What To Do This Summer When Bored

During the school summer holidays I do get very bored and I'm sure a lot of you will to so I've compiled a list of 6 new things you could try out so you're not bored. You also don't need to do all of these in the summer; remember them for other school holidays or weekends so you're never bored again.

Start a YouTube channel/blog about something you're passionate about- I'm sure most of you reading like YouTube and blogs so why not start you're own about something you're passionate about whether that's knitting, beauty, cars and the list is endless and you will enjoy it as you like what you're talking about.

Play a board/card game- Something old school and I think not many people blame board games anymore so why not crack them out and you will end up having a lot of fun. These are also good for rainy days as I think board games are made for rainy days. My favourite board game is Monopoly.

Experiment with different makeup and clothes what you normally wouldn't do- This is something you could do if you're into beauty like me. I'm sure you have that one bright lipstick that you never wear so why not try it out and see what clothes you can wear it with and maybe you could have an photoshoot and get some Instagrams

Try out a new hobby- If you find a hobby you like you can always do it and you will never be bored again. I don't really have a hobby (apart from blogging) but you could try out a new sport or start art or there's loads of things and soon you will find one thing that you enjoy and look forward to going to if it's a class.

Start journalling about your summer or your future and even decorate it- This is something I love to do and as I go all out on the decoration it takes me a while and I could probably spend a whole day doing it. Soon I will have blog posts on both journals so hopefully that will give you some inspiration. 

Have a photoshoot/film a music video with your friends- This is a great memory to have with your friends as you will always have fun pictures/videos with them and it's great to look back on and it's also a good way to have fun with your friends without going shopping like you normally might.

Hopefully this blog post has even you some inspiration on what you could do and if you're bored when reading this (like doing this to stop the boredness not because my blog is boring) why not try out something I've mentioned and I'm sure you will enjoy it as there has to be something you like.

Summer Essentials

Today I'm going to be sharing with you everything I have to have during the summer months whether I'm here in the UK or if I was going abroad. I've been using these stuff for a while now and some I was using last summer so they all have my seal of approval. 

Sunglasses- This is probably an obvious one because summer is all about sunglasses and I definately recommend you to get a nice fashionable ones that will go with most outfits (basically not a too over the top colourful pair). Primark have some really nice designs in at the moment and these cat eye sunglasses, which I have been loving, are from Primark and go with everything.

Sweat Proof Makeup- This is more of an essential if you're going to a really hot country but anywhere you don't want your makeup dripping off. I think having a good base that stays on is really important because it's the thing that looks the worst when it's kinda on and some's been sweat off and that's why I like matte foundations (I know people like dewy foundations so there's some that will be sweat proof)

Waterproof Mascara- When you come out of the pool after going swimming you don't want panda eyes because trust me that is not a good look so you need a waterproof mascara that is actually waterproof. Surprisingly this mascara from P.S. Love is actually waterproof and stays on- I've had watery eyes with it and it didn't budge and I highly doubt it would make you have panda eyes

Beach Bags- This is some of the beach bags I found online because I don't need one but they are an essential for on holiday. You need quite a big one but one that's quite thin when folded up so it's good in your suitcase. The blue and white striped one is from Accessorize and is £25, the one in the top right one is by Billabong on Asos and is £27 and the one on the bottom (which I'm not really a fan of) is by Pitusa Inca on Asos and was £100 (there was also other colours)

Small Cross Body Bag- Last summer this was my handbag of choice (I even done a What's In My Bag with it LINK) and I would so recommend a small one because it means you're hands free and you can focus on having fun without carrying a massive, heavy bag. It's also good for holidays and going to the beach as you can have all of your important essentials in here. This was from Primark.

Body Moisturiser and Body Lotion- Moisturizing your body is always important but I think it is really important in summer because you're legs are on show and you don't want everyone to see your dry legs. You also need good sun cream but I didn't want to do a whole section on it as everyone knows how much of an essential it is.

Tablet and Ear/Headphones- These are the best combination if you are going on holiday as you can watch TV and films which you've already downloaded and play games with drowning out all of your phone battery. I have a Kindle which I love and it's also good having one as you can play your games but also read as everyone reads at the pool. You also need earphones or headphones as not everyone will appreciate the sounds.

A good hobby- So if you're saying home all summer like me you will need a hobby as otherwise you will get so bored and you're summer won't be that fun (I have a post coming up on that actually soon). I would recommend you start blogging because it's really fun and you can make a blog based on whatever interests you- you will never be bored again!

