We all have bad days. Sometimes they can turn into bad weeks or months, and things feel a bit hopeless. I'm going through one of these periods at the moment, where things aren't explicitly bad, but everything feels lonely and pointless. I know it all gets better over time, but here are five things I try to remember in the meantime:

1. It's okay to ask for help.

I know it's embarrassing to call a friend just to sob down the phone, but it helps. People around you care, and although they might not understand, they will try their best to cheer you up, or at least just give you a shoulder to cry on. There's no shame in going home for a weekend just to lie on the couch and cry, and although it doesn't make you feel very dignified in the moment, it's guaranteed to make you feel better.

2. Friends come from the places you least expect

Old friends are always there for you, but sometimes, new friends appear when you most need them and understand you in a way you never expected. Friends you've only known for a few weeks might be the ones walking around with you in the dark, just because you needed company. Old friends are great, but they can't always be there on the other side of the phone. Sometimes you need a new perspective and someone who will stay up until 2am either you, sobbing over chocolate ice cream. Don't drift away or shut yourself off from your old friends, but don't hesitate to trust someone just because they're new.

3. Teachers don't expect you to know everything at the start of term. 

This is one of the things that stress me out a lot. I feel like I should know what the teachers are talking about, and be able to answer all their questions to show that I'm a capable student. The truth is, so far this year almost every lesson has put me on the verge of mental breakdowns. Teachers are there to help you learn, and will often help you along if you admit to them that you're struggling with something.

4. Find something to look forward to.

If you're having a tough week where nothing is falling into place, schedule something that you know will put a smile on your face (I swear the rhyming here was an accident, I didn't mean to be so cheesy). Plan to do something fun this weekend and the countdown to this might make everything feel a bit less overwhelming. It doesn't have to be anything big. Meeting up with an old friend, or just visiting a cute new cafe is more than enough, but it can make you feel a whole lot better.

5. Chocolate can help almost anything.

Perhaps not the most scientifically sound advice, but sometimes, an evening of your favourite show and chocolate fudge ice cream is all you need to feel better. I recommend Gilmore Girls, Glee or The Fosters, and even, as I've discovered recently, one of those fancy colouring books you see all over Instagram. They're a lot of fun actually (and some of them are even Harry Potter-themed), and they're a great distraction if you need something to focus your attention on.

If you're going through a bad time now, just remember that everything will get better, but in the meantime, I hope this post helped you a bit. If you're interested I blog over at The Amanda Way, I hope you check it out!

Yesterday, with exactly fifty days to go till October 31st, my friend and I ran out to go get materials for our Halloween costumes. Yes, I know fifty days in advance is pretty early, so early that some of the stores we visited hadn’t even gotten their Halloween sections together yet, but we were just so excited to celebrate our favorite Holiday.

Growing up in the United States, Halloween was (and still is, for that matter) an enormous part of my childhood. I always looked forward to the time of year when I could finally start planning my Halloween costume. I don’t know exactly why, but I have always loved dressing up in costume. I think part of it is the joy I get from designing and creating my own costumes (which I always make myself).

I’ve put together lots of fun costumes over the years, but a few favorites always come to mind. One of my first Halloweens, I was a black cat, a simple costume with store-bought ears and black crayon whiskers. A few years after that I decided to go as a Ninja, figuring out how to tie a t-shirt to form a ninja mask (a surprisingly useful skill to have), and ransacking my closet for every piece of black clothing I owned. While I was in Middle and in the midst of my hard-core my Percy Jackson phase, I went as Medusa one year (making my snake-hair out of pipe cleaners) and Athena the next (that costume involved lots of gold spray paint; which never dried. And shed. EVERYWHERE.). And of course I’ve gone as my favorite warrior-princess, Wonder Woman, multiple times.

But, now that I am growing older, I find myself in wondering if this my last Halloween. If I’m “too old” to be trick-or-treating or dressing up on Halloween. Some of my friends have younger siblings that we take can take trick-or-treating as a sort of explanation for our age, but I don’t think that will be the same. This knowledge makes me sad, partly because it is part of a bigger realization; the realization that, like it or not, I am growing up, and my life is changing.

