Goodbye Australia & A New Outlook on Life

Me & My Gorgeous Aussie Family | Beautiful Beach at Hervey Bay

Hey Ladies. This post is a bit of a sad one as today is my last day in Australia before I jet back to dreary old England. I thought I would write a quick post to update you all as this will be my last post until I get back to the UK and back to normality. If you don't read my blog regularly then you will probably be a bit confused as to why I'm feeling so sad about leaving a holiday. Yes, I understand that everyone feels rubbish when they have to return home from their jolly bobs but for me, this has been a much more personal get away.

Basically, I came to Australia back in April after going through a bit of a rough patch with my job and various people who were filling my life with negativity. I got really down in the dumps trapped in a job I hated and surrounded by backstabbers. I'm sure a lot of people have been in similar situations but I got to a point in life where every day was a stressful, upsetting and a down right struggle. My family got worried about me and I felt terrible for not only feeling upset myself but for upsetting my family too. My dad, step mum and two brothers live out here in Oz so when I got a phone call from my dad asking if I'd like to come to work and live in Australia for five months, I jumped at the chance. I wrote more about it in my 'Relocating to Australia' post here if you fancy a read. I still can't believe five months have past by since then, where does time go?

Leaving home was a huge decision to make as I came here alone for three months before my boyfriend joined me in July. Leaving him was a hard decision and I missed him like crazy but ultimately, it has made us stronger as a couple. I still can't believe I managed to fly here by myself too. That alone is a HUGE accomplishment as I am so petrified of flying. If you have followed me on Twitter for a while you will know that I was panicking so much about the flight before I left that I was almost convinced I wouldn't be able to do it. However, it was way easier than I expected it to be and as soon as I touched down in Brisbane I was overcome with a sense of achievement. 

Since being on the other side of the world for a while, I feel like I have learnt so much about myself and have had a lot of time to sit back and think about life and what I want from it. If you read my post about dealing with OCD you may know that I am an insecure and sensitive person but this trip has really helped me with not only my confidence but my independence. Taking the leap to come here alone has taught me that no matter what my fears might be, I can tackle them if I put my mind to it. It has also taught me some valuable life lessons that include learning not to care what anyone other than my loved ones think about me. I was spending far too much of my time worrying about what people might think about me that it was consuming my mind and getting me down. At the end of the day, why should I care? Everyone is going to have their opinions and unless they mean something to me, I really shouldn't be fazed by people who have nothing better to do than spread their negativity.

It has also been amazing to spend some quality time with my family as living on opposite sides of the world, it doesn't happen very often. I have developed such a strong bond with my little brothers and the thought of leaving them really breaks my heart. If any of you live away from family I'm sure you will understand how hard it is and how torn it can sometimes leave you feeling. In an ideal world I would love to spend six months of the year here and six months in England but sadly life isn't that easy. As I write this post now, I dread tomorrow morning when I have to say the word 'goodbye' but I also appreciate how much I have got to know them and how much stronger our relationships have become. Nobody likes goodbyes but I have to remember that goodbye doesn't have to be forever, just for now.

As well as learning things about myself, I have also got to experience visiting some of the most beautiful places in the world. If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram I'm sure you will know what I am talking about as over the past few months I have had some of the best experiences of my life. Whether it be whale watching in the middle of the ocean, strolling along south bank in Brisbane or watching the world go by on the beach at Fraser Island, it has all been amazing and eye-opening. Its amazing to know that there are these beautiful places in the world and it gives me even more motivation to succeed in my career and life so I can experience them again in the near future. 

I have also seen my blog go from strength to strength these past five months. I began writing this blog as a little hobby but it has since developed into something I can't imagine being without. I have celebrated a huge milestone of 1000 followers and have even been invited to a beauty event later this year. I never thought anyone would actually read my little space on the web, let alone follow and support me. It has been truly lovely to get to know some of you over twitter and when I return to the UK I would love the opportunity to meet some of you. I promise I will do a HUGE giveaway when I finally get myself a job too. 

So with all this being said, you may understand why today is a tough one for me. However, although I am leaving my family here, I am going home to my other amazing family who I have greatly missed. If I have learnt one thing whilst being in Australia it is to try and be positive in every situation, even if I am feeling like rubbish inside. I know my family will always be here, even if they are on the other side of the world. After all, it's only a few plane rides away. Roll on Australia 2013 8).

I hope this post didn't depress any of you too much, I just wanted to write a bit of a life post so you all know why I won't be posting until I'm settled in back at home.

Until then, thanks for reading my blog, leaving comments, tweeting, emailing and making me a very happy girly! Here's to life and living it to the full.

