Race for Life

Hey everyone! 

So this year I decided to do the Race for Life. It's always something that I've wanted to do so this year I decided to run to beat Cancer and to run for my Great Aunty who died in 2004 due to a brain tumour. I miss her dearly and I want to try my best to raise money for Cancer Research.

The Race that I'm doing is 3k and I have to be honest that I'm not a runner. I've always wanted to be good at running so whilst I'm quite fast I have to stop frequently because I have really bad stamina. I've been practising a lot though and it seems to be getting better. I'm determined to do it.

The run is Sunday 9th June so it isn't that far away and unfortunately I've been too busy to get any sponsors so I thought I'd just put it on here and ask for any help that I can get. My goal is £50 and I'd love to exceed that but I would be so happy to reach it. I know it's a bit cheeky but yes I'm asking for any sponsors that could help. Even 10p would be closer to my goal and I'd be happy with that.

I understand if you don't but it would be great if you did!

This is my Just Giving page >>>>http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/sarah-walters

If you do donate any money at all please let me know so I can thank you personally, it would mean the world to me!

Thanks for reading, please sponsor me now and become cancer's worst nightmare!

Stay Happy!

Sarah

30 Day Snap

I've decided to do the 30 day snap, starting in June.

Louise from Sprinkle Of Glitter came up with this amazing idea and I loved it! I love taking pictures so I thought this was a great idea. 

Simply all you need to do is take a picture everyday for the whole of June. It can be about anything, mine will mostly be what I do in the day. I would like to tag all of you reading this to do this, and if you do it let me know so I can check them out.

If you want the full run down of the challenge then head over to Louise's post on her blog where she explains what it's about.>>>http://sprinkleofglitter.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/the-30-day-snap.html

Thanks for reading and I hope everyone joins in,

Stay Happy,

Sarah

Zumba!

Yes I do zumba...

And I thought I'd give it a review because I've never seen one before, I thought it might be handy.

So the impression that zumba gives of on TV is all really fit looking people in cropped tops and tights shorts, flinging their hair around and looking pretty. As much as I love zumba, I'm afraid this doesn't happen at my zumba class. By the end of it we're all sweating like hell, and look...worn out, is the nicest way I can put it.

But I still do it anyway!

I've been doing zumba now for about 3 years (wow that's a long time). I started with my mum and it's held at my old school which is around the corner so it's very practical. Me and my mum wanted a way that we can keep fit but that isn't repetitive and boring. We'd tried belly dancing before but it was just too far away, much to my dismay.

So we started zumba and really got to liking it. It is obviously very tiring but miraculously you don't ache one bit in the morning. We carried on going, sometimes missing the odd week for various reasons but we always came back to carry on.

Zumba is so much fun! I actually spend my week looking forward to it. You learn dances from all over the place, sometimes using famous songs like Proud Mary and songs off Hairspray.  Our instructer is so lively and bubbly, always getting us to join in shouting with her, but not pushing us if we get too tired. 

My friends have also started joining me which is more fun because we have such a laugh doing the dances, and because I don't go to the same college as some of my High School friends, its a good social place to catch up!

I HIGHLY recommend zumba to anyone who wants to start something different but fun, it's also obviously great for exercise, toning and stamina wise.

Very enjoyable and zumba classes are popping up everywhere now a days so I'm sure you'd be able to find one near you.

Does anybody else do zumba? If so what do you think of it?

Thanks for reading,

Stay Happy,

Sarah

(New YouTube video too >>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCokMmF-r7g )

Spring cleaning!

Today I thought I would sort a load of my things out. I went to my nan's first and helped her get rid of lots of clothes. When in actual fact I got most of them. Lot's of vintage things. I managed to grab a few pairs of jeans and tops. Lovely! 

Most of the jeans don't fit me at the length though because I'm really tall, so I've decided to keep them and make them into more shorts. I loooove shorts and literally wear them everyday. The rest we are going to give to charity shops :)

Then I came home and decided to sort out all of my clothes. The pile on my floor of the clothes I'm getting rid of is huuuge, but it feels like a weight's been lifted.

Still haven't got much spare room for new clothes though.....

Just though I'd share this with you, it's a pretty random late night post, but yeah.

Thanks for reading!

