Summer is the time where everyone can just take a deep breath. No more exams, no more stress, just sun. I know a lot of you are going on holiday soon, so to make your packing easier, read on. The key is, everything goes with everything without you having to try ( plus I've linked all my suggestions in the titles, so for lazy people like me, this is perfect ).

The Bikini

I know that everyone's obsessed with Triangl Bikinis at the moment, and so am I, but is there really a good reason to justify spending £90 on a bikini? I love high waisted bikinis, they're so elegant yet also edgy. Topshop always win with their bikinis. Always ( well, wasn't that dramatic ). 

The Plain Grey Tee

Whether it's for a relaxed day of sightseeing, or worn over a bikini, a basic tee is a must and you can't go wrong. Worn with shorts and flat sandals, it makes for a lovely casual look, or dress it up with a statement necklace, mini skirt and wedges.

The Flat Sandal

Every holiday I've ever been on ( to a hot place ), I've always brought with me a trusty pair of sandals, and they end up being the only shoes I wear. Again, they're very versatile, so could be worn casually with shorts and a t-shirt, or could be made to look slightly fancier with a skirt and a crop top. You won't get through the summer without some!

The Beach Bag

There are two types of people at the beach - 1. Those who tan, lie on towels looking all glamorous with a full face of makeup and reading Vogue. 2. Those who go insane at the sight of the ocean and swim as far out as they possibly can and boogie board all the way back to the beach just for fun. I'm a little bit of both, depending on my mood. Either way, you need a beach bag. Whether it's for your designer sunglasses or 5 year old wetsuit.

Sunglasses

Number one rule in summer - NEVER leave the house without sunglasses. You will regret it, and it won't be pretty. I love tortoiseshell sunglasses at the moment, especially round frames. I've tried on a few, but small, round frames reaaalllyyy don't suit me. Guess I'll stick with borrowing my mum's because I always forget mine.

I'M BACK ( for good )

 

Yes, really. This is way overdue.. I've been locked out of my blogger account for just under a month, I think I had a little weep when I managed to get back in. Now that exams are over ( yes yes yes ), I'm going through a phase of being a living breathing potato. Meaning I've completed three different tv shows on netflix in the past month. I've been living off cold soup and babybels, and regret nothing ( maybe a bit ).

In other news, I got a dog! She's a gorgeous white Maltese, around 12 weeks old, called Poppy. I love her to bits, even if she put off my revision by 437237523047%. I'm in the middle of getting my results back, and overall I'm pretty pleased with them, even if there are a few I definitely could have done better on. The reason for this: after my first day of exams, I got really bad tonsillitis, so had to miss two days of them. I went back for the fourth and final day, and had to do the other two days 3 days later ( a lot of days ). 3 EXAMS IN ONE DAY. Nope. I'm just so glad it's over, cold soup here I come.

pictures from tumblr

Natural Beauty

On a regular basis, I tend to not wear all that much makeup. For school, I like to fill my eyebrows in a little, maybe some concealer if my crazy under-eye circles are super dark, and powder to get rid of any oiliness. But I don't feel the need to wear makeup if I go out to the corner shop to pick up some bread at 8am or nip out to superdrug quickly to stock up on soap. What really scares me is that some girls do. They feel so uncomfortable in their own skin, they want to cover up every single flaw they can find.

I'm not saying if you have a big blemish on your face you should leave it, but it's fine to go out without makeup every once in a while - it won't kill you! Here's what I like to do when I want to feel a bit more 'glammed up', or if I'm going out somewhere special and want to look my best. It doesn't have the winged eyeliner I love to do, but this post is called 'natural beauty'.

I cover up any spots or red patches on my face with Rimmel's Wake Me Up concealer, and then powder with the all famous Rimmel Stay Matte powder. I fill in my brows with the shade 'Naked 2' in the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette, and I use an angled Real Techniques eyeshadow brush. If I feel like it, I'll line my eyes with the shade 'Crave'. It gives a lovely, natural and defined look. My new love is the Cowshed lip balm - it smells like a meadow you'd dream of walking through in a white flowy dress with a flower crown in you hair, but throw a bit of the Jo Malone rose scent in there. This all makes sense in my head..

 Finally, here's me, without any makeup or touch-ups. This is my hair, one day after washing without any extra product in it, and my weird smile up close. Kind of scary?

(This post is part of a little blogger series I'm taking part in called the "secret blogger project 2015" run by teen bloggers Emily , Rebekka and Charlotte. About 30 of us will be writing twice a week on selected little lifestyle topics and you can also go onto the twitter and Instagram hash tag "#secretbp2015" to have a little chat and view everyone's posts. If you would like to join or know more (we'd love to have you!)  Instagram dm @theperks0fbeingemily or if you don't have Instagram, send a quick email to  rebekkarosebeautyxo@gmail.com!)

how to style a suede jacket

shorts - tilly's

top - brandy melville

When most people think suede, they think, vintage, old people, etc etc. Me too, almost. Except when Daisy contacted me, I knew I wanted to make all of these outfits out of items I'd never worn together. For example, I would have never thought to wear this top and these shorts together, but hey, I did.

These shorts are gorgeous. I've never really bought or wore printed shorts before ( expect here ), but I saw these and thought 'yes puhleeaaseee'. They make me feel like an indie kind of person who wears circle sunglasses and hangs out in Brick Lane, and I'm fine with that!

Suede jacket - little vintage shop in LA

top - brandy melville

shorts -american apparel

shoes - adidas

I think simplicity is an excellent way to go if you're looking into buying a statement jacket. Well, not statement, but you get what I mean. Whilst you might have seen it look great on someone else, they can be really hard to style properly. Which is why I've stuck to really simple outfits.

I was worried that the adidas would somehow clash, but I think they worked really well in adding a retro feel to this outfit. With the background, red and white stripey top and mom shorts, I feel proper hippy.

top - american apparel

jeans - h&m

shoes - nike

I'm not so sure about this one - the jeans aren't my favourite, but somehow it looked good in my head. Maybe with a different background and jeans this one could have been really lovely. Let me know what you think in the comments.

This is a collab with the fabuulooous Daisie, or Tous Dais. I have a lil wee obsession with her blog, and her post on how to style a camo jacket is almost as lovely as she is x

favourite candles of all time

Yankee Candle 'White Gardenia'

You know when you walk into a garden centre, a flower shop if possibly your grandma's living room? This smells like that - super fresh and floral, it is identical to, how did you guess, white gardenia.

Bath and Body Works 'Sparkling Limeade'

I don't know if any of you will have tried the super green smoothie from Wagamama, but you should definitely try it. If they were to make a candle of it, I have no doubt that this would be it. So incredibly summery and fresh, it's got subtle hints of apple with lime, and doesn't smell like cheap lemonade like the name might lead you to think.

Abode 'Relaxing'

Abode is a little shop in the lanes of Brighton. I'm not sure why this is called relaxing because it's actually very citrusy and fresh ( let's count how many times I've said fresh in this post.. ). The only thing I don't like about this candle is the size - flippin tiiiinyyy.

Jo Malone 'Green Tomato Leaf'

This smells like summer. I don't know how else to explain it. It's so fresh and reminds me of greenhouses strangely? The best thing about this is that the smell stays in the room even when the candle isn't lit, and it's peeeeerfeect despite the high price.