The Rise Of The Teen Blogger

Recently, I added a "The Rise Of The Teen Blogger" button to the sidebar of my blog. It was kindly made and sent to me by talented blogger Sophie from Keep Calm And Look Pretty.

 

Sophie emailed me not long ago inviting me to take part in a post she was planning which would consist of interviews with other teenage bloggers. I replied as soon as I could telling her yes! Sophie has a wonderful blog and I can't tell you how excited I was when I read the email! Soon after Sophie set over a list of fun questions for me to answer. After replying with my answers, all I could do was wait (bursting with excitement of course!)

 

 

 

Last night, Sophie tweeted all of the bloggers included in the post (myself included) informing us the post was live! I immediately went on to Sophie's blog and I couldn't stop smiling ;D

 

The post is so well written and I feel privileged to have been involved. Sophie wrote the most amazing paragraphs introducing each blogger individually and included photos relating to each interview with some Sophie had edited beautifully herself.

 

I wanted to write this post to just tell you all about the post and advise that you go and have a read. Reading it made me so happy last night and the other teenage bloggers have fantastic blogs which I really recommend you have a look at. I hope you'll have a nosy at our answers and that you enjoy the post, if you'd leave a comment saying what you think that would be fab too!

 

Here's the link to the post:

 

http://keepcalmlookpretty.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/the-rise-of-teen-blogger_27.html

 

Thanks for reading!

 

James

 

P.S The button is also now a link, just click on it to have a read!



Liebster Blog Award No. 3!

Recently, an amazing blogger called Sophie from Keep Calm And Look Pretty nominated me for the Liebster blog award. I can't believe this is my third liebster blog award post! Thank you so much to everyone who's nominated me, it really means a lot and has made me so happy to know people like my blog :)

If you haven't read my other Liebster Blog Award posts, click here to read my first one, and click here to read my second one. There seems to be a difference in the rules from when I did my other posts, so here are the rules from Sophie's blog:

You answer the questions the last bloggers left for you

Write 10 questions of your own

Nominate 5 other bloggers

Let your nominees know that they've been nominated!

Here are my answers to Sophie's questions:

Why did you start blogging? What inspired you?

Before I started Stylish England, I had spent a good couple of years reading the blogs and watching the vlogs (I'm a natural poet) of people like Zoella, Tanya Burr, Sprinkle Of Glitter and Jim Chapman. The whole aspect of vlogging and blogging sounded amazing and I spent ages wishing I could do what they did. It was only until this year though that I finally created stylish England, but I'm so glad I did! The inspiration to start my blog definitely came from those YouTubers as well as people like Fleur DeForce.

What is your favourite high street shop? Only one!

Only one?! I'd probably have to say...Primark! I know a lot of bloggers say that, but for people who have a passion for fashion, those prices are ideal! I also like how each season Primark tend to either bring in loads of clothes for that season, or they have a section of that store devoted to say, Autumn. This Autumn I went to one and they had an entire section filled with knitwear, it was heaven.

Who or what inspires your style?

This is actually really tough. I literally find inspiration from everywhere. Chris Colfer and his character Kurt Hummel from Glee actually inspire me quite a lot. I know his character wears some outrageous outfits but both of them have a great sense of style (or his stylist does). I also use apps like Pose and Fashion Kaleidoscope a lot. These apps let your browse through thousands of pictures of male and female street style outfits. On pose anyone can post pics of their outfits and then tag what they're wearing, meaning I know exactly what stuff to look for! Sorry I went a bit off track there haha. But like I said, I do find inspiration everywhere I go, its fantastic, but it also means I'm kind of a shopaholic haha ;D

What is your dream job?

Obviously being able to blog and post YouTube videos for a living would be incredible. But otherwise, I'd love to be a head stylist or creative director, both of those jobs really appeal to me and I'm actually seriously considering trying to become a stylist. If anyone has any advice, please let me know in the comments!

If you could choose an all-expenses paid holiday, any where in the world, where would you choose?

New York City. There's no doubt in my mind ;) I love New York so much, just ask my parents or friends how much I go on about it. I would love to live there when I'm older in one of those lofts or attics (I hope you know what I mean, I don't want to live in someone else's loft! haha). I thought New York was the heart of fashion but I was surprised to find out London is the capital of fashion!

What was the most recent beauty product you bought? Do you like it?

