Argan Secret's Argan Oil | Product Review

As a girl who knows all too well of the not-so-fabulous results caused by too much hair-drying, straightening, curling and impatient rough-brushing of hair, I have recently began to focus my efforts on treating my tousled tresses with the respect they deserve. This has meant scouring through various products with similar promises of "anti-frizz", "split-end repair" and "added shine" - most of which were no match for my (back then) very long, thick and partially dry hair. That was until a few weeks ago when I had my hair trimmed and the hairdresser pulled out this bad boy.

What initially attracted me to this product was it's lovely smell (now I'm not an expert in the description of scents but I would say it has a very soft, subtle and almost vanilla fragrance) which lasted most of the day. What I then loved about the product was just how soft and feathery it made my hair feel - it was a struggle to resist stroking it all day - and also the added shine it gave my hair.

I have since purchased my own bottle and I have been using it after every wash (adding just less than a full pump to my finger tips and working it through the ends of towel-dried hair) and I am still just as thrilled with the results. In fact, after using the product for a few weeks, I have even noticed a substantial reduction in my split ends. Fab!

I now look forward to trying out some of the other products in their line.

Have you any experiences with this product line? What are some of your favourite hair treatments? 

Short & Sweet

So, not only have I given my wee blog a bit of an image change but I have given myself one too!

After a few years of having long/medium hair, I decided that I would go for something a bit different and get it much much shorter. There were several reasons: my hair was getting too long and thick to effectively manage and style, my ends were splitting due to the constant brushing as my hair would often tangle, it's been very warm recently and my hair was just too too warm and finally, I just felt like a change. 

There are going to be many changes happening in my life in the coming weeks as I head off to university, live on my own for the first time, meet new people, go to new places, learn new things etc. and so I thought, why not change my hair too?

Isn't it funny what a new haircut can do for your confidence and perspective? The cliche, "It's like a new me" is one that I am unashamedly embracing at the moment.

Change isn't so bad I guess - especially when it means you can save on a bucket load of shampoo.

Bursting At The Seems

Hello everyone.

So as promised, here is a post on everything I packed for my trip to Rome. I know it's a day later than planned however after waking up at 3:30 in the morning, flying for 2 and a half hours, and catching a bus/walking in rain when we got here, I was pretty tired and not in the best of sorts for blogging! However, despite being completely shattered, me and my dad did manage to look around Rome a little before it began to bounce down with rain again. I must say though, I don't feel like we've yet seen the true beauty of Rome due to the rain however the sun is shining today so hopefully we will view it in a 'better light' later today once my dad has finished working.

Another positive of the warm weather is that I can begin to make the most of the more summery clothing of which I have mostly (only) packed! Speaking of which, here is everything I managed to pack in under 10kg of luggage...

A selection of shoes - all Primark.

4 light-weight tops from Wallis, charity shop and Primark.

A summery floral dress from New Look.

Light-weight, long cardi from Hooch.

 My PJs

 Skirt and jeans from Primark. Shorts from Newlook.

 Swimsuit from a local shop.

 A girl can't be without her makeup.

Pearl + floral headband and necklace from Claire's,earings were gift,belt from charity shop and purse from Spain.

Some bits and bobs.

So that's everything I packed. Can you believe that I managed to fit all of this plus my camera and laptop into a rucksack? It's safe to say it was bulging at the seems so it should be interesting trying to fit all of this back in again when we leave. I just thought it would be fun to share what I packed because I know I like reading blogs/watching youtube videos of what people have packed for holiday. I hope you enjoyed! Have a lovely day and I'll speak to you soon,

Mollie♥

What are your holiday essentials? Have you ever had a challenging packing experience?

7 Things I Love About Summer

Hello everyone.

I hope you've had a lovely, sunny week! I also hope you had the chance to read my first post in the Mollie'sThoughts series (if you missed it then there is a link HERE) and enjoyed it. If you don't know what this series is, it is (going to be) a collection of posts where I talk about issues that I feel very strongly towards for example yesturday's was about being your own bestfriend. If you'd like to follow these posts, look for the titles containing "Mollie'sThoughts".

Now, back to this post. 7 Things I love about Summer. There are  of course lots more than just 7 things I love about summer but I don't want to keep you here all day so here are some of my favourite things about summer- in no particular order.

1. Summer clothing - namely dresses and playsuits.

(Clockwise: George at Asda, Primark, Ebay but maker is "Influence", George at Asda...cheap and cheerful. My kinda thing.)

I love that in the warm weather, dresses and playsuits become a practical item of clothing because I just love them! They keep you cooler whilst still looking stylish. I'm always on the look-out for new summer dresses and playsuits as I think they look cute and girly and can be dressed down for daytime and glammed-up for evenings. I am particularly fond of ones with prints on mine (if you can't already tell...).

