BRITISH MUSEUM AND LONDON EXPLORATIONS!

Hi!

Sorry, I was too tired yesterday so didn't have the brain energy to zap some words onto my blog.

But, after sleeping until 1 pm today, I'm here, and completely awake.

As I mentioned, I went up to London yesterday! Not just 'I', because I'm still a child...I went with my parents. It was mainly to go to a Ming Dynasty exhibition in The British Museum. To be honest, it was kinda boring. The only fun bit was giggling at the English translations of the Chinese names...like a true Chinese :/

They didn't allow me to take photos in there, so I took a snap of the shop at the end instead:

After, I wandered around a bit. I'm kinda in love with Greek mythology at the moment, so I went to the Ancient Greek areas, where, as predicted, I saw many things...uncovered...

As well as a part of someone's body. Apparently, its one of the goddess', but I don't remember which one...

A masterpiece, right there, that is!

I also admired the wonderful architecture, mainly because I had nothing better to do. And also because it is really cool, in my opinion.

After The British Museum, we went to Chinatown. It's hard not to turn up at Chinatown when:

1.  We're Chinese

2.  Chinatown's are everywhere

and 3.  I was hungry and needed lunch

It's a sort of unspoken rule among the Chinese population in countries which are not China that whenever you are within at least 10 minutes travelling distance to Chinatown, you must go.

Or maybe that's just what I think...

We had lunch, at 4 pm might I add, and then went to a few shops in Chinatown. There wasn't much to buy, so my parents and I started on our way home. The Underground was so packed, and after all the walking in the museum, I really didn't like standing, clutching onto a sweaty pole for half my journey back. It was also kinda late, so I was grumpy and tired.

But, I finally got back home in the end. After having walked from the train station all the way back home...

Anyways, although I was tired, it was a fun day nonetheless. It was different at least, it's not every day that you check out museum exhibitions in London!

I love y'all, and I'll talk to you next time...

Arrivederci!

xxx

FARM PICS

Hey, there's another post coming later today, but for now, here are a few pics from a week ago when I went to the farm!

I love this one! <3

Paddle boat!

I'm on an island in the middle of the lake...

Tiny little perch :)

These were some of the photos from the farm, I hope you enjoyed...

I'll talk to y'all in a couple of hours,

I love y'all, and goodbye! xxx

THE INSTA CONUNDRUM

For those of you who have Instagram...

Don't you just hate it when you're quickly scrolling and 'like' all the photos, but then you come across one you really like? You see one that you love, and then you're sad that you've just liked all the other images because now you realise they're nothing compared to the one you love?

Or is it just me?

And then you can 'unlike' most of the ones you've liked before so that you can 'like' the image and it feels genuine. Or you just 'like' the image that you love and carry on, but then you feel guilty because that's just like saying that image is just like all the others.

But it isn't, because you love it.

Or is this still just me, weeping in despair about Instagram?

I just wish there was an extra button for those extra special photos. Maybe a 'love' button, and there's a limit for only ten, for example, so that your true favourites can go in a collection together. 

I don't know.

And if the sky turns green and the people of Instagram see this post, please will you add a 'love' button?

This was a really random little thing, but I just had to get it out of my mind.

I love y'all, and goodbye! xxx

FROLICKING ON A FARM!

Hi, peepsicles!

I went to a farm today!

And by 'farm', I actually mean a massive plot of land in the countryside, which belongs to a family friend.

They invited my family (and Victoria!) to visit the farm, and so at roughly 10:30 am we set out to go there. We were going to meet them at their farm, and they were going to show us around.

But...

We arrived there before our friends, so we went in and decided to just drive around a bit...

And then we got lost. Because their farm is too big. It's easy to get lost :/

We ended up driving along a dirt path for about half an hour, and finally stopped when we arrived in a field surrounded by forest.