A good fragrance- Everyone has a summer scent and something they wear every year (even though I never wore this last year as I never had it). I really like the Zoella Tutti Frutti Body Mist which I don't know if you can still get as I know there is another collection (Sweet Inspirations) replacing it but if you can get it do because it smells really nice

White Jeans and Casual T-Shirts- My favourite clothes for summer are white jeans because they better than black jeans on a hot day and they look really nice with summery colours and a casual t-shirt because it's hot so all you want is a light T-Shirt. My favourite place to buy summer clothes is Primark because as you don't wear the stuff much you don't want to spend a load of money on them

That is everything I need to have during the summer months and things that I think will help and benefit you for the remainder of summer. I still have a couple of more posts to come in my summer series which will be coming up very soon here so don't forget to check back.

My Ideal Summer

At the beginning of the summer I thought it would be a good idea to share with you what I would want to be my perfect summer. Most of these probably won't actually happen (defiantly one won't) but it's good to be optimistic  which is what I'm doing here. Hopefully I will conquer some of these stuff but I just need to be a bit less lazy.

-Go on a nice long walk around where I live (even though the view isn't very nice) with an ice cold Costa drink (I'm lucky I have 2 near me) and a good playlist on.- This might happen as it's quite realistic and it will actually get me moving which is quite rear for me unless it's walking around a shopping centre

-Go somewhere different for a day-  Hopefully this will happen as I do normally go to the same places and obviously it gets really boring so I want to take a day trip somewhere different

-Try out new food and eat healthy for most days of the week- This one I need to be more brave as I don't really like trying new food because I don't want to not like it. Also I'm going to try and be more healthy and not snack as much

-Binge watch a TV series with good food (definately a cheat day)- This is very likely to happen and will probably happen a lot but what is there is to resist. I also want to binge watch Royal Crush again as I binged watched that last summer

-Meet up with my friends for other activities, not just shopping.- This one is obviously up to my friends but I definately want to do something else with them as even though I love shopping sometimes it's nice to do something different as you can tell this summer I want to do different stuff

-Nice, all-inclusive holiday on the beach with good wi-fi- Sadly this won't be happening but maybe I'll will get surprised even though I know this won't happen so I'll just continue dreaming about this

-Going to bed late and then waking up late spending an hour in bed on my phone and watching YouTube- I do already do 75% of this but the bit I struggle is, is surprisingly the waking up late. However late I go to bed I still usually end up waking up at 6 or 7 am (or sometimes 5am!) so I need to work on that but I don't know how to.

That is what my summer would look like in an ideal world. I'm definately going to try and do some of these (apart from the holiday one) and hopefully I'll let you know on how I got on because I'm sure you all want to know.

  

My Summer Playlist | 2016

I haven't done a whole playlist post for a while now so I thought I would do a summer playlist with all of the songs for the summer that I'm loving. My friend Cerys and I were discussing how there hasn't been that many good songs recently and I noticed this last year that's there good songs in Spring and Autumn/Winter but not Summer so this playlist will feature songs from other years which I think are good for summer.

This Is What You Came For- Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna 

'But she's looking at you oh oh, you oh oh'

Can't Stop The Feeling- Justin Timberlake

'I can't stop the feeling, So just dance, dance, dance'

Girls Like- Tinie Tempah ft. Zara Larsson

'Tell J.K. that I'm still rolling, yeah tell Russell I'm a brand'

Black Magic- Little Mix

'I got the recipe, and it's called black magic'

Drag Me Down- One Direction

'With your love nobody can drag me down'

Problem- Ariana Grande ft. Izzy Azalea

'I got one less, one less problem'

Bang Bang- Jessie J ft. Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj

'Bang Bang into the room, I know ya want it bang bang all over you'

I Love It- Icona Pop 

'I don't care I love it'

Burn- Ellie Goulding

'We gonna let it burn, burn, burn, burn'

On My Mind- Ellie Goulding

'Why I got you on my mind'

Don't Be So Hard On Yourself- Jess Glynne

'I came here with a broken heart that no one else could see'

Waiting All Night- Rudimental ft. Ella Eyre

'I've been waiting all night for you to tell me what you want, tell me, tell me that you need me'

That was my summer playlist which I will be listening to. Obviously I'll probably add more songs because there isn't really that many at the moment so I need to get listening to songs to know whether to include them in this playlist or not. If anyone is wondering my Spotify is 'louisesprinkles'

Summer Primark Haul

As it is summer I had to get some new summer clothes as I didn't really like many that I had and it's also good to get some new pieces which is what I did. Everything in this haul is from Primark because they have some really nice summer pieces in there at the moment and everything is really affordable because it's Primark which is known for being cheap.

Butterfly Vest- I don't really have many vests so I wanted to get some printed ones and I really liked the print of this one so I got it. I have been wearing it and I really like wearing it with a leather jacket even though that's not really summer appropriate but it's really the only jacket I have that goes.