And then I remember. I remember all that making my own Halloween costumes over the years has taught me; how it is has led to my love of costume-making and cosplay. I remember that I can always attend Comic Con in costume; where there is no “too old” and five-year-olds and fifty-year-olds alike come dressed as characters from their favorite books, movies, and TV shows. I remember that this isn’t my last Halloween. Even if I might not trick-or-treat after this year, I will continue to celebrate the Holiday in new ways, and I will continue making and dressing up in costumes. If there is one thing I’ve learned from my experience so far with becoming older, it is that growing up doesn’t always mean leaving your childhood experiences behind so much as it means redefining those experiences in new and often exciting ways.

So no, I have a feeling that, no matter what the future holds, this is not my last Halloween.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and would love to hear what you think about it. You can check out my blog, Nerd Word, for more personal essays and musings similar to this post along with book reviews and just nerdy talk in general!

-Minerva 

 

“Oh, she’s beautiful!”

“Just look at those little eyes!”

“She is a cutie!”

Why is it that compliments are most used in a physical sense? Ever since we’re young, we’re complimented on how beautiful we are. How our eyes are so bright like our father’s. How we have our mother’s gorgeous smile. And at first, yeah it makes sense. You’re a new being, a life has been created and safely born— and you’re beautiful!

As you become older, it starts to make less sense how people always comment on looks, and it seems to be the main compliment given! Yes, it is a lovely feeling when you’re told how great you look, but with society’s irrational beauty standards, it becomes about more than the words we say to each other. It becomes about how we look and so much seems to revolve around that. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy compliments, I enjoy feeling that I look good, but it’s important to remember that there is no one way that is beautiful and that there is more to someone than what you physically see.

“Aren’t you a gorgeous girl?”

“You’re very pretty.”

“Oh, you’re beautiful!”

Beauty in society is no more associated with how you act, or the fact that your living, breathing body is amazing and strong and beautiful because you exist; it’s about looking a certain way. So when we, as people in this society, are only complimenting on looks, it puts the idea of beauty on an unattainable pedestal, and everything else falls away.

What we need to remember, is that there is so much more than this idea of ‘prettiness’. There is no one way of being physically attractive, and there is so much more to a person than what you see. We are human beings. We are made of bone and muscle and blood, and our bodies are capable of amazing things. Our minds are incredible. There is so much we can do, yet society is hung up on the ideology of being pleasing to the eye.

“You’re so pretty!”

“You’re stunning.”

“Your body is goals.”

So often we are reduced to what we look like, and it’s not right. There’s nothing wrong with being concerned with how you look, of course, but we need to remember that every single being is more than what they look like. You are strong and capable, and deserve so much recognition for that!

So don't be afraid to say, "and...?" because you are beautiful, and more.

“You are beautiful and smart.”

“You are intelligent and brave.”

“You are creative and inspiring.”

You are more than one thing.

You are extraordinary.

As much as I love going on holiday, packing beforehand can sometimes be extremely stressful. Today I am going to be sharing some of my favourite makeup for taking on holiday with me.

Urban Decay’s Naked 2 Basics - The Naked 2 Basics palette from Urban Decay is one of my favourites eyeshadow palettes. This is because it comes with 6 wearable shades that you can create day and night looks with, all in their neat, sleek packaging. If I take this eyeshadow palette on holiday with me I’m good to go.

BareMinerals Ready To Go Palette - Funnily enough I picked up this palette at the airport last time I went on holiday. It comes with a foundation, touch up veil, bronzer, highlight, concealer and two brushes, all in one palette. It may look fairly big, but it’s a lot less bulky than carrying each individual product with you in your makeup bag.

Benefit’s Mini High Beam - The Benefit minis are a steal, for between £5-£10 (depending on the product) you can get a mini size of your favourite Benefit product perfect for travelling. I love their High Beam highlighter because it provides a stunning glow, and the mini size is perfect for travelling.