I haven't bought any beauty products in ages! I have far too many products so I'm trying to work my way through them haha ;D I think the most recent buy for me was some hair care, does that count? If it does, I've recently become addicted  to Schwarzkopf Gliss Liquid Silk Shampoo and Conditioner. I know some may think that hair care is boring, but this stuff is hair-changing. The results are amazing (and the best part, it's only £1!)

What is in your handbag on a day out?

(For me it would just be bag haha) Usually I'll keep stuff like my wallet, house keys, body spray, fragrance, notebook (keeps me organised!), pens, mirror, comb, hand cream and chapstick. Those are my essentials I tend to always have on me, otherwise I'll just randomly add things like beauty products depending on stuff like the weather (facial toner spray for those hot hot days!).

Who are your favourite bloggers and why?

I'm a huge fan of Tanya Burr, Zoella and Sprinkle Of Glitter for so many reasons! From watching their videos I know what sort of people they are and I suppose that makes it easier to relate to and understand what their writing about. I also love reading WishWishWish, the photography on this blog gorgeous and the posts are even better.

If you were given £1000 and you could either spend it all on hair and beauty, or all on clothes, what would you pick?

Clothes. Definitely clothes. There are sooooo many clothes and accessories I want at the moment, I need more money!

You are stranded on a desert island for 6 months, and other than food and drink, you can take one possession and one celebrity to keep you entertained. What and who would it be?

Possession would have to be...my phone. Even if there was no internet or signal I'd have to at least have it haha. Celebrity would be...Sprinkle Of Glitter! Simply because Louise is the funniest YouTuber, Blogger and probably person in the world ;D

My Nominees:

Fashion Is Our Religion

Cookies & Couture

Louabellex

Harriet Does Makeup

(I'll add a 5th when I can think of one!)

I've roughly done these blogs on how many GFC followers they have. Some don't have GFC so I've 'winged it' and chosen blogs I think deserve a bit more recognition :)

My Questions:

Why did you want to start a blog?

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

What is your favourite item of clothing/accessory for each season?

Favourite blogging moment?

What do you want to achieve from blogging?

If you could go on holiday anywhere, where would it be?

How would you describe your personal style?

What designer fashion show would you most like to go to?

What are your favourite brands for beauty and fashion?

Favourite ever blogs?

Thank you again to anyone who's nominated me for this award. it means a tremendous amount :) I really do recommend you have a read of any of the blogs I've mentioned in this post and my nominees in my other posts.

Thanks for reading!

James

Review | Philosophy Purity Cleanser

My skin is as annoying as skin can be. In my opinion, there's combination skin...and then there's mine. One second it'll be dry, the next oily, then dry and oily! I have an entire draw in my bedroom (it's a big draw) filled with beauty products, and yet still struggle to find any kind of product which will work with my skin (frowns, pouts and crosses arms).

Luckily though, my Mum somehow manages to find the most amazing products. Recurring brands in my Mums collection include L'Occitane, Elemis and Philosophy. I'm a huge fan of L'Occitane and Philosophy because not only do their products work wonders, but both have a different 'philosophy' (see what I did there?) Philosophy products come with certain philosophies (that word's starting to annoy me now) on them which relate to the products themselves, the Purity cleanser which I'm reviewing has a fantastic little paragraph on the front which I love.

L'Occitane is overall just a fab brand. They don't have these cute philosophies on their products, but their packaging, stores, everything about them is unique and different. The whole brand is friendly and welcoming, and with the added bonus of skin-changing products, how much better can it get? Whenever I've been into L'Occitane, I've always seen something to do with helping charities or 'Going Green' etc. so there doesn't seem to be any bad side really. I must admit, once I see a L'Occitane store, there's no stopping me. The employees are incredibly friendly and always up for a chat at the till and have some useful advice. I have to just add that when they wrap up your purchases (beautifully, I might add), they usually throw in product samples and spray the tissue paper your purchases are wrapped up in as well as the bag itself with heavenly fragrances. What a service ;)

I'm going off topic. As I was saying, in the past month my skin has gotten a little worse and I was beginning to get a bit spotty (I blame the colder weather). My Mum noticed my particularly spot prone forehead and told me to stop using my previous skincare and use Purity for a bit to clear it up.

I had used Purity before and had already been wowed by it's ability to make my skin look flawless (not exaggerating). After only a couple of days of using it again, my skin has almost completely cleared up. This is one bad-ass cleanser.