After a while of wandering around trying to get signal (almost impossible in the countryside), we finally managed to call the friends and they told us the way back. They then told us to hop out of our car and to let a little 13-year-old boy drive a Land Rover to show us around. It was terrifying. And as there wasn't enough space, my mum had to ride a quad bike...

Strange times...

After a little sightseeing, we went to one of the multiple houses and cottages to have lunch. We ordered pizzas, and even though there was 'Cheeseburger Stuffed Crust' and 'Hot Dog Stuffed Crust', we decided to stick with plain old thin crust and cheese-stuffed crust.

I had four slices of pizza, and they were large. And nearly a whole box of potato wedges...

I'll pay the doctors beforehand, I promise!

In the farm, there are also a few lakes.

I'm not jealous at all. Nope.

So after lunch, I went with my friend on his quad bike to find the fisherman. I don't actually know who the fisherman guy is, I think he lives on my friends' farm and keeps it going whilst they're not there, what a lovely job! He showed us a photo of a fish he had caught earlier - it was 10 pounds and massive!

We soon became bored of watching the man fishing, so we decided to take the paddle boat out on the lake. There were three of us. Myself, the friend-who-drives-the-quad-bike, and the brother of that friend, the 13-year-old-friend-who-drives-a-Land-Rover-truck. So Quad Bike Guy and I went around in the paddle boat, whilst the Land Rover Guy decided to get into a kayak.

There was a bit of trouble coming out of the shed, and we had to get all mucky in the process, but it was worth it. We paddled a bit, went under a really low bridge, and then docked at an island in the middle of the lake. The island was tiny though, so we just stood there awkwardly for a while whilst my mum took photos of us from the bank of the lake.

Finally, we made our way back and docked by the jetty where their dad was fishing. We stayed there for a while, just chilling, and waited for the dad to catch a fish.

It took ages!

And when he finally caught one, it was so small...

My friend and I became bored again, really easily, so we climbed up the hill to get to the old barn, where they have a pool table. We played that for a while - the Quad Bike Guy and myself vs. Land Rover Guy and Victoria.

It was quite an even match because I'm terrible at pool whilst Quad Bike Guy is amazing, and then Land Rover Guy basically did everything whilst Victoria only played the easy shots.

But, though it was even pairing, and it was intense...

Quad Bike Guy and I won! Yippee!

By then, it was really late and we were really tired, so we decided to go home. Before leaving, my friend's dad gave us some fishes he had just caught...

Let's just say, now I have a new pet carp, called Fishy.

That's all for today, I love y'all <3

Goodbye!

RANDOM PHOTOS FROM CHINA...

Hey everybody! 

I was looking through my computer today, and I found a few little gems from China...

I took this photo from the plane on the way to China - beat this sunrise!

OK, first of all, please don't even comment on the way I'm standing. I look
like I'm about to wet myself... Also, this picture was taken when I had just
come off the 10 hour plane journey. Just to be clear... ;)

Sunrise at my daddy's home-town. Gorgeous! (In my opinion...)

My uncle, just casually fishing.

I KNOW THIS IS DISGUSTING BUT...
There's a side for 'organisms' and there's a side for 'recycled'. So where do I throw
my chocolate bar wrapper?!

I'm quite proud of this image, if I may say so. The background isn't
particularly nice, but I love the bubbles!

...I don't know what to say...

You've probably seen this already...but if not it's the view from my hotel room.
Isn't it wonderful?

If it weren't for the Chinese writing, you'd probably think this was America...
Where are the Asians?!

'The Place' was amazing - it had a massive screen as a roof which would
change all the time, and you can ask to have a message written on there
for perhaps a loved one to see. There were loads of proposals...so cute!

As suggested by the massive spoon, this street was restaurant after restaurant,
bar after bar. All the Beijing party people come here I believe...and tourists
such as myself of course!

These are just a few of my captured moments from China - out of 612 photos believe it or not. Most the ones from my daddy's home-town had my family in it, but I don't think you guys would be too interested in my family history! So the majority of these are in Beijing...