2. Summer music

 I find that in the Summer months I tend to listen to music a lot more. I think it's because my taste in music is very swingy and summer-y anyway so the songs seem to fit the surroundings better in the summer. For me, there's nothing like listening to a bit of Eliza Doolittle whilst walking down the sun-streamed beach!

My personal favourite artists/songs include:
-Eliza Doolittle (all of her songs)
-Corinne Bailey Rae (all of her songs)
-Nicki Minaj: Starships
-Caro Emerald: Riviera Life
-A Fine Frenzy: What I Wouldn't Do
-Ariana Grande: The Way
- Taio Cruz: There She Goes
...to name but a few.

3. All the beautiful colours

I love seeing the grass look greener, the sky and sea looking bluer and the flowers looking brighter. It's a beautiful sight to behold and I can't resist taking a few snaps of the beautiful views and sights around Arran. Well, I say a few, but I often see something that catches my eye and end up taking about thirty photos of it - no exaggeration. Everything's just so gorgeous!

4. Waking up and going to bed with the sun still shining

I'm not one of these people who want to block out the light in the morning when I'm trying to have a lie-in or who curse the sun's brightness when trying to get to sleep. In fact, I'm quite the opposite! I love getting up early to watch the sun rise and I will happily have my curtains wide open whilst I'm trying to sleep. You see living in Scotland, we don't always get much sun so I always make sure to make the most of it. Also, there's nothing like waking up with the warmth of the suns rays tickling your nose.

5. Bright and pastel summer nail colours

Clockwise in top photo. MUA in Bold Blue, Coral colour from a Boots "Colour Unlimited" boxset, MUA in Ameretto Crush, Rimmel Lasting Finish in Pear Drop and OPI Nail Laquer from a special Spiderman edition boxset.

There's something about having coral, powder blue, mermaid green and peachy pink nails that just makes me so happy. I love Spring/Summer because the pastels and neons come out to play and though I'm a sucker for deep reds and auburns in the Autumn/Winter months, there's nothing like having a pop of colour on your pinkies. Unfortunately for me, we are not allowed to wear nail varnish where I work and so on my days off I make the most of it by throwing on some bold beauties.
My personal favourite look from the colours above is painting my ring finger nails in the Bold Blue by MUA and painting the rest of my nails in the coral colour from the Colour Unlimited set from Boots.

6. Beach days

There's nothing like kicking of your flip-flops and walking bare foot along the beach with the sand between your toes and the sea washing over your tired, warm feet. Or building sandcastles (you're never to old for a good sandcastle) and sand sculptures and burying your feet in the warm sand just to have your toes peep out whenever you wriggle them. Bliss. It's also great fun to swim in the sea in the summer because despite the often freezing temperatures of the water, it is often a refreshing and welcomed relief from the heat. But see if that seaweed comes anywhere near me...

7. Spending time with friends

Last, but definitely not least. I don't know about you but I always seem to be much more sociable during the summer months. I'm like a hedgehog who's come out of hibernation and is ready to mingle with my prickly friends though, I'm glad to say my friends are much smoother than your average hedgehog.
Wow. That got weird fast.
Anyway, my point is, there always seems to be so much more to do in summer and with the days getting longer there's all the more time to do these things. I'm privileged to have made some really great memories already this summer and I am treasuring every moment of them. My time with my friends is all the more important to me just now because pretty soon they'll be leaving the island and going off to do their own thing whether that be uni, college, a job etc. whilst I'm staying put - or at least that's the plan just now.
I've been blessed with some truly amazing friends and I cannot express how much I love and cherish them being in my life.

***

So that's everything I love about summer in a nutshell! Well, my main favorites anyway! I'd love to hear your top 7 favourite things about summer too! Feel free to leave a comment telling me yours.
Until next week, I hope you have a great couple of days and make many happy memories.

Mollie

♥

My High School Leavers Do

Hello everyone.

Seeing as I did a big old blog last week due to me, ahem, skipping a week I didn't want to make it even longer with lots of photos so I thought I'd add a separate wee extra blog here including some of the professional photos taken from my High School Leavers Do as well as some of my own photos. You can read my last blog which described the lovely evening HERE. I will still resume with my normal blog tomorrow! See you then.

Hope you enjoy,

Mollie

♥

The Besties.

 My year.

 The "pentagon". -inside joke.

The heads of our year. -  us deputies on the left, heads on right.

My fellow blogger/potential blogger from my year.

 I love this photo- all 3 of us (Iona, Kirsty and me) together with me smiling like a Cheshire Cat.

The Busiest of Bees

Hello everyone.

I know… I did a terrible thing and did not do last week’s post. I am very sorry. It’s been a little hectic though and I shall fill you in with everything from the past two weeks. 
But before I go on I would like to say that last week my blog's page views reached 1000! Thankyou to everyone who reads my posts and follows my blog, it means a lot.

Now, in my last post (if you can remember that far back…) I talked about lots of exciting things coming up including a sleepover with friends, party and of course the school show and my Highschool Leavers Do. These are all of course now over and done and were a lot of fun.