Rimmel Sculpting Palette - I love this product Rimmel because it comes with a highlight, contour shade and blush all in one handy palette. I’m not so fond of the highlight (which is why I would take Benefit’s High Beam as well) but the contour shade is amazing because it’s not too orange toned, and the blush is a really pretty coral shade.

Maybelline Baby Lips - I’ll probably have an array of lipstick shades in my makeup bag too (they are my weakness!) but in my handbag wherever I go I will always have a Baby Lips lip balm from Maybelline in there. They are by far my favourite lip balm and I really love some of the tinted shades, such as the Dr Rescue Coral Crave.

I hope you enjoyed reading my travel makeup essentials, and I would love to hear yours too. If you enjoyed make sure you head over to my blog Everything Erin, and let me know you came from Through Our Eyes too!

Erin x

Today we are introducing our first ever guest to our blog! I hope you enjoy Frances' post as much as we did! - If you'd like to guest post on our blog, make sure you click Contact / Apply on the menu after reading this wonderful post!

Being a blogger can be hard, admittedly so, I often find myself stressed and worrying if I’ll be able to get my posts done on time, if my content is good enough and if my readers actually enjoy reading my posts. To try and combat these fears, I like to try and stick to a schedule or routine in order to ensure that my posts and content are as good as possible.

I like to plan out what I will post and when, for this I use a planner. The one I’m currently using is a gorgeous academic diary (2016-17) from the WHSmiths Ebay Outlet. I simply write the title of my post into the planner, which is of course colour coded, and then check it off when it’s all done.

Finding time to write blog posts is one of the hardest things, I find. So writing them on the go is always a good idea - I like to use apps such as Google Keep (a note style app which can sync with your Google account,) or even just the drafts of my emails to write posts on the go. Prime times for these mini writing sessions include; on the bus, walking to work, in the car and even at lunch times.

After I’ve written out the first draft of my post, it’s time to place it into the Blogger post section and edit it. I check for spelling and grammar errors, usually by reading the post aloud, and then I change the formatting of some words and phrases - for example, I make sure to italic all product names, or embolden all of the sub-headings within the post. I do this in order to make it a cleaner read for my readers.

Once all of the basic edits are done, it’s time to link up anything within the post that I can - any products mentioned, other Bloggers or YouTubers, relevant social media accounts or even old blog posts. It’s a good idea to do this to help out your readers when it comes to finding the things you’ve mentioned; especially if they can be hard to come across. If I can’t link up a product, I tend to mention where you can buy it in stores.

Images. Undoubtedly one of the toughest parts of being a blogger, at least for me. As a school student currently taking her GCSEs and someone with a job, it can be hard to find a couple of hours in my day to take blog photos -  especially if the lighting isn’t on my side. However, on my days off, or when the lighting is good after work or school, I like to seize the opportunity and take as many photos, for as many posts as possible. Once I’ve taken them, I import the into my computer and save them under a folder entitled with “Raw Pics - *insert date*” this allows me to easily find pictures in their raw form, and not worry about losing them.

To edit my images, I use a combination of tools to achieve the best images I possibly can, my favourites include Fotor, Canva, iPiccy and Lunapic. Once I’ve edited and saved my pictures (into an appropriately titled folder,) I simply import them into blogger and plug them into my posts in the appropriate places.

Finally, I preview my post - if all is well, I schedule it; adding the permalink, so I can schedule tweets and facebook posts, and ensuring the post contains an appropriate description that works well with my knowledge of SEO (Search Engine Optimization - titling and tagging your posts to get more hits on Google.)

Over the next couple of days, I promote my post via social media - on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. I also use group chats and blogger chats to promote my posts and blog.

I hope you enjoyed this little insight into life as a teen blogger, and how much effort goes into each post. If you want to see the result of this long thought-out process, then head on over to my blog Royally Rouge, and let me know you came from Through Our Eyes!