My goodness that's what you call a close up!
Personally, the individual behind the blog or the 'Tube is what really inspires my craving for their content. More often than not it's their likes, values, personal quirks or individual-ities that fuel my stick-around love for them. When it resonates with all that I love it fills me with that cosy happy feeling all my personal passions spark in me and it shines through their content and all that they do. Therefore, I thought sharing a little about the me behind the blog would leave you in the know as to whether I and all that I love to share might just be the cup of tea that makes you feel that little bit of cosy goodness too! So as a personal peak into a snippet of my digital journal of all the things I love, I'm going to be sharing a few of some of the many little things that make up the recipe of me, Ellie.
My mum would make reference now to a term of Dave Grohl's, being 'the recipe for success-ipee', however I don't often have many the success-ipee'.
As to the order I wanted to share all these little things about me I had absolutely no clue where to start as each are all just as unique as the other. Thus I thought the best way to go about it would be naturally, and that is to be randomly! So in no particular order here's a little bit about me...
Acne
As you might me able to tell from my purposely bare face in the picture above I'm definitely not shy of the odd spot and I've quite the redness left on my cheeks from many the old acne scar. My acne began to pop up a little more frequently in my latter years of high school but then it really picked up the pace during sixth form and recent years. It was probably the single reason why I started to search for product reviews, back in late 2013 to early 2014, and set me on my mission to find the products that actually worked for acne! As you may or may not have seen dotted throughout my beauty post I've often talked about my "stubborn" acne as I have had a right old time trying to get to the root cause of it and bring my skin back to normal. As a teen it was something I felt extremely self conscious off and looking back I barely left the house without makeup on. Although I've long had a love for makeup, over my past 7 years with acne I've grown in confidence in my own skin and love to explore beauty and makeup in so many more ways now rather than feeling restricted with my acne. Over these years my acne has delved from the occasional teenage-style odd few pimples, to pustules, under the skin spots, painful, scaring (mostly red scaring), and sometimes almost cystic acne. It has been one of the single greatest influences of both my blog and my growth as an individual but I sure can't say it's given me an easy ride at times.
Shopping
Now this might seen a little broad and a little odd but what I'm talking about are those special shopping days! Proper shopping days were you'd make a trip into town, make a day of it, got for lunch, grab a cake ;) . Just like baking shopping trip days are another tradition of mine and as a little girl we'd always have a few special trips to town together with my mum, Nan and Granddad. When I was much younger I'd say two of my most favourite shops were Woolworths and the Disney Shop, of which I did not shy from throwing myself into the teddy bear pile on every visit possible! We always went to BHS for lunch (<- does anyone remember BHS :O) and I still get a flurry of excitement thinking about my favourite choice, the chips, nuggets and beans children's meal, I'd have every time. As I got a bit older my favourite shops looked more towards Claire's, New Look and Tammy Girl in BHS (throwback much) but I still had a special place in my heart for a visit to Build a Bear! I only ever got to know Build a Bear when I was much older but nevertheless I still have the sweetest collection and yes I do like to get them out in seasonal wear for Christmas time! Every trip would always end with the long haul around M&S food section though, haha. Did anyone else's mum do this? As I got older I spent more of these days with just my mum and Nan and my goodness there was nothing better than a bargain buy fashion show for my Granddad when we would get home :') . These days however it's just myself and my mum but we still make quite the day of a girly shopping trip! Some of my most favourite stores to peruse around today include Boots, Superdrug, H&M and New Look and we love nothing more than a good goggle and wish list making at the beauty counters in Debenham's and John Lewis. Since going vegan we've also been to a plethora of amazing vegan food places for midday shopping snacks and caffeinated late day shopping drinks and theses are some of the places and things I've got to love and eagerly share on my social media and blog.
