I think in recent years feminism has come leaps and bounds. It's become a much more accepted thing and I think more people feel comfortable about telling people they view themselves as a feminist. However, saying that I think that when you tell people you're a feminist or talk to people of feminism their minds automatically go to one of the following.

1. All feminists are women:
   I think when people hear the word feminism, they hear 'fem' and automatically assume that it's just for females and female rights. The actual definition of feminism is about having equality of the sexes, it isn't all about women although that can be a big part of it. As a feminist I personally feel that EVERYONE deserves to feel safe, happy and comfortable with who they are and the life they lead.
2. All feminists hate men and think women are better than men:
   This is a huge misconception that I know so many people who don't understand feminism have. I don't hate men, at all and I count myself as straight so I certainly don't hate men. What I hate is ignorance, whether this is from men or women. I certainly don't believe that women are better than men, there is no way to judge whether someone else is better than the next. Radical feminists believe that male supremacy should be completely eliminated in all contexts of life, but a large majority don't count themselves as radical feminists anymore and believe that all men and women should be equal (equal being the key word).
3. Sexism isn't a problem anymore:
   Ofcourse sexism is nowhere near as bad as it used to be; we as women now have the vote, we can work and do just as much as any man can. However, saying this we still have so many areas in the world where we are complete behind on the times. Abortion is still considered a horrendous crime, child marriages are still the norm in so many countries, FGM is still happening and people still feel ashamed about coming forward about rape and abuse. There are still so many awful places in the world where feminism is needed. Feminism is needed for EVERYONE.
   
   

Dermatillomania- "Excoriation disorder is an impulse control disorder characterized by the repeated urge to pick at one's own skin" , it is also known as compulsive skin picking or CSP. The picking of the skin can take place in numerous different area's of the body and has been linked to obsessive compulsive disorder and shares similarities with trichotilliomania. 

In all honesty I hadn't actually heard of dermatillomania or CSP until a few years back, for me picking my skin was a completely natural and normal thing to do. I don't remember ever starting it, but I can't remember a time of not doing it. For me it's just always been there and I've always considered it to be a completely normal thing and I would just sit and do it without even realizing; it confused and grossed out a lot of people and I never understood why and would get quite upset when people would get annoyed at me for doing it because I didn't understand what I was doing wrong. 

Even when discovering what this thing I did was, it didn't actually stop me or slow me down in doing it and I'd still do it when I felt a particularly large amount of negative emotion; anger, anxiety, sadness, frustration or even boredom a lot of the time. If I'm being honest with you, there was no moment of realisation where I went "RIGHT, I need to stop this!" and I still haven't reached that point because for me personally I think it will take a long time for me to fully stop. However, compared to the rate and amount that I used to do it I have greatly improved. I used to pick my skin, every day; there was not a day I wouldn't do it. A lot of people thought that I would just pick my arms and shoulders, in actual fact I would pick my arms, shoulders, chest, face, neck, head, knee's and my thighs.

Nowadays, I pick a couple of times a week and that's usually because I'm bored, frustrated, upset etc. Although you're probably thinking "well that's still not great" considering how much I used to do it, this is an extreme improvement for me because what a lot of people don't understand is how hard it really is to stop something you can't even remember starting. The way I explain it to people who don't understand is like this if you smoke, drink, take drugs or eat food and you are particularly addicted to one of these things you are unable to willingly stop that is how I feel. It isn't that I don't want to stop; if I could have beautifully smooth and scar free arms then I would 110%. It is not as easy as that, I can't just wake up one day and say "I am never going to pick again" and then stop for the rest of my life. 

If you suffer with CSP, trichotilliomania, dermatillomania or any other problem that makes you feel bad about yourself and the way you look. I'm so sorry that you have to go through this, you are such a strong person and you aren't alone. I find a lot of methods don't work for me; the best one for me is honestly when I'm tanned or I've had the sun on my arms for a long time as I find that the heat helps to settle the scarring and any imperfections I can see that I want to pick, I can't tell you why but for me it just works. You may find that something different works for you. In all honesty you just need to trying and seeing what works best for you. I also use my nails so I find if I'm going through a particularly bad spell I will cut my nails off or get fake nails (I find it impossible to pick with fake nails on). 

