THE FAULT, DEAR BRUTUS, IS NOT IN OUR STARS

Words can't actually describe how much I love this book. If you are an regular user of Twitter or Tumblr you will have probably heard of how amazing this book is by a lot of people, and let me just add - this book is not just for teenagers! As you have probably gathered by now, the book in question is The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. The Fault in our Stars (or TFIOS as it's known in an abbreviated form) comes under the genre of Young Adult fiction, which might just make a lot of older readers shudder at the thought, but I think this genre should be eliminated when people label this book because it is so versatile and I think that all ages would love it. This was proven when I found out that my RE teacher had even read it and she listed it as one of (emphasis on the one of) her favourite books!

The book centres around the story of Hazel - a sixteen year old girl who is fighting Thyroid cancer. Even though the book is based on a emotional and sensitive subject, the story shows that having cancer isn't just about the bad moments, it's about learning to appreciate the good parts of life and I admire the fact that John Green has put a lot of dedication into developing a understanding of the disease itself and how it impacts on so many people. I don't want to spoil any of the book for anyone who hasn't it read it but it is definitely a story based on relationships and friendship rather than a stereotypical sob story. Although, you probably will need to buy a packet of Kleenex.

I bought my copy of The Fault in Our Stars in December when I was coming home from Paris. I read it on the three hour train ride home from Kings Cross and it took me about twelve hours to read the whole thing, its the type of book that you just can't put down. My copy of the book has been well used as I've lent it to three of my friends to read, and they all loved it. The reason I am so enthusiastic about this book recently is because it has been made into a film and it's coming out in the UK on Thursday! I am literally so excited and I know I will probably cry my eyes out during the film because of how touching the story is and just because of how damn excited I am. I am literally counting down the days until I get to see this beautiful story come to life! I would thoroughly recommend this and I couldn't praise it enough.

Have you read this book or any other books by John Green?

HOW I WORE: CIGARETTE PANTS

After about a month of searching, I am now a proud owner of a pair of dress trousers that actually suit my figure. I've never been the type of person that wears trousers and in the past I have literally always worn leggings or jeans so this comes as a bit of a revolution to my wardrobe.

The trousers in question are a lovely pair of cigarette pants I have bought from Topshop which cost £22.00. They are such good quality for how affordable they are which surprised me. I love these trousers because I think they're the perfect mix between smart and casual and they remind me of something Audrey Hepburn would wear. It was nice to have a change from my trademark black jeans from New Look.

I went for a meal at Nandos with a couple of my friends on Friday night and I wore my trousers for the first time, I paired them with a oversized jumper (also from Topshop) and my new bag which I bought a few days ago. I will be reviewing the bag shortly in a blog post - so keep an eye out. This outfit was so comfortable and it felt good to not have to wear a jacket as it wasn't as cold as usual. I feel like everything in my wardrobe is mainly monochrome which needs to be changed shortly as I always like to insert a little bit of colour into my wardrobe as it creeps into summer.

How do you style cigarette pants?

FIX +

Up until around a fortnight ago, I hadn't seen the hype in makeup setting sprays. I had seen a lot of people on youtube rave about them, but I just thought it was pointless to spend money on something that didn't seem to make a difference - but then I bought Fix +.

Fix + is literally a genie in a bottle. A bottle retails for £14.50 from MAC and it is designed to be sprayed onto skin before makeup application to create a longer lasting base or after makeup application to prolong the staying power of your makeup. When I bought this I was a bit worried because I have oily skin and I didn't think it would work as well with my skin type.. but I was totally wrong. I spray Fix + onto my skin when I am just about to apply foundation and it makes foundation application so much easier and I have found that my foundation blends so much better when I have used this spray. I have also used Fix + to apply eyeshadow, I sprayed some of it onto a eyeshadow brush and then picked some of the eyeshadow up with the brush and patted the shadow onto the eyelid as I would normally. I was amazed at how vibrant the eyeshadow looked on my eyes compared to how it normally looks and the shadow also stayed on my eyes for longer than normal.

One thing that annoyed me about Fix + is the pump on the bottle. I was fiddling around with the bottle when I first got it and I must of tried for about half an hour to unlock it in order to spray it but it just wouldn't budge! I took to twitter to vent my frustration and then after a few google searches, I finally unlocked it. It really annoys me when pumps on foundation bottles/spray bottles don't work, considering how much money the product retails for - but thankfully the problem was solved.

Have you ever tried Fix + or any other setting sprays? 

WHAT I BOUGHT FROM LUSH

I don't really buy things from Lush as much as I would like to because of how expensive their products are, so it's a massive deal to me when I actually do pluck up the courage to purchase a few things from them. I must spend an hour each week simply trawling Lush's website just to research potential products. One thing about Lush that I love is the fact that they don't test on animals.

The first thing I picked up was Cupcake which is a face mask designed for oily skin. My skin has  been oily since I hit puberty and it is one of the biggest banes of my life. I went into Lush and had my mind set on buying a face mask and as soon as I read the words 'helps absorb excess oil' I knew this mask was the one for me. Since buying, I've used this face mask twice and I am really happy with how it leaves my skin. You are supposed to keep it on for about ten minutes but I am rubbish at time keeping so I normally leave it on for a tiny bit longer. When I wash the mask off it leaves my normally very oily t-zone slightly less matte. I paid  £6.25 for this wonder and I love how it leaves my skin, you get 75g of product but don't be put off by the price compared to proportion of product as a little goes a long way.

The second product I purchased was a dry shampoo called No Drought. I love dry shampoo because sometimes I am just too lazy to wash my hair and sometimes I feel like my hair needs a break from being washed constantly. For the past year I have stuck to Batiste's dry shampoo range but recently I read that their products contain alcohol because of their aerosol packaging and alcohol is seriously damaging for hair so I decided that I needed an alternative that would be a bit friendlier to my hair.

As you can see from the picture above, I made the right choice when it came to picking a new dry shampoo. Instead of other dry shampoos which contain nasty things such as alcohol, No Drought contains a variety of ingredients such as cornflour which is known to absorb oil and eliminates grease. I have used this dry shampoo countless times since buying it and I love how refreshed it makes my hair feel. It also smells absolutely gorgeous thanks to the Grapefruit Oil it contains.

I paid £6.75 for the big version (115g) of this dry shampoo. One thing I don't like about this dry shampoo is how sometimes the bottle sometimes squeezes too much powder out which is highly annoying as there has been occasions when my trousers have been covered in powder.

What was the last thing you bought from Lush?