Back around that same time, late 2013 to 2014, that I became hooked on looking for product reviews I simultaneously fell down the rabbit hole that is YouTube and since then my heart has never looked back. I absolutely fell in love with the platform and YouTubers and, although I still loved my product reviews, I very happy enjoyed catching up with all my favourites, be it Zoella, Fleur De Force, CTFXC to name a few. I began to get into both more beauty things, like favourites and makeup tutorials, and also loved nothing more than cosying up with my favourite vlogs after college (CTFX of course! And of course Zoe's vlogmass's). Still to this day I love nothing more than a cosy up with one of my favourite YouTubers and a good makeup tutorial or the odd vlog. Albeit my preferences have changed a little since, you'll still see the golden oldies and my all time favourites on my subscription feed. A lil' snippet of faves -> Inthefrow, Zoe Sug, The Anna Edit, Louise Pentland, Fleur De Force, Samantha Maria, I Covet Thee, Sophdoesnails, My Pale Skin, Estée Lalonde.
Makeup - It All Started with a Touch of Lippie
Taking note back to Nan, mum and me shopping days my Nan and mum (now I know where she gets it from!) would always pop on a lippie for a special event, including our shopping trips. Just that, a touch of lipstick and nothing else, it has long become an icon to me of my Nan and my mum. When I was little and started to pick up on this ;) I would always ask my Nan if I could wear a bit of her lippy too, and that my friends is where the makeup obsession began! Lipstick was my first love and is so still to this day and it's another little memory that holds a very poignant part in my next post of the series!
A little newer edition to the essence of Ellie is being vegan! Stemming from my journey with acne I decided to go vegan almost 3 years ago now. I approached the change by doing things gradually, letting myself have a little dairy treat each month then each holiday and gradually weaning away any dairy products within my first year of switching to a vegan diet. From then on I aimed to become a little healthier in my vegan food choices, plus switching to vegan beauty, and this third year I've been focusing on switching all my lifestyle picks to vegan and more ethical choices too. Although I found the switch, specially the sweet stuff, a little challenging at first it actually became so much easier than I ever imagined, INCLUDING A HEALTHY DAY-TO-DAY DIET! My cooking, Pinterest recipe trialing, food place hunting and savvy shopping has become a great part of me and great joy to me over the past few years and I've actually made some incredible memories since making this switch! I know! I never in a million years thought I would have become vegan and never knew just how joyful it would be. All I can say now I'm becoming a ripened (if you will) 3 year vegan is keep your goggly eyes out on this blog because my goodness... I have some bloody good food places to share with you!
Now my chapter on positive affirmations I read in my psychology for nerves book this morning would not be happy with my negative Nancy-ness here however I have to laugh, being a tad clumsy really is something that's part of my heart. I've never appeared to be a natural born at anything in particular and I do have a tendency to be a little accident prone - so long today's plate I dropped a cup on! But there's certainly a side I love to this trait. As with many a thing in life, makeup, hair styling and nail painting have never been my area of particular skill however they have taught me how to learn things very much not the hard way! Finding ways and things that work for me was something I was greatly passionate about in starting my blog and also stemmed greatly from my trials and tribulations with my acne. Certainty still to this day there are many things that I'm also the wee tortoise at too but I've got to know is a part of me and lets just say, there's a few lifestyle posts I cannot wait to share in light of my daily and life-related trials and tribulations in recent years. If ever you're feeling a little bit hopeless, welcome home, my door is always open.
Lastly and a little on the lighter side is my also life long love for anything a little bit princess-y. When I was younger Barbie was always my jam; I was a ballerina since the age of 4; and was forever enchanted by all things enchanting, with my extensive collection of fairy dolls, little letters I would write to the fairies and leave on my windowsill and my almost-library of Rainbow Magic books. Still to this day I am just as inspired my all things fantasical fansty-like and have vowed that, I will be the ultimate Princess on my wedding day (no rings currently, just wishful and wonderful thinking) and when I make it to Disneyland or Disney World I will be wearing a different Disney princess dress every day of the holiday (again wishful thinking but I WILL).
As you might me able to tell from my purposely bare face in the picture above I'm definitely not shy of the odd spot and I've quite the redness left on my cheeks from many the old acne scar. My acne began to pop up a little more frequently in my latter years of high school but then it really picked up the pace during sixth form and recent years. It was probably the single reason why I started to search for product reviews, back in late 2013 to early 2014, and set me on my mission to find the products that actually worked for acne! As you may or may not have seen dotted throughout my beauty post I've often talked about my "stubborn" acne as I have had a right old time trying to get to the root cause of it and bring my skin back to normal. As a teen it was something I felt extremely self conscious off and looking back I barely left the house without makeup on. Although I've long had a love for makeup, over my past 7 years with acne I've grown in confidence in my own skin and love to explore beauty and makeup in so many more ways now rather than feeling restricted with my acne. Over these years my acne has delved from the occasional teenage-style odd few pimples, to pustules, under the skin spots, painful, scaring (mostly red scaring), and sometimes almost cystic acne. It has been one of the single greatest influences of both my blog and my growth as an individual but I sure can't say it's given me an easy ride at times.