Anyways, this was just a little photo based post - I hope you enjoyed it :)

I love y'all, and goodbye xxx

CARMEX VS. BURT'S BEES LIP BALM (update & conclusion added!)

(The new update is below the original post!)

----------

Hey!

If you're not into lip balms, well...sorry... But you should be, just saying. Unless you never get dry lips...lucky!

It's important to use lip balm in my opinion - it keeps lips soft and hydrated. My personal favourite lip balm is actually Vaseline, though I only use it before bed and when I'm having an emergency dry lips period of time. Normally, I would just use Carmex or Burt's Bees.

But...

Carmex vs. Burt's Bees. It's a difficult question...

Let me get this straight - I'm not here to tell you everything's that's good or bad about these, I'm here to point out differences. Some are good, some are bad. I'm obviously going to ignore points which refer to both of them, or which refer to all lip balms in general. Also, there are different types of Carmex and Burt's Bees. The Carmex balms I'm talking about are the twisty ones, specifically the lime twist and the pomegranate twist. The Burt's bees I'm talking about are also twisty and non-tinted, specifically the pomegranate one. I have to say, I've finished my pomegranate Carmex and nearly finished my lime one, so I know my Carmex fairly well you could say. However the Burt's Bees, I've only just started using the pomegranate one, but I'm going to use all my knowledge of both to compile this list for y'all.

Carmex

• Really squishy, especially at the end - it gets everywhere if you poke it...don't ask :/
• Thick oily spread - doesn't sound good, though it kinda works like lip gloss in a way
• Tingles, of course, the classic Carmex tingles
• Tastes nice - though lime one tastes like lime jelly. I'll let you decide whether you would like that or not...
• Taste disappears quickly
• Colourful packaging - bright and bold
• Clear balm
• Makes a loud clicking sound when you twist it - I quite like the sound, but it annoys some people
• SPF 15
• Cheaper, especially if you know where to look *cough cough* Savers *cough cough*. I bought it for less than half the price of my Burt's Bees.
• Has random chemicals
• Available everywhere and always

Burt's Bees

• Kinda hard (not squishy like Carmex) so have to apply it for ages
• Thin, non-oily spread
• No tingles
• Tastes nice, mainly like honey
• Taste stays for a long time
• Kinda boring packaging - not really fun
• The pomegranate one has a red balm but doesn't tint. From what I know, none of Burt's Bees balms are clear, the actual balms are all coloured, but don't tint unless you buy the tinted types.
• No sound when twisted
• No SPF
• More expensive, £3.69 at Boots
• Apparently '100% natural'
• Only available in larger stores (I think) and a lot of the times not in stock - on the high street I could only find it in Boots, not Superdrug. And it wasn't in stock for quite a long time.

Take note that the above list doesn't apply to all Carmex lip balms, and it also doesn't apply to all Burt's Bees lip balms. Just the twisty ones.

The reason for this post is that for a long time I was literally in turmoil over which one to buy. I only wanted one, and in the end, went for Carmex (pomegranate). I was quite pleased with it, and that's why I bought another one. When I got to the end of it, it started getting softer and softer, and in the end, it was really messy. So recently I decided to get a Burt's Bees. I haven't used it for too long, but I am extremely happy with it.

Anyways, when I wanted to purchase one, there was no clear list of pros and cons. There was no list like this to help me with making my decision, and I feel it would have benefited me greatly to have one.

So...if you want something done, do it yourself. That's the motto of the day :)

I hope my list helps, even if it's just one of you. 

I love y'all, and goodbye xx

--------------------   UPDATE & CONCLUSION 2017   --------------------

Since naive, baby me first published this post on the 7th October 2014, it's had a lot of views! I have no idea why, because re-reading it now more than two years later, I can see absolutely nothing of any particular greatness (except the coloured writing, that's pretty cool, I guess). And for any data/observations to amount to anything, extensive research should be done, something I definitely didn't do!

