish lists of fashion trends and pieces I've been loving.

To me, currently, it is a timeline of my life from the uncertain and impressionable age of 16 to the slightly more confident and all the more determined age of 19 that I am now. 

I can see the changes in my writing, the voice I have developed here, the confidence in my words and why I am writing them. I can see the changes in the topics I choose to approach and how I talk about them. One thing I will always love about having a blog is being able to look back on it and how it has changed as I have.

The past three years seem to have flown by, yet at the same time it feels like a lifetime of getting here. Since starting this blog I have finished my secondary school education and gone on to complete my A-Levels too. So much time and energy and stress went into those years that they seemed like they would never end; but now my gap yer has almost come to a finish and soon I will be going away to start again at uni. I have learnt to drive and passed my test. I very sadly lost my childhood family dog and soon I will be crossing the big blue ocean to spend a whole summer in America. 

I know in terms of the blogging world this little space isn't much and I haven't got very far in the past 3 years but I have loved every minute of writing this blog and I have got so much from it that I don't care if it isn't widely read. In fact I'm kind of glad it isn't! I love how casually I can write posts and how little pressure there is to keep to a schedule. I'm glad that I can just use it to document what I like.

Basically, I wanted to celebrate the anniversary of creating this little blog to say, I'm so glad I did and I hope to see many more of these birthdays to come. 
Thanks to those who do pop over, read my posts and comment, it's very much appreciated!

Beth x

Spring Statement

Photography- Daisy McConville

Spring is finally here and I'm embracing it fully with these bright floral trousers.

These beauties literally jumped off of the shelf at me. As soon as I saw them I was straight to the fitting rooms to try them on and I was so happy that they fit. I'm rather short at 5'2, so trouser legs don't always hit the ankle where their supposed to, luckily these are alright. 

I've been looking to add a tailored piece to my wardrobe, as you'll have read in previous posts I love the semi formal look however have been quite shy to actually pull it off myself.

I love the bold mustard yellow and the contrasting floral print. It's rather wallpaper-esque but in a good way, if you know what I mean? Anyway, paired with a plain top and a casual bomber jacket it pulls together a nice spring outfit; warm enough for the chilly breeze that is still lingering but allowing just enough skin for the sun when it weaves between the clouds. I can't wait to chuck some heels with these and a bodysuit, for the perfect occasion or night out outfit.

Trousers- F&F Tesco £16

Top- H&M

Jacket- Missguided

Shoes- New Look

Sunglasses- H&M

Beth x

Quick & Easy Ways to Wind Down

So recently I've been finding myself with less and less time in the evening to wind down before bed. I'm very grateful for the extra hour of light we now have but with my schedule at the minute I find that it's time for me to sleep way before I am naturally ready for bed. Now don't get me wrong I am physically tired, however it's my mind that is awake and I think that this is a common issue for many people nowadays for many different reasons; be it stress, worries or an overflowing work pile. So I have found a few things that help me wind down and prepare my mind for rest, yet that don't take hours.

• Leave work and work related stress at the door. By this I mean, when you get home let anything that isn't urgent or pressing go. Forget about whatever is it working you up and focus on being calm and relaxed.
• Put the kettle on and make yourself a hot drink. The previous point can be hard to do so distract yourself. This will give you something to focus on and as a bonus will make you warm and cosy, my drink of choice tends to be chamomile tea.
• Slip into something a little comfier. While the kettle is boiling put on something loose and snuggly to get yourself into more of a relaxed state of mind.
• Pamper yourself. You deserve a little love. Whatever it is getting you down or getting you worked up can wait until tomorrow. Right now all you need to do is take off your makeup, give your face a deep cleanse, pop on a face mask and enjoy your drink while you wait. Make sure your face is squeaky clean and then moisturise! Give your face a little massage as you work it in and get your circulation flowing. 
• Put down your phone. Yes it's been said a million times but it really does help. Just putting your phone aside for an hour or two, ignoring social media and concentrating on yourself can really help your brain start to wind down and acknowledge that it's soon time to sleep. 
• Read, write, relax. Do whatever it is that puts your mind to rest. Whether it's reading a good book, writing a blog post or catching the latest episode of your fave tv show. In my unique case I find that sudoku is really therapeutic, weird I know, but it take my whole concentration and keeps my brain ticking over, similar for me to reading, another thing that really calms me.

My current favourites for winding down:

Clipper Snore & Peace Chamomile Tea

Superdrug Vitamin E Hot Cloth Cleanser

Avon Clear Skin Charcoal Face Mask

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo

Origins GinZing Energy Boosting Moisturiser

Tea Tree Blemish Gel

Kindle 7th Gen

Beth x