Lots of Love,

Australia Adventures | Fraser Island & Brisbane

Hi Guys! So todays post is a general life post showing you all what I got up to over the weekend. I had such a  great time and got so many nice pictures that I thought it would be a shame not to share them. My weekend started on Thursday when my dad invited my boyfriend and I over to Fraser Island for the day. If you've never heard of Fraser Island before, it is one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is basically a huge sand island and the beaches/resorts on the island are stunning. As my dad sometimes goes over there with work he said we could join him on the barge across for a free day trip. Obviously I wasn't going to pass this up and me and Matt jumped at the chance.  

When we arrived at the island we had a mooch around the shops, and then hit the beach (pictured above). It was a gorgeous sunny day so we sunbathed and napped on the beach until lunch time when we went to one of the resorts Kingfisher Bay for some lunch. It was pure luxury at the resort - palm trees, swimming pools and great food. I had grilled Barramundi, lemon butter, chips and salad for my lunch - Delicious! 

We then went back to the beach to see that the tied had gone in. The beach now looked like a mud bath so being the mature pair that we are, we decided to have a play around in the mud and chase crabs across the beach. There was absolutely hundreds of them and whenever we got too close they would bury themselves in the sand. You may think it sounds gross but it was probably the highlight of my day. I got some hilarious video evidence too - if only I was on Youtube. Anyway, thats just a small round up of our day. It was muchos fun and I would totally recommend Fraser Island to anyone if you live in Australia or are planning a visit.

On Friday me and my family travelled down to Brisbane to watch the Broncos play at the Suncorp Stadium. To be honest, I'm not a huge sports fan so it was mainly for my dad and boyfriend but I enjoyed it none the less. My litter brother was hilarious, he kept pointing at the cheerleaders saying 'I like them girls, they've got bums and boobies!' which made me giggle to say the least haha. After the game we went to a 24-hour pancake parlour that had every type of pancakes imaginable. I just went plain with syrup but check out that chocolatey plate of yumminess my boyfriend had. After that we went back to our hotel as we were all shattered. Our hotel was slap bang in the city centre and the views were out of this world. They were over looking the whole city and it was so lovely to look out on the balcony and watch the world pass by. 

On Saturday we got up early and popped into the city centre for a bit of shopping. I got a few bits and bobs which I will be posting about soon so keep a look out for that. After we had some breakfast and a stroll around the shops, we decided to have a wander to South Bank. On our way we came across a man with his dog doing a live street show. There was quite the crowd gathering around so we decided to stop and have a watch. Oh my goodness, it was  so funny and my brother even got picked from the audience to be part of the act. It was one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time, the guy had brilliant banter and his dog was crazy. It was jumping through rings, sitting on his head and performing all sorts of crazy tricks. My brother was hilarious too as he had to ride around on this teeny tiny silver bike. We were all howling as he kept falling off and the man was really winding him up. He was such a good sport though and we were all so proud of him for getting up there in front of all those people.

When we finally got down to South Bank, as per usual, I was in awe. It is one of my favourite places in the whole world and if you have never been it is basically a tonne of man-made lagoons right by the river. As you can see on the picture above, it is absolutely gorgeous and I love the idea of having somewhere to relax like this in a busy city. They also have a man-made beach but unfortunately that was under reconstruction so I couldn't get any photos. 

In the evening we went out for a meal and drinks where my dad had a hilarious encounter with a hideous piece of chicken. He ordered tumeric chicken with rice and it just looked herrendous. The rest of our meals were lovely and he was left with this awful gloopy piece of crap. It seriously looked like something you would see dead on the street. It was highly amusing though and all he kept saying was 'it just isn't appealing!' in a shocked voice hahaha just the thought of it makes me chuckle!

Today we went to Westfield shopping centre at Chermside to do some more shopping and then drove home. All in all, I have had an excellent three days and loved every minute of it.

What did you get up to this weekend?

Lots of Love,

Weekend Outfits | Fun in the Sun

Maxi - Primark

Crochet Waistcoat - New Look

Nails - Models Own 'Hedonist' 

Stripey Dress - Primark

Belt - Missguided

So Mature! 

Hey Ladies! I hope you are all having a fantastic weekend. The weather has been amazing in Oz so I thought I'd shade a couple of outfits I've been wearing. Considering its the middle of winter here in Australia, I really can't complain with temperatures in the mid 20s. I hope the weather has perked up in the UK, I hear its been terrible lately. Typical English summer. If you follow me on Instagram (kayleighjcouture) you may know that me and my boyfriend took my two year old brother out to the park and to feed the ducks yesterday. We had the best day, well apart form being chased by a huge herd of geese (yes, I almost pooed my pants!). Apart from this slight mishap we had so much fun and my brother had a whale of a time. He even woke up this morning shouting 'Kayleigh, Matt.. Take me to the ducks!' haha SO cute. As you can see, I wore two outfits. First being this gorgeous maxi dress from Primark and the second being this cute little stripy tunic, also from Primark. Both of these dresses were absolute steals. I believe the maxi was £10.00 and the stripy dress was £5.00. Good old Primark, it never lets me down. When we got home from the park/ducks we sunbathed and played football in the garden so I decided a maxi dress wasn't the most appropriate attire. Me and the boyf also decided we would have a handstand competition (see above) - because we are obviously so mature! My little brother found it highly amusing anyway. I'd also like to point out that these photos were taken and edited on my iPhone so I apologise if the quality isn't as great as my normal outfit posts. To be honest, I wasn't really planning on taking any blog pics so it was a bit spur of the moment. However, I must admit I'm quite impressed with the quality of the pictures, not bad for a phone camera in my opinion. 