Stay Happy,

Sarah

Also new YouTube video again! :) >>>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz-CdK2UERc

2nd part of my Haul video :)

New video!

Hey guys!

So I filmed my first, talking to the camera, film yesterday. I filmed a haul video of what I've bought over the past month or so. I really didn't know how I would respond to talking to a camera, but after a few attempts I managed to do it and I actually enjoyed it. 

I've also sorted out my YouTube videos, and this one took two and half hours to upload which I'm willing to wait as long as the quality of the video is good, which this one is, you can even watch it in HD! 

I'm happy with this video but I had to cut it into two parts to make it shorter so part 2 should be on at some point tomorrow!

Here it is! >>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2WUDvXYLjU

I hope you like it, and please like, comment, subscribe and all that jazz to see more soon!

Thanks for reading,

Stay Happy!

Sarah

Social Media sites you can follow/contact me on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/0SarahHelene0

Tumblr: http://misshelene1.tumblr.com/

YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/JustSarahsVlogs

Instagram: @misshelene1

Email: justsarahsaveragevlogs@gmail.com

Hair!

Hey everyone!

So today I dyed my hair and I though I would share my experience with you and this is also a review for the Schwarzkopf Live Colour XXL hair dye.

Firstly I thought I'd tell you about the dye. It was £4.29 from Boots in Manchester and the colour I buy is 92 Pillar box Red. I dyed my hair red from a light brown a few months ago, and I loved it. The first time I did it was quite dark though so each time I've gotten a brighter shade. I started off with the brand Ferriar and did the two red shades in that brand. Then I changed to XXL which I used last time and also this time. I used this colour again because I was really happy with the results and the brightness of the colour.

To start I thought I'd show you what my hair looked like before I dyed it. This was my hair today, about six weeks after dying it the last time. The colour is semi-permanent so I didn't really expect anything different.

My roots were pretty bad but I'm quite tall so my theory was that no-one was really looking at the top of my head anyway :) I know now that it doesn't work like that.

The ends of my hair were also pretty bad, it looked like I'd dip-dyed my hair brunette with red at the top. So I needed to concentrate on them.

In the pack you get a pair of gloves, which usually have holes in (I recommend using your own, these plastic ones get on my nerves anyway), two packs of lovely smelling conditioner and the tube of colour.

So the instructions say to wash your hair lightly with shampoo but I just wet mine because I'd washed it the night before properly. I then put a towel round my shoulders (wearing old clothes) and got to work. The colour comes out the tube kind of like tomato puree, that's the best I can describe it. It doesn't smell bad either like some hair dyes that give me headaches, this one smells quite nice. 

I started with the roots of my hair and then did the middle, making sure I got the back. I also did my fringe at this point too. And then I concentrated on the ends. I think I put the most on the ends because last time I didn't put enough on. Then with the rest of the colour I just touched it up and made sure everywhere was covered. I rubbed the dye in, making sure it covered all my hair and I left the dye on for thirty minutes and then washed it off.

I rinsed it thoroughly first, and then shampooed it, with my Pantene Colour Protect shampoo and then rinsed that. I then lathered it in the packet of lovely smelling conditioner and left it for about two minutes and then rinsed it all. I then added my heat protect serum, blow dried it and then straightened my fringe. And this was the result!

From these pictures it doesn't look that bright, that's just because of my crappy lighting but it looks better in person. I'm really happy with out it's turned out because you can never tell with hair dye what's going to happen. I'm also chuffed with the XXL colour because it's the brightness I want it. My hair feels so soft from the conditioner and looks in good condition too which is a bonus. There was no problems with the dye, except the gloves and that I would probably buy another box too, because my hair is quite thick and longish. But other than that its a perfect price, perfect colour and it's easy to apply! Highly Recommneded by me!

Thanks for reading,

Stay Happy,

Sarah

P.s. These are some better pictures of the colour of my hair. I'm also modelling my new headband I bought today. If you want to know where it's from and how much it was, follow and keep posted because I will be posting a haul video, including this headband! It was a great buy so keep your eyes peeled!

DIY Denim!

Hey Guys!