Cakes and Baking
I think a well established trait of mine is most certainly a sweet tooth and if it be a trait on the Sims it'd be right up there with good old family orientated! My love of sweet treats has certainly been inspired by my Nan and her traditional baking, which I'll be sharing a few very cherished memories of in my next post in the series. If you asked me the question "savory or sweet" the answer would always be sweet and I'd find it pretty impossible to pick just one favourite treat! Sweet treats share lots of happy memories with me and baking is a hobby I've enjoyed both in my younger and teenage years. And being a little collective of all the things I love I definitely don't shy from sharing some of those goodies on the blog! Often the very best of the best sweet treats I've tried have appeared on here (Best Vegan Doughnuts Ever; Vegan lotus Biscoff Brownies).
Shopping
Now this might seen a little broad and a little odd but what I'm talking about are those special shopping days! Proper shopping days were you'd make a trip into town, make a day of it, got for lunch, grab a cake ;) . Just like baking shopping trip days are another tradition of mine and as a little girl we'd always have a few special trips to town together with my mum, Nan and Granddad. When I was much younger I'd say two of my most favourite shops were Woolworths and the Disney Shop, of which I did not shy from throwing myself into the teddy bear pile on every visit possible! We always went to BHS for lunch (<- does anyone remember BHS :O) and I still get a flurry of excitement thinking about my favourite choice, the chips, nuggets and beans children's meal, I'd have every time. As I got a bit older my favourite shops looked more towards Claire's, New Look and Tammy Girl in BHS (throwback much) but I still had a special place in my heart for a visit to Build a Bear! I only ever got to know Build a Bear when I was much older but nevertheless I still have the sweetest collection and yes I do like to get them out in seasonal wear for Christmas time! Every trip would always end with the long haul around M&S food section though, haha. Did anyone else's mum do this? As I got older I spent more of these days with just my mum and Nan and my goodness there was nothing better than a bargain buy fashion show for my Granddad when we would get home :') . These days however it's just myself and my mum but we still make quite the day of a girly shopping trip! Some of my most favourite stores to peruse around today include Boots, Superdrug, H&M and New Look and we love nothing more than a good goggle and wish list making at the beauty counters in Debenham's and John Lewis. Since going vegan we've also been to a plethora of amazing vegan food places for midday shopping snacks and caffeinated late day shopping drinks and theses are some of the places and things I've got to love and eagerly share on my social media and blog.
YouTube
Back around that same time, late 2013 to 2014, that I became hooked on looking for product reviews I simultaneously fell down the rabbit hole that is YouTube and since then my heart has never looked back. I absolutely fell in love with the platform and YouTubers and, although I still loved my product reviews, I very happy enjoyed catching up with all my favourites, be it Zoella, Fleur De Force, CTFXC to name a few. I began to get into both more beauty things, like favourites and makeup tutorials, and also loved nothing more than cosying up with my favourite vlogs after college (CTFX of course! And of course Zoe's vlogmass's). Still to this day I love nothing more than a cosy up with one of my favourite YouTubers and a good makeup tutorial or the odd vlog. Albeit my preferences have changed a little since, you'll still see the golden oldies and my all time favourites on my subscription feed. A lil' snippet of faves -> Inthefrow, Zoe Sug, The Anna Edit, Louise Pentland, Fleur De Force, Samantha Maria, I Covet Thee, Sophdoesnails, My Pale Skin, Estée Lalonde. Makeup - It All Started with a Touch of Lippie
Taking note back to Nan, mum and me shopping days my Nan and mum (now I know where she gets it from!) would always pop on a lippie for a special event, including our shopping trips. Just that, a touch of lipstick and nothing else, it has long become an icon to me of my Nan and my mum. When I was little and started to pick up on this ;) I would always ask my Nan if I could wear a bit of her lippy too, and that my friends is where the makeup obsession began! Lipstick was my first love and is so still to this day and it's another little memory that holds a very poignant part in my next post of the series!