So now, I'd like to include some more opinions of mine, as well as debunk my own previous words of 'wisdom'. At the time of writing the original post, I'd only tried the two Carmex twist sticks and a Burt's Bees pomegranate one. Since then, I've also used:

Carmex cherry tube
Carmex original tube
Burt's Bees mango butter
Burt's Bees beeswax (original)
Burt's Bees vanilla bean

Firstly, I'd like to say that as well as being cheaper, the Carmex tube lip balms contain much more product than Burt's Bees sticks - the tubes contain roughly 10g of product whereas sticks contain 4.25g of product. I have yet to finish my tube of cherry lip balm, and neither has my friend finished her original one (I like to borrow it at times, so for the sake of this review I'll say I've used it). I find that I've become a little bored of the scent of it, so I use it much less now.

In regards to the 'squishiness' of Carmex, it does melt very easily and is very soft. I used to prefer the more shiny, glossy lip balms (think Vaseline), and this is definitely one of them. However, as trends come and go, one of the main reasons why I have now changed my mind about that is the hoard of matte lipsticks in my drawer... There's no point putting on an oily lip balm if a matte lip is the look you want to achieve!

Carmex for me was all about the fun and fruity smells, coupled with the exciting tingling sensation after applying it. These are still, 2 years on, what I think makes Carmex so popular and why I was so drawn to it in the beginning.

Now that I've put the discussion on Carmex to rest, as you can guess from what I've written above, I'm now (in this time of my life, at least) in favour of Burt's Bees lip balms.

From the end of 2014 until now, the start of 2017, I have used up three Burt's Bees lip balms, and have two I'm currently using at the same time. I finished my first pomegranate lip balm, so bought a mango one, which I absolutely loved. That went down quickly, and then I was given another pomegranate stick as a present, which I've also used until its death. Finally, now I've got the vanilla bean and classic beeswax lip balms to choose from - whichever I fancy.

Now time for some debunking - the most obvious mistake I made that I am banging my head about is the colour of the balm (not that it matters!). The pomegranate is the only 'non-tinted' lip balm in the line, from what I can tell, that has a distinctive colour to its balm. As this was the only one I'd tried at the time of writing, I just assumed all the others were coloured too. Bad Jasmin, don't jump to conclusions!

The first point I made about Burt's Bees being hard and taking a long time to apply is true in only some cases. Each of their lip balms has a different formula, with some being waxier than others, and some more buttery. Out of the ones I have tried and tested, the original beeswax is the waxiest (no surprise there!), with pomegranate following behind in a close second. Mango was a good in between, whilst vanilla is the most heavenly buttery lip balm of them all.
Note that there's also a difference between what I like to describe as 'oily' and 'buttery'. Although buttery lip balms are soft and glide smoothly on like, well, butter, it is not like the thicker and stickier consistency of substances such as petrolatum (in Vaseline and Carmex).

Another point which I would also like to prove incorrect is the fact that Burt's Bees don't cause your lips to tingle. Well, if you've ever tried the beeswax lip balm with peppermint oil! The classic, original Burt's Bees lip balm packs an amazingly good tingle, it's just perfect. For fans of refreshing tingling balms, this is for you!

Conclusion:

And now, for those who couldn't be bothered to read all of that (*a few tears run down my cheek*), here's a summary of my thoughts:

Carmex was a fun and great product that I loved when I was exploring the many lip balm brands out there, particularly because of the signature tingling sensation and fruity flavours. At a cheaper price for more product (with the tubes) than Burt's Bees, it's a fantastic alternative.

However, I have come to love Burt's Bees more due to their formula, not only 100% natural, but also waxy and buttery (rather than oily). They're great lip balms that aren't as shiny and thick as most others, making it perfect for wear under any lipstick. Each lip balm also has a different formula, so there's at least one you're bound to like!