This was £4 

Denim Co White Jeggings- I've wanted white jeans for a while now but before I get a good quality pair I wanted to see if I like them on me and I really do. These jeggings are really comfy and as I've been going off jeans recently I might not buy better jeans as these are really nice especially considering the price.

These were £7

Pink Jersey Slip On Shoes- I had seen these in Primark a couple of times but wasn't sure whether to get them but I decided to get them because I thought they would look nice with the white jeans. I have been wearing these a lot recently and they're really comfy and add a pop of colour to a bland outfit.

These were £4

Colourful Printed Ankle Trousers- In the summer I love wearing trousers which are baggy higher up but sinch in at the ankles and these do exactly that with a lot of colour which is good because most of my bottom half stuff is black. These trousers look really nice with a plain white or black top.

These were £8

Sorry about the dodgy picture but maxi dresses are so hard to take pictures of.

Black and White Printed Vest Maxi Dress- Honestly before this shopping trip I had never wore a maxi dress before but now I love them. They're perfect to wear on hot days when you haven't shaved your legs as this one has no slits down the side. I really like the print even if it's not that bright like your usual ones.

This originally was £8 but I got it for £6

Oopia Floral Topknot Hairband- Recently I have been wearing my hair in buns so I wanted a hairband to make them look more cuter and this has worked I think as the flowers are so cute. It is quite childish but I like it and I don't really like too boring stuff so I wanted to jazz it up a little.

This was £2

Oopia Coral & White Faux Fur Pom Keychain- I already had one of these (from New Look) but I wanted some more because it was on my bag and I wanted one on my keys and I also picked up another for whenever because I really like these even if they don't really have a purpose.

These were £2 each

The Crew Tee T-Shirt- You always need t-shirts so I picked one up which is called a crew tee which I don't really know what it means but to me it is a basic t-shirt. I really like the print of this and it actually goes really nicely with the white jeans and the neon pink slip on shoes which is a cute outfit.

This was £3

Fashion Tissues Multipack- I really like how Primark do multipacks of smaller tissues pack as they are so handy and are really cheap at only 50p for 4 packs of tissues with 10 in each. These tissues also has a cute black and white design which has been my thing recently so Primark got me!

These were 50p

P.S. Peppermint Softening Foot Cream- Recently I've had really bad dry feet so I got this to help and OMG it actually worked which I was surprised about because it was so cheap. I defiantly would recommend this and I was going to get the foot scrub but I thought I should just do cream. 

This was £1.50

London 04 Body Mist 150ml- I've wanted to try out Primark's perfumes and body mist collections for a while and I thought I would try out this body mist as after a quick spritz and really liked it. I've been keeping this on my desk and it's a nice good spritz after being sat down for a while.

This was £1.50

That was my haul with all of my summery Primark shopping. I probably will be buying more as soon I will be going on my summer holidays from school (sadly not abroad or anywhere) so I'll probably go shopping and buying more clothes.

Sunkissed Summer Tag

Today as it's nearly summer holidays for me I wanted to do another summer tag and this one is the Sunkissed Summer Tag which I saw on YouTube  and enjoyed. I know I recently done a summer themed tag but this one has different questions which I thought you might want to know the answer to!

What is your go-to product for a sun kissed summer glow? (bronzer, self tanner, etc.)
I personally don't fake tan because I don't really see a point for my skin so I really like to use bronzer and because I like a natural glow I really like to use the Collection Mosaic Bronzer in 2 Radiant which gives a really pretty natural look whilst still giving shine and glitter. I'm also a fan of the MUA mosaic bronzer- as you can tell I really like mosaic bronzers! 

What book would you recommend for a summer read?
As I think I mentioned in another post I don't really read much but during summer I really like magazines so I would recommend some gossip ones as they're really nice to read at the pool. 

What’s your signature summer scent this year?
I still haven't found a nice summer perfume yet as I'm definately more of a musky fragrance liking person but I do really like the Zoella Tutti Fruti Let's Spritz body mist as it's very sweet and summery. 

The sun is shining and it’s time to get outside! What’s your favourite thing to do?
I'm not really one who likes outdoor activities so most of the things I like are indoors but I do like going shopping which you need to go outside but you can do it anytime. Other than that this summer I definately need to get out more!

You’re on the boardwalk and your stomach is grumbling. What’s your go-to summer beach food?
If I was a boardwalk definately ice cream because you have to have ice cream when you're near a beach! I would have a classic 99 ice cream cone or a mint choc chip ice cream as that's my favourite.

Sunscreen is always important, but it’s a MUST in summer! What’s your favorite? (Face, body, or both)
As I live in the UK it isn't really an essential and I don't really burn so I don't know much about sunscreen but I know when I used to go on holiday I wore Nieva sunscreen. I should probably go and get some..