The last thing I am going to say if you suffer with CSP; don't feel ashamed. Don't feel embarrassed or weird because it isn't your fault and don't let anyone tell you it is, it can't be helped. If you're patient you will eventually find a way to get better with it or stop it all together and if you do good for you and if you are still fighting with it now then you are not a failure and don't give up! 
If you suffer with ANY type of problem whether it be dermatillomania, trichotilliomania, CSP, OCD, BDD or if you're just having a bad day and don't suffer with anything and just want to moan then you can tweet me, or find my email in the side bar. I'm happy to talk and just listen if you need to chat with someone who has an outsiders perspective then I will reply ASAP. 

I hope this has been helpful for some of you and eye opening for the rest of you! 

*This blog claims no credit for any images posted on this site unless otherwise noted. Images on this blog are copyright to its respectful owners. If there is an image appearing on this blog that belongs to you and do not wish for it appear on this site, please E-mail with a link to said image and it will be promptly removed*

I thought that as I haven't blogged at all this year I'd give you all a bit of a catch up as to whats been going on in my life, and then give a few facts about myself for any of you that might be new to my blog!

2016 so far has involved: 1 hen do, 3 weddings, my 21st birthday and a joint birthday party, another holiday to Greece, 1 mini holiday to Paris, a festival, many MANY nights out, seeing Adele and Coldplay live, starting my degree and a number of other little occasions and days out with friends.

My 21st birthday party was brilliant and everyone had an amazing time and going to Greece again after last year was lovely. After visiting Rhodes last year we decided to try out a different area of Greece and settled on Crete which was equally as beautiful as all the other areas of Greece I'd previously visited and I'd definitely recommend to everyone!

A small collage of a few things I've been up to in 2016!

After deciding to give university a miss and get a job straight away instead when I finished college, I slowly started to realise that I actually did really want to get a degree and that was the whole reason I went to sixth form. I've always wanted to teach English and so at the beginning of this year, I finally decided that I wanted to start working towards my English degree, so since the beginning of this year I've been working towards that part time through the open university!

For any of you that are new to my blog or began following me whilst I was M.I.A, have 10 facts about me that you may or may not know.

1. I've never liked my name, but I love my middle name which is why my blog and all my usernames on social media platforms is AshleighRhiane. 
2. I have a huge phobia of all insects. It doesn't matter how big or small they are, how many legs they have and whether or not they can fly. They all terrify me.
3. I was in choir for around 8 years and sometimes I really miss it.
4. I got my ears pierced at 14-15 by my friend, she used 2 safety pins... it wasn't pretty...
5. When I'm really sad, I listen to Disney music. It always helps.
6. If I could speak any other language, I'd choose Swedish. I've always loved how it looks and sounds, its amazing!
7. When I was 6 I wanted to be an archaeologist, I was a strange child. 
8.  A French man was impressed with how much wine I could drink. If that's not impressive then I don't know what is. 
9. So far I've been to Spain 3 times, Greece 2 times, Turkey 2 times, America, Paris and Portugal and there are still so many different places I want to see!
10. I've always wanted to be a Disneyland princess, but then I found out I'm not tall enough.I'm still not over it...

Hiiiiiiiii,
so it's been a while hasn't it? I've got to apologize, because if you read my last post (around this time last year...) I said that I was going to try and start posting again. Well, that clearly didn't happen did it.

This past year has been INSANE.
There's been a few ups and many downs and things have completely changed in my life, I almost feel like I'd taken 3 step forward and now I've taken about 10 steps back. I'm not ready to explain in detail what these changes have been, but I'm sure I'll explain in another post at some point.

The fact that so many things in my life have changed has made me feel like taking up my blog again would really help me express and use my energy in a more productive way. So this is me, apologizing for disappearing and asking you all to forgive me and bear with me while I return to something I love to do.