So when I went to get changed today I put a pair of denim jeans on that had gotten a hole in them quite a while ago. The hole wasn't particularly big but over time it's gotten bigger and bigger, so now it just looks like it's gaping, and looks a bit trampy so I decided to make them into shorts. I really wanted a pair of denim shorts for the summer, so I thought why not save some money and make them myself. I've made shorts from pants before so I thought I'd just show you how I did it :)

So from these jeans.....

to these funky denim shorts.

So if you would like to see the transformation just keep reading :)

To start the only things you'll need are:

A pair of scissors

And some chalk (optional but it just helps)

 The first thing you need to do with lay your jeans out flat on the floor facing up. Then this is optional but I don't like cutting the whole leg off at once so I fold the jean leg up at the knee so it creases and then I draw a line with my chalk where I want to cut it.

 and then this is the result. You could always leave the jeans like this with the 3/4 length. It's great for summer, and they're really fun to wear with a pair of dolly shoes or converse. 

 The next thing you need to do, preferably when you have the jeans on, is mark where you want to cut the leg off at. I recommend doing it a little bit longer than you want them to be, because you can always trim them to the proper length you want later on. Just mark the length you want with some chalk or a pencil.

And then you can take them off and draw a line the whole way across the leg. Then start to cut the leg across the line. It doesn't have to be especially neat because you can always trim them neater later on.

So after you've cut the front of the jeans, turn them over so they're face down and carry on with the same line along the back. If it helps draw the line in chalk first like I have done.

 And then just trim the edges to make sure they look neat. 

After you've done this, do exactly the same with the other leg, making sure the leg lengths stay the same. If you trim one side a little bit, make sure you trim the other side the same amount so they look even.

Eventually they should look something like this:

But as you can see from the second picture, the bottom of my shorts at the back is longer than the front so I took them off again and trimmed them down. I kept repeating this, trying them on for size, and then taking them off and trimming away some of the length until they were the size I wanted them to be. Eventually I got them the way I wanted them.

And finally, to finish them off I didn't want the bottom of my shorts to be straight, because they obviously look cut so I started to fray the bottoms. To fray the shorts I just picked at the white threading at the bottom, so it came out of place. This left the ends of the blue threads on their own, which made them look fuzzy. I carried on doing this all the way round the bottom of the shorts and got this effect:

You don't have to do this but I think it makes the shorts look a whole look better.

And there you have it, brand new looking shorts. These shorts are perfect for the summer or because the weather here in the UK is still FREEZING you can always pair them with some tights and a long sleeved tee. I can't wait to wear these and take them on my holidays, where I can wear over my bikini by the pool or on the beach. I'm getting way too excited!

So I hoped this helped if you were making your own shorts, and if you did, let me know how they went. But if you were just reading this for inspiration, I hope they inspired you to create your own. You don't even need a nice pair of jeans. I've used a cheap pair from a charity shop before or even hand me down clothes are perfect, you don't need to spend loads on a pair of jeans just to cut them up. I've had these jeans for years and I think they are finally worn, but not anymore! I can get loads more wears out of these shorts now!

Hope you like them,

Stay Happy, 

Sarah

Nail Varnish

I have always hugely been into nails, and I just love it when my nails look pretty. I've kind of cooled down a bit now, but I went through a phase where I bought a few nail varnishes every couple of weeks and I guess that they've just built up after all this time. 

This is my nail varnish collection. It mostly consists of Barry M nail varnish because you will see later that Barry M is definitely my favourite. But there's also loads of random brands that I've been given too by friends and family.

Also you can see that I own lots of nail art pens. I got these for my birthday (36) and I think my mum got them off Ebay. I don't think they were overly expensive but you get a good choice of colours and lots of variety.

So I thought today I would show you some of my favourite nail varnishes, and brands and also why I like them and where I got them from. Out of my many nail varnishes I chose 9 that I absolutely adored.

So I'll go from left to right.

Firstly is of course a Barry M Varnish. This colour is called Teal 334 and it was £2.99 from Superdrug. You can also get any of these Barry M products from Boots and other stores like that. I love this colour because it's a bright shimmery blue, and under the lights it looks gorgeous. It's also iridescent which made me fall in love with it further. I think this is a very summery colour and it also looks great on toes.