After a day in the summer sun and heat, what do you do to cool off?
I won't have a day in the sun and heat and that's not me but what I would do is eat an ice cream and have a nice ice cold shower.

How do you wear your hair in the summer? (down, ponytail, ombre, dip dye, etc.)
All times of the year I wear my hair down but when my hair does get annoying I put it in a ponytail (like now for me as I write this) or a messy bun.

Must-have nail polish for summer 2016?
Definitely something bright and neon or a hot pink. I really like this yellow shade from Miss Sporty and I keep forgetting to buy green and blue nail polishes when I go shopping as I think they would look nice.

Sometimes it just feels good to chill out and watch Netflix. What shows/movies do you recommend for summer?
Something quite trashy like a good reality TV programme (for me Keeping Up With Kardashians) and for films a good old chick flicks like Mean Girls.

Do you wear liquid foundation, BB cream, or tinted moisturizer in the summer? 
I'm not someone who changes their bases every season so I stick with liquid foundation and I'm really liking the Miss Sporty Insta Glow Foundation as it gives a natural glow that looks really pretty when on the skin.

It’s super bright outside! Do you reach for sunglasses or a hat?
Definitely sunglasses as I'm not someone who wears hats so sunglasses. At the moment my favourite ones are these cat eye sunglasses from Primark which I think give a touch of glamour to any summer outfit. 

What is your summer jam this year?
My summer song this year has been This Is What I Came For by Calvin Harris and Rihanna as I love that song! I also like Cake By The Ocean by DNCE and a return from last year has been Lean On by Major Laser because Capital keep playing it even though it was released last year.

Do you have a summer bucket list? If so, share some things on the list.
Sorry but I don't have one.

Bikini, tankini, or one piece? Show us your fave bathing suit this year!  
I prefer the look of bikinis but not on me and I don't have a favourite bathing suit as I don't go swimming.

Summer means heat… and sweat! What’s your favorite sweat proof product this year? (Skincare, makeup, anything!) 
I think a good deodorant is essential (this sounds like it's sponsored but it's not) and I really like Soft & Gentle as it stays on all day and if you are too busy having fun you won't need to worry about sweating and re-applying some deodorant.

From this tag we learnt that Louise hates summer even though I like it because there's no school and in September I will be going into year 10 which is crazy, where did all of the time go? For more follow me on Twitter (@_louisecarter_) and Instagram (@thelipstickinsider) because I know you want to as you get to find out about my boring summer.

I ♡ Summer Tag

As it's summer I thought I would answer some questions about summer with the tag I Heart Summer Tag! I also done one for spring so I'll probably end up doing one in Autumn and Winter but it's way too early to be thinking about that. Feel free to do this tag as I'm not tagging anyone particularly. 

1. Your dream summer vacation
Definitely has to be somewhere hot as otherwise there's no point going away in the summer than somewhere not hot (although you could if you wanted to but it's just not my style). I would always go to the beach and go shopping and chill out by the pool with a mocktail. I really want to go to LA and I know all of that's very typical LA life. 

2. Favorite summer drink.
I love Creamy Coolers from Costa (even though you can have them all year round) and they're really nice for a nice summer day. I also really like Diet Coke in the summer but I like that all year round.

3. S’mores or ice cream?
I've never had a S'more so it would have to be ice cream. My favourite flavor in case you're wondering is mint choc chip!

4. Pool or Beach?
The pool because I hate getting sand in between my toes and the sand is always hot and I hate it!

5. Would you rather spend a summer day outside in the pool or inside watching Netflix?
Why can't I take Netflix outside but knowing me I would probably be inside watching a show on Netflix

6. Your most fun summer memory?
Definitely all of my holidays abroad.

7. Favorite summer nail polish?
I really like neons especially bright pinks but recently I have been loving this yellow shade from Miss Sporty (none of the nail polishes have the colour names on the packaging which is really annoying when I want to talk about them as they are really good)

8. Sunglasses or hats?
I never wear hates so definately sunglasses which I have really been liking recently. I do really like the look of floppy beach hats which a cute cover up over your bikini.

9. Favorite summer scent?
I really like the Zoella Beauty Tutti Frutti Body Mist because it has a really nice, clean, summery scent and I also like the other products in the range such as the shower gel and body scrub.

10. Favorite BBQ food?
I never have BBQ so I can't say.

11. Bikinis, tankinis, or one pieces?
Bikinis as usually they're cuter.

12. Summertime Book recommendations
Definitely a light read and I would say Girl Online and Girl Online On Tour but you probably read them. Other than that I don't really know because I don't read much.

That was all of my summer choices and I hope you really enjoyed it. If you want to know of my summer adventures follow me on Twitter (@_louisecarter_) and Instagram (@thelipstickinsider)