The cleanser itself is a creamy white colour and has a light yet thick consistency. My Mum and I have both found that there's little need of a moistursiser after using this cleanser (although your skin may feel a bit tight for a few minutes straight after) and our views are backed up by the description printed on the back of the bottle: Formulated for all skin types. Replaces your makeup remover, eye makeup remover, facial cleanser and toner. Deep cleans pores. Hydrates as it melts away makeup.

This one cleanser somehow manages to encompass an entire skincare regime...in one bottle! Obviously accompanying the cleanser with a moisturiser wouldn't go a miss as our skin always needs moisturising. In terms of smell, I think it smells a bit like tea. Not strongly and certainly not if you put your nose in the cleanser and smell it, but when washing your face I find myself catching the faint scent of tea :)

Overall a stunning product which is suitable for pretty much everyone. Purity keeps it's promises and succeeds in every way, will definitely be begging my Mum to re-purchase haha :D

Whats your favourite skincare or beauty product? Have you ever used these brands before? What did you think?

James

Cholmondeley Castle...

First of all, a whopping big apology to all of you. I haven't posted since last week because of a school work overload! With exams coming up in November, and coursework due in constantly, along with 2 (yes 2!) portfolios to create...from scratch, I haven't had a moment to even think about writing this post. In the past week I've really missed blogging so I'm thrilled to be at the keyboard again! Ooh! I also want to say thank you to those of you who nominated me for both the versatile blogger award, and the sunshine award! I'll have those posts up soon ;)

Also, I wanted to say a HUGE thank you so everyone who reads my blog! Recently Stylish England reached over 10,000 pageviews! I know that lots of bloggers write this, but to know that any number of people enjoy what I write means an incredible amount to me :)

Last Sunday my family and I had a trip to Cholmondeley Castle. My parents said we'd been there before but I was very small and can't remember. At first it was a bit rainy and grey etc. and my brother especially took on that bad weather attitude, do you know what I mean? Where we just get really miserable and want to go home, have a hot drink and wrap up warm ;) Luckily though, the weather soon brightened up. When we first drove in, my Dad parked the car on the side of the longest driveway I had ever seen, and we spent the first 10-15 minutes looking for Conkers. I don't know why, but I've always been fascinated by conkers haha. We struck lucky this time! As after returning to the car with a bag for life filled with conkers, we finally set off for the castle!

We didn't actually go in the castle as we were more interested in going around the gardens, but the walk (with some time spent in an extremely British tea room) (I'm loving the italic font today!) lasted for a few hours overall. Apologies for some of the photos quality. As soon as I wanted to take photos, the cameras battery was dead! In the end I took them all on my Iphone 5 so they shouldn't be necessarily bad quality haha.

I can't tell you how beautiful these gardens were. My Mum said how you could tell how much work had gone into them which was certainly true! Towards the end of the day, we were in the most stunning part of the gardens and the sunrise lit up the area with vibrant colour. If you ever have the chance to go to Cholmondeley Castle, I highly recommend you go. I hope you like these photos! I know there's a lot of them but I haven't done a post in a while and I thought, why not?

*In some of these photos I have used the chrome effect you get on Iphone IOS7 cameras, and in others I have used Auto Enhance to make the colours stronger and the photos more interesting*

Please leave me a comment below about what you thought of this post or the photos (or anything really!) and if you liked this post then please follow me on GFC :)

Thanks for reading

James

A Walk In The Woods...

Last Saturday, my family and I drove to Cholmondeley Castle Gardens for that 'Autumn Walk' I mentioned in my Autumn Wishlist. Sadly though, there was an event taking place so the grounds weren't available to the general public. We did however (after much random driving), manage to find Bulkeley Hill Woods. All of us had a great time and I wanted to share some photos with you. These are all completely unedited as I was told this is an ancient woodland and I didn't want to spoil the pictures with fake effects. I hope you like them!

Apologies for the occasional heads in photos

I look so miserable!

What I was wearing- George Jumper | Ark Clothing Burgundy Chunky Knit Snood | Sainsbury's Double Breasted Pea Coat | Burtons Skinny Dark Jeans | Barretts Blackmans Boots | MIANSAI Anchor Bracelet | Topman Nautical Bracelet |

Please comment telling me what you thought of this post! I'd also love to hear what you guys have been doing this Autumn so far! New wardrobe? Autumn Walk? Have you got anything planned? Oh! And if you're wondering, that's my Mum in the pictures.

I hope you've liked this post! Please follow me on GFC if you did! Thank you so much for having a read ;)

James