My 'USP's of each Burt's Bees lip balm that I have tried:

Pomegranate - Very slightly tinted, leaves even-toned lips

Mango Butter - Smells/tastes absolutely delightful, like orange-flavoured Capri-Sun. Can taste sugar on your lips when you lick them, which I was addicted to doing...

Original Beeswax - Tingling sensation, the best I've ever felt

Vanilla Bean - Smooth and buttery as heaven. The scent reminds me of buttercream, which sort of is my own idea of heaven.


To finish this update off, I'll reiterate the ending of my original post. The sole purpose of this is to inform and present my opinions to you, so that you may make a (hopefully) better-informed choice if you're ever in a situation such as myself two years ago. I'm no expert on the topic of lip care, far from it actually! I just love my lip balms and wish to share this love with others. I have not been sponsored or asked in any way to say any of the above (only in my dreams), and all opinions are my own.

Thank you so much for reading this, I really appreciate it, I truly do.

♥

I love you

xxx

SEPTEMBER FAVOURITES

Wow. It's now October, the month which reminds me of falling leaves, colder days, Halloween, and America's addiction to pumpkin spice latte, and pumpkin spice stuff.

I hate to say this, but I've never tried anything pumpkin spice before. Of course, I've had the actual squash-like plant itself, but never anything...else... I honestly don't have a very big opinion on this matter, but I find it hilarious that nearly everything in America is now pumpkin spice flavoured, or scented.

Anyways, the first Saturday of October also marks the time of another favourites post from me.

So, without further ado...

Song:

My favourite song changes nearly all the time...but right now it's 'The Man Who Can't Be Moved' by The Script. It's old, but it's so gorgeous!

Food:

Surprisingly, apples. I don't know why, but I've absolutely loved apples this past month. I actually never used to like apples, it wouldn't be one of my first fruit choices, but now... I'm kinda starting to warm up to it ;)

Person:

Hmm... Zoella probably. It's just so amazing that's she's got her own beauty range and has more than 6 million subscribers on YouTube. I'm not the sort of person to write reams and reams of congratulatory phrases and post it on whatever social media I can lay my hand on, and it's the same here. I'll try my best, but all I can say is that I'm so so so proud of her, she's amazing, and I wish my life can be as awesome as hers xxx

App:

There's an app called 'Piano Tiles', which is basically a really simple game where you have to tap all the black tiles as they go down the screen. It's got nothing to do with actual skill on the piano and it's really addicting... go check it out! The arcade mode is my personal favourite ;)

Book:

'Airman', by Eoin Colfer. I've read it a few times before, and I've read it again recently. It's an old book, published in 2007, and I think the first time I read it was 2 or 3 years ago, but it's got the most wonderful storyline and characters. Loads of unexpected things happen, which keeps it entertaining, and it's written so that it's really easy to understand, even though it's a sort of historical fiction novel. I think this is my second favourite novel of all time, after The 'Song of Achilles', of course ;)

Oh, and if you like Eoin Colfer, check out the 'Artemis Fowl' series by him. They're children's books, which makes them really fun - plus, it's adventure and fantasy, and really funny - what's not to love?

That's all folks! They were some of my favourites from the past month of September, and some recommendations were thrown in alongside. There wasn't much, I know, but I haven't exactly got the most interesting life where I encounter different things each day, so nothing much changes...meaning not many new favourites each month...

Anyways, is anyone excited for Autumn?

I have mixed feelings - for example, I like the sound of crunchy leaves, but I don't particularly like it when they're wet and soggy from the rain that's always present in England, especially in Autumn. I'm also not a very big fan of the cold...I can never be bothered to layer myself up into a giant marshmallow, so I end up just wearing my pyjamas inside a onesie...

Though I'm really looking forward to upcoming parties - namely Halloween and my friend's birthday. There are two sides to everything, I guess.

I love y'all so much

Goodbye xxx