The next one along is an Essie Nail Varnish. I think I was treated to this polish for my birthday, and we bought it from a nail salon where I had my nails done. This colour is Wild Thing by Essie and I'm not really sure how much they are so I researched it and found it would be Approx £5-£7. You can get Essie from any stores like Boots if they have an Essie counter and I recommend this colour. Its quite like a plum purple with a hint of pink. But I love this nail polish because there's little bits of silver glitter within the polish which makes it sparkle. This colour isn't in your face so much, so you could pretty much wear it with anything. It also dries quickly too which is a bonus!

The next nail varnish is my clear Barry M nail polish. I don't know where I'd be without this top and base coat. I'm quite impatient when I'm waiting for my nails to dry and usually end up smudging them but this Barry M is so quick drying that it usually solves my problem. It was also only £2.99 which is a bargain! Again you buy this nail varnish from anywhere that sells Barry M products but I recommend Boots or Superdrug.

The next varnish along is a Sally Hansen nail polish. I'm not quite sure how I came across this nail varnish, I think it was given to me by a relative but I fell in love with it immediately. It's the Insta-Dri varnish in the colour Teal-y-fast. The fact that it's got a great name should sell it to you but if not then you should know that it is definitely quick drying. I don't usually trust a quick drying varnish because most of them aren't but this one is so fast. You don't need loads of coats of it either to make it look thick which I think helps speed up the process. It's like a glittery, shimmery teal colour, which looks AMAZING under lights. I found it to be Approx £3.

Both of the red nail varnishes, the glittery one and the plain one, are both Sinful nail varnishes. I'd never heard of sinful before until I bought these at my local hairdressers. They came as a set with two others but these two colours work so well together. The glittery one is the colour Romp and the plain one is called Lust. On their own they are both great colours but together they look amazing. Romp is simply just clear varnish with red glitter in. It looks great but takes quite a few coats to make a real difference which could cause it to become too thick. Lust is also one of the best reds I've found to date because it's a bright red. With Romp over the top of Lust, it makes an amazing nail varnish, that's bright and glittery, perfect for Christmas but also summer too. I think they are approx £5 each.

The nail varnish in the middle is a W7 nail varnish. Again I can't remember how I stumbled across this varnish but it caught my attention because it was a matt polish. I absolutely love matt varnishes (forever looking for a black) and when I saw the colour of this I love it even more. It's simply just called 84 Matt Green and I love the colour. It's like a bright turquoise green that looks amazing on tanned skin. Great for summer and the texture is perfect. Approx £3.

The next varnish is another Barry M. This is called Silvery Lilac and it was £2.99 too. I loved this colour because it was iridescent and looked different when you looked at it from different angles. There are hints of purple, lilac and silver in there. It also has has tiny parts of silver glitter in it, making it sparkle under the light. This makes this varnish a fun colour to wear, and even though it isn't bright I think it's still a statement colour. I got this from Superdrug but they're also sold in shops like Boots etc.

The next varnish is also ANOTHER Barry M. This is one of the newest Barry M products, the Gelly Hi-shine Nail Paint. The colour of this one is Greenberry and it was £3.99. More expensive than usual but it's definitely worth it. I also got this from Superdrug. This has become my all time favourite nail polish right now. It was the perfect summer colour which is why I bought it, and because it's the Gelly varnish it gives off such a smooth and bubbly(?) texture that made it fun to wear and got lots of interest from my friends. Looks great in the sun and also on your toes. I highly recommend this nail varnish for a holiday or just for a bright change, it's SO worth it!

And finally the last varnish is of course a Barry M one. It's one of the special polishes that came out a little bit before Christmas I think. The colour is Yellow Topaz and it was £2.99. I also bought this from Superdrug, but it can be found in Boots etc. I've always wanted one of these top coats for my nails because I wanted it over the top of a colour. I mostly use black underneath this polish because I think the contrast between gold and black really stands out. The varnish is simply just clear polish with big gold bits of glitter in. But the parts of glitter aren't too big that they take over the whole nail and they aren't too small that you can't see them, they're the right size. This is a great nail varnish and I recommend this for maybe a more special occasion, like going for a meal etc.