It'll be a slow process, but I'm excited to get back into the blogging community that I love so much.
Speak to you all soon!

xoxo

It feels so weird to be sat writing this post, I've been unsure what to do with my blog for a while now. It started out that I just took some time off from blogging to concentrate on myself and my mental health and just life in general and then as time went by I was just more and more busy and didn't have the time to just sit down and write like I used to.

Now we're 5 months down the line and I'm finally back! I don't know how many of you actually religious read my blog or even noticed my disappearance, but whether you did or not I'm still sorry for falling of the face of the earth without saying something. I did actually feel really bad about it, and I was in half a mind whether to delete my blog or not because it had been so unloved and uncared for and it made me feel so guilty. Then I thought of all the time and effort and fun I had putting into my blog and how its like my little online child and I wanted to try and get that back in a sense.

So for now, I won't be posting as often as I used. It'll be the occasional post here and there for now but hopefully when I'm back in the swing of things I'll get the love back for writing and sharing my thoughts and everything else that springs to mind with you guys.

Just a quick catch-up, I'm still working for the same company and it's still going well. I'm still battling with my mental health, but I now find it easier to talk about it and the biggest thing is that I moved!

Adam and I have finally gotten a place of our own, and even though I still miss my family it's amazing to start building a life with Adam. Which I've wanted for a long time.

So yeah, that's about it. Please don't hate me and if you have still followed me after all this time and not left, then I love you and you are fabulous xoxo

These paisley trousers are just life, they are so so beautiful and I need them in my life right now and I promise I would never take them off ever. They are monochrome loveliness. I've never really owned a watch properly, not one that I can wear like all day everyday and I just fell a little bit in love with this Olivia Burton dusty pink one, it's so pretty and delicate and I think watches always look so nice in an outfit (that is probably really weird).

I love orange- red shades for spring/summer I think they are absolutely beautiful and I'm slowly becoming more confident in wearing red lips. I think if you don't think you'll suit red lips to go for a more orange toned red as it just looks a bit less in your face. Lastly, is this beautiful little number from my favourite shop. I think it would look amazing with either some sandals or some little ankle boots or anything really, I just love it!

After seeing the hype that was taking place on the internet over the new Benefit Roller Lash mascara, I felt that as a beauty blogger it would be so wrong if I didn't get a sample myself a review it.

I think the packaging for this product is so cute and pretty, I love the pink/ rose gold colour of the lid and the pink and black together just looks so vintage, I'm a really big fan of it. Although it's not a full sized one, I actually think I prefer this size purely because it's the perfect size for your handbag and make up bag and doesn't take up much space.


I do see why everyone likes this product and I think the wand is perfect for separating lashes and lengthening them as well, I don't find it makes them very thick but I'm not a fan of big thick lashes as I prefer for my lashes to look more natural and this definitely achieves that look. I also like that it doesn't have brush bits at the end like they're real which always causes loads of product to clump on my lashes and it just gets EVERYWHERE. I also find that it really adds so much curl to your lashes as well, I've never had particularly straight lashes so they are pretty curly as it is but this just makes them look that bit better. It's like a 'your lashes, but better' type affect.

Hopefully from the above photo you can see what I mean! They don't look overly fake, they just extend my lashes without making it look like I've got much mascara on and I absolutely love it. I think it's definitely worth trying if you're interested in trying a high end mascara as it seems to give every single person a different look, but it always seems to be the desired effect.

I've nearly run out of my Urban Decay flushed palette which I reviewed on my blog here, and so I've been on the hunt for a new highlighter, bronzer and blush. So far I'm still looking for a highlighter, but I've managed to get the other two and they are absolute dynamite!