The three performances of the school show we did I am glad to say went off with only a few glitches here and there (as is accustomed) and everyone who came to see it were very impressed. It was amazing to be a part of- especially as it was the last ever school show that me and my friends will be in due to us now having left school. *sad face*

Though I had a smaller part as a maid to one of the protagonists it was so much fun. My role mainly involved fluttering on and off stage a lot with a few lines here and there and delivering tea. Basically, I was a waitress. I'm a waitress playing a waitress-trust me. I did however have one scene I very much enjoyed which included my character becoming very stressed by all that was going on in the story of the play and so she runs off-stage with her apron over her face. The audience always laughed which was an amazing feeling however I’m sure they would have laughed more if they’d seen the trouble I had coming to a stop once I ran off-stage with a not-so-see-through apron over my face.

Serving the tea and cakes.

The school shows have been a big part of my highschool time and are where I have met and bonded with my closest friends so when the curtains closed for the final time there was a little sadness in my smile.

This sadness I’m afraid to say did not only come from the end of the show. Last Monday one of our dogs, Bonnie, began to show signs of being ill and after taking her to the vet on Wednesday we found out that she had a womb infection.

 In my family, our dogs (which are huge leonbergers..google them!) have become as much a part of our family as me and my sisters so we were naturally all very emotional. This emotion was heightened following Bonnie’s operation to remove her womb when we were told she also had anemia and there was little hope for her recovering.

Last Sunday morning, the day after my Leavers Do, my mum called my friend’s house where I was staying that night and told me the heartbreaking news that Bonnie had died earlier that morning. I was speechless.

I’m sorry to include this sad event in my blog but it is of great importance to me and so I felt I should include it.

Bonnie was one of the puppies from our other two dogs’ litter. She was the last pup left to be sold but never was as she was just too precious so we kept her.

She was a beautiful dog with the kindest, gentlest nature and she will leave a big paw print on all of our hearts.

On a happier note, the other main event that took place last week was of course my year’s Highschool Leavers Do (not in anyway affiliated with Arran High School). This Leavers Do has given our year more trouble than you would believe. To begin with our Head Teacher was more than a little unsupportive of our plans. This is because every year he plans for the school to organise a 6^th year leavers do right before our exams when we haven’t even officially left school yet and are too busy studying to have a party and so every year he falls out with the present 6^th years when they politely refuse and organise one for themselves-hence my previous comment in the brackets. Our Head Teacher was so against us doing this-as he has been with every sixth year- that he told the school office to refuse any help to us with contacts etc. and tried to arrange another staff event on the day of the Leavers Do we organised so that they couldn’t attend. This plan luckily failed but goodness me it’s been some work. Are all Head Teachers that stubborn? Suffice to say he and the Deputy Head teachers did not attend our Do.

Anyway, this is why we have had to all organise it ourselves (and pretty successfully I might say). It took place at a hotel on the island owned by the parents of a girl in our year which was convenient. It included a meal and dance in a beautifully decorated room with everyone in our year plus all of our teachers. It was truly lovely as we were able to see teachers who had left the school/retired. There were also photographs taken for our island’s newspaper and some professional ones which we could buy. Me and my friends very nearly missed these photographs however.

As I have mentioned a few times I work with three of my bestfriends at a café/shop on the island in the main town and so this means we can’t all have the same days off. Therefore me and my friend Kirsty were working the day of the Leavers Do. Luckily our lovely manager told us we could leave early to drive all the way to the other side of the island to get ready and go to the Do so long as it wasn’t too busy and as typical luck would have it about ten minutes before we were supposed to leave the place was packed. I don’t think I’ve ever made coffees and taken orders as quickly as I did then. However many many customers and about half an hour later we were on our way. This left us with an hour and a half to get ready which if you know me then four hours is pushing it. We did get ready in time though and with the mandatory ‘photos for the parents’ taken we made it just in time for the professional photographs. Phew.

After the photographs we mingled with old teachers before sitting down at our tables for the meal and speeches. The food was lovely as was the company. After that the music came on and the dancing started. I say that but to begin with the only people on the dancefloor were me and my friends. That didn’t stop us from busting some moves though. No shame.

Our amazing now retired English teacher

 Our table. Number one..quite fitting wouldn't you say? :P

 The clan.

This week has been slightly less eventful as I have been working but I did have a much-needed sleepover with friends which was intended to be a Disney Film Night however after catching up and taking photos we ended up watching only one Disney film. Successful mission? ... hmm. We are rescheduling for another though because you are NEVER too old for Disney.

Just chilling.

Makeovers anyone? Typical girls.

I think that covers everything of interest that has occurred in the past two weeks. Some happy occasions, some not so happy but what all of these events have sparked are some beautiful memories in the school show, the Leavers Do and the life of our beautiful Bonnie.

I hope you’ve had a lovely few weeks and I will definitely see you next Thursday. Promise. With love,

Mollie

♥