So that is my collection of my favourite nail varnishes. I'm sorry if it's too long, when I start writing I can't seem to stop. I hope this helped you if you were planning on buying a new varnish, or hope it entertained you if you were just pondering. Anyways thanks for reading and let me know if you have any of these varnishes and what you think of them.

Stay happy, 

Sarah

YouTube!

So my first YouTube video is up!

Check it out! >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4JET6a4ps8
It's a Blindfolded Make-up Challenge that I did with my best friend :)
I had soooooo many problems with this video. It was my first video using Adobe Premiere to edit my videos and it took me a while to get used to. Once I'd edited my video I had NO idea what preset to export it using. There were so many and I didn't even know where to start. I chose what I though would be best and let it export. Then when it came to putting it on YouTube and the estimated time came to approx.2000+ minutes. I thought that was ridiculous so I stopped it, looked it up and found that my file was too big. So I used a different preset, twice, and it was still too long.
Eventually I shortened the video and used the preset that compressed it the most. But I know nothing about computers so I have no idea what each preset means :(
So the estimated time for this video was about 3 hours. I'd had enough by this time so I just decided to leave it. Then when I saw the video on YouTube it was really bad quality, when my camera is a really good quality. So can anyone help me?! I'm so confused and need urgent help! So please post a comment or something if you know what I'm talking about.
Thanks, Sarah :)

YouTube

Hey guys :)

So I know its been a few days but I've been really busy. My exams are coming up this week and I've been mad revising. 

But yesterday I did manage to create my new YouTube channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/JustSarahsVlogs

Hopefully I will be posting new videos soon but bear with me, I might need to get my exams out of the way first.

Hopefully on this channel there will be all sorts of things going on. I plan on doing several challenges with other people, beauty and fashion tutorials and hauls, and other general everyday vlogs.

So if you're interested in any of that stuff then please subscribe because it would mean a lot to me and let me know what you think should be on my channel.

Sorry for such a short post and I promise they will get better soon,

Cya later,

Sarah x

Just Sarah

Hello Everyone!

So I'm new to blogs and things like this, but I've always liked to try it so here it goes :)

My name is Sarah and I'm 16 years old. I live in England and I'm in my first year at college.

This blog is going to be very varied. There will be things about my life, photography, beauty and fashion, several reviews and just everyday fun stuff including Outfit Of the Days. So if you have similar interests follow me :)

Instead of writing a boring bunch of stuff about myself I thought I'd do the 25 Facts About Me to give you a little insider about my life.

So here goes:

1. So I'm in my first year at college and I absolutely love it.

2. I study Photography, Media, English Language and Psychology.

3. I have one brother who I get on really well with. He's in his first year at uni and I miss him loads.

4. I own one cat, Tommy, and I absolutely adore him. My Dad also breeds little birds called Quails. http://www.chinesepaintedquail.co.uk/ <Check his website out they're adorable.

5. I'm a positive and happy person but I can be quite anxious.

6. My favourite colour is red.

7. My birthday is the 20th July.

8. I love everything about summer. The weather and it just generally puts everyone in a good mood.

9. I laugh at everything.

10. I really enjoy writing, mostly stories.

11. I like One Direction.

12. I love shopping, but never seem to have enough money...

13. I own way too many clothes and shoes, like any other teenage girl.

14. I'm just about to start a new YouTube channel, linked to this, about vlogging and challenges and beauty. My old channel was making music videos with my friends.

15. I love eating. Almost all foods.

16. My friends and family mean the world to me, without them, I wouldn't be me.

17. I can't go a day without listening to music.

18. I have an awful phobia of being sick.

19. I'm actually really awkward in person, that's why I write.

20. My passion is photography.

21. I'm a bit claustrophobic so I hate small spaces and huge crowds.

22. I like to think that I don't care what people think of me but the truth is I do.

23. I'm a great listener so if you have any problems message me and I'd be happy to help :)

24. I want to go travelling when I'm older.

25. And most importantly I have such a positive outlook on life. Yeah we all get a bit unhappy sometimes but I think that life's too short. Just take risks and be happy because what do you have to loose?

So that's a bit about me. You want to comment if there's anything that we have in common, I'd love to hear about it. Also let me know when I should blog and what you'd want me to blog about, just so I can make you guys happy :)

I'll write again soon.

Have a happy day,

Just Sarah