Vegan
A little newer edition to the essence of Ellie is being vegan! Stemming from my journey with acne I decided to go vegan almost 3 years ago now. I approached the change by doing things gradually, letting myself have a little dairy treat each month then each holiday and gradually weaning away any dairy products within my first year of switching to a vegan diet. From then on I aimed to become a little healthier in my vegan food choices, plus switching to vegan beauty, and this third year I've been focusing on switching all my lifestyle picks to vegan and more ethical choices too. Although I found the switch, specially the sweet stuff, a little challenging at first it actually became so much easier than I ever imagined, INCLUDING A HEALTHY DAY-TO-DAY DIET! My cooking, Pinterest recipe trialing, food place hunting and savvy shopping has become a great part of me and great joy to me over the past few years and I've actually made some incredible memories since making this switch! I know! I never in a million years thought I would have become vegan and never knew just how joyful it would be. All I can say now I'm becoming a ripened (if you will) 3 year vegan is keep your goggly eyes out on this blog because my goodness... I have some bloody good food places to share with you!And now down to the final two, both of which truly are very 'Ellie' of me.
Not Very Good at Things...
Now my chapter on positive affirmations I read in my psychology for nerves book this morning would not be happy with my negative Nancy-ness here however I have to laugh, being a tad clumsy really is something that's part of my heart. I've never appeared to be a natural born at anything in particular and I do have a tendency to be a little accident prone - so long today's plate I dropped a cup on! But there's certainly a side I love to this trait. As with many a thing in life, makeup, hair styling and nail painting have never been my area of particular skill however they have taught me how to learn things very much not the hard way! Finding ways and things that work for me was something I was greatly passionate about in starting my blog and also stemmed greatly from my trials and tribulations with my acne. Certainty still to this day there are many things that I'm also the wee tortoise at too but I've got to know is a part of me and lets just say, there's a few lifestyle posts I cannot wait to share in light of my daily and life-related trials and tribulations in recent years. If ever you're feeling a little bit hopeless, welcome home, my door is always open.
A Little Princess-y
Lastly and a little on the lighter side is my also life long love for anything a little bit princess-y. When I was younger Barbie was always my jam; I was a ballerina since the age of 4; and was forever enchanted by all things enchanting, with my extensive collection of fairy dolls, little letters I would write to the fairies and leave on my windowsill and my almost-library of Rainbow Magic books. Still to this day I am just as inspired my all things fantasical fansty-like and have vowed that, I will be the ultimate Princess on my wedding day (no rings currently, just wishful and wonderful thinking) and when I make it to Disneyland or Disney World I will be wearing a different Disney princess dress every day of the holiday (again wishful thinking but I WILL).And that's just about,... a little bit,... about me!
If you've made it this far, hello and welcome to my brain. I do hope it's been interesting and maybe a little fun to get to know me, Ellie, a little better. I've really enjoyed sharing a bit about myself and who I am and I'd equally love to get to know a little more about yourself too if you're a blogger alike! If you have any 'Get to Know Me' style posts on your blog do link them below in the comments. Oooo and if you are enjoying the series so far be sure to hop over to my blog next Sunday evening from 6pm to see the third and final installment in my blog relaunch series! Pssst, it's another good-en talking about all the little things to do with my blog you might not have know before! If you're a tad forgetful like myself and would like to keep up to date with the series these are my best social medias to follow below...
Instagram - @elliebowsandsparkles
Twitter - @EBandSparkles
Till next time,
Ellie Xx
Great post - I need to make one of these posts soon! I have yet to do a face reveal on my blog, and now that I am about to graduate college I think it about time I do... Thanks for the inspiration and for sharing about yourself! :)
ReplyDelete-Jenna ♥
Stay in touch? The Chic Cupcake
Awww, Jenna thank you very kindly! :D That would be fab! I say go for it! :) Let me know when you post it as I’d love to read! I’m most made up my wee little post has inspired you! Thank youuu :’) . P.S I love your collection of zero waste posts on you blog! Just followed back on Bloglovin. Looking forward to catching up with them and getting all your useful tips and tricks!
DeleteEllie xx