 As you can see from the above photo I decided to go for the Bourjois bronzing powder, and so far I am so impressed with how much I love it. It's absolutely brilliant! I love the shade it's so warm and looks very natural and it's a lot less shimmery than my Urban Decay one so it looks much more natural on my skins and although I was really worried it was going to be too dark, it works so well and blends like a dream. It also smells absolutely amazing, I cannot get over the smell! Whenever I'm using it I force Adam to smell it because I love it so much.

I wasn't sure how I would feel about the cardboard container as I was worried it would get quite battered up in my make up bag, but so far there hasn't actually been any problems with the packaging which is a huge plus and I actually really like the packaging. I can see why some people probably don't, but I love it. As you can see in the photo above it does appear to be quite dark, but I promise its not that noticeable! It just gives a really natural gorgeous glow.

It retails for about £7/£8 in the UK which isn't really that bad, I didn't think it was too bad anyway but maybe I'm wrong. I'd definitely purchase it again because for the price you get your money's worth and I just love it so much!!

Have you used Bourjois bronzing powder before?

So, March was a very up and down month. There was high points and really low points, and at the particularly low points I posted this quote, if you can't read it it says "a negative mind will never give you a positive life" and I just had to keep trying to remind myself of this quote which is hard but if you are having a hard time right now then remember this quote because it will make you feel a little bit better. It was also mothers day this month and so I posted a cute little photo of me and my mumma because she is a diamond and I love her a lot. It was also mine and Adams 'year anniversary' I feel weird calling it an anniversary if it's only a year, but that's what it is so oh well! We went out for a lovely meal at Ask and enjoyed it so much and I've enjoyed the last year with him so much. Lastly, my best friend Chloe and I had a long awaited night in with wine, chats and just general loveliness.

So that was my month of March, how was yours?

Here are some of my absolute favourite songs from the past month, it's quite a mixed bag of music but I love them all equally and keep listening to them on repeat!

What songs have you loved this month?

I personally think this is the perfect budget buy and Bourjois have made a real winner for me here, it's long lasting with a range of different red shades and it's matte. Whats not to love? I will absolutely plan on re-purchasing this little gem!

I was super pants last month and didn't post a large amount towards the end, and then I realised that I hadn't done a post on January and now its March and I am a terrible blogger. Feel free to judge me, I wouldn't blame you! I didn't actually take a whole lot of photos in January, but February there was a lot more so I thought I'd do the two together.


I tried to cram in as many photos as I possibly could without making it look to messy, there were so many more photos that I wanted to include but this post would end up being way to long and I don't want to bore you all with my life story!

The first photo is of the beautiful flowers that Adam got me for Valentines day, he'd taken note the month before that lilies are some of my favourite flowers. The man did good! Then he took me out that evening for some amazing food at Chiquitos, and the second photo is of some of the cocktails we decided to get with our meals and the vodka and raspberry one that I had was probably one of the best things I have EVER DRUNK IN MY ENTIRE LIFE, I miss that drink.
I went out for a Costa catch up with one of my favourite females in the world and we literally just sat chilled, talked and laughed the whole day and it was just lovely being able to catch up with her as we don't get to see much of each other but when we do it's like nothing has changed. My closest friends and I went out for a meal and then went back to Adam's flat and had a few drinks and played cards against humanity (if you haven't played it yet and you have a messed up sense of humor then I recommend it!) and it was a really fun and brilliant night.
I also got my new camera in February and it is so amazing, I can't wait to go out and give it a spin, I'm genuinely craving some sort of day out or occasion so I can use it!
Lastly, in January my 2 best friends finally gave birth to my absolutely beautiful god son/ surrogate nephew. I've covered his face up because he's only a little baby and I'm not going to post his face on my blog so you'll all have to take my word for it when I say he is the most stunning little angel in the whole world. I'm head over heels in-love with him and so proud of my friends.

So that's all you really need to know about my last few months, how were your January and February?

Here are some of my favourite songs from the month of February, I personally feel like there are some new amazing artists and songs coming out this year and that makes me so excited. February has been very similar to January in that it has all been up in the air and manic but things are slowly staring to calm down and I'll hopefully be able to blog a lot more in the coming weeks!