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend. Its my little brothers 3rd birthday tomorrow, the boy and I have bought him an electric quad bike so I can't wait to see his face when he opens it. I suspect there will be lots of excitement in the Johnson household. What are you getting up to this weekend?

Lots of Love,

Brisbane Haul

Hey Guys! If you read my last post you will know I went to Brisbane on Thursday and went shopping on Friday. Here are all the goodies I picked up on my little shopping spree. I have to say, I feel I was quite good as I could of bought a lot more and when I say a lot I mean A LOT. There were so many nice shops and the fact everything was new and different to the UK just made it all the more exciting. I'm not going to go through each item and say where its from as I don't really have a clue myself to be honest. There was one shop called 'Dissh' that really stood out to me and there were so many things I could of bought in there. I limited myself to this cute Aztec skirt and Ray ban sunnies though. I think my favourite purchase of the day was the tan handbag as I've been after a new tan handbag for a while now and this one was a bargain at $90. That's around fifty pounds which isn't bad for a handbag that will go with absolutely everything and be used nearly every day.  In terms of makeup, I was super duper excited to see NYX and Inglot as these are two brands that aren't easy to come across in the UK. I seriously could have gone wild in Inglot but I won't go into details now as I'm going to do a separate post with swatches of my Inglot purchases. I also bought a pair of slouchy joggers but I thought they were too boring to show you. Anyway, thats all from me. I'm trying to keep this post short and sweet but I'm a rambler as you've all probably gathered by now. Its currently 23:56 in Australia so I best get to sleep.

I hope everyones had a fab weekend!

Lots of Love,

A trip to Brisbane & A Couple of Outfits

Playsuit - River Island

Belt - Primark

Necklace - H&M

Wedges - Matalan

Fringed Bag - Peacocks

Playsuit - River Island
Bag - Marks & Spencers
Sandals - Primark
Sunglasses - Primark

Hey beauties! Firstly, I just want to say this is a huge post with so many pictures so I hope it doesn't bore the socks off you. I went to Brisbane on Thursday so I wanted to share with you all what I got up to and what I wore. I went with my dads friends daughter Tahlia (what a mouthful) and we drove down on the Thursday so we could go for a few drinks and then we went shopping yesterday. We had a lovely couple of days and I just LOVE Brisbane. Seriously, it is such a pretty city. As we were driving through the city on we saw some amazing flats (pictured above) and I felt like I was in an episode of 'The Hills' or something. I'm such a dreamer.

On thursday night we headed into the city for a few drinks. I just wore a floral playsuit from River Island as the Aussies don't seem to get half as dressed up as we would in the UK. The city nightlife wasn't very busy due to it being a Thursday night but everywhere was really cheap and played good music so we still had fun. At the end of the night we ended up in a club called 'Cloud Land' (also pictured above) and it had the most amazing decor I've ever seen in a nightclub. The bar was made up of clear balls and there were fairy lights and vintage furnishings everywhere you looked. The music was Latin on Thursday so there were couples dancing professionally all over the club and they were amazing. These people seriously need to audition for some kind of talent show. I was mesmerised by them. There was also a group of black girls who were booty shaking and again, their moves were amazing. 

Yesterday we headed to a shopping centre called Westfield and it was every shopaholics fantasy. When I was younger I used to think Australia was just full of surf shops and nothing else but this place had everything imaginable. They even had an Inglot shop so I was ecstatic. I'm sure theres only one Inglot shop in London over in the UK. I may be wrong but I've never seen one anywhere so it was nice to be able to buy some Inglot treats. I bought a few more bits and bobs but I won't tell you what as I'm going to do a separate haul post all about that. I wore another River Island playsuit to go shopping in which was a bad move as I needed to take the whole thing off every time I tried something on or went to the toilet. We also stopped for some lunch while we were shopping and I got an amazing Burrito in the food court from a place called 'Salsas'. I wish we had them over in the UK, it was so nice and Mexican is one of my fave foods ever. Overall, it was a lovely couple of days and I can't wait to go back soon and  see more of Brisbane's pretty sights. 

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend so far. I'm off to the pub today for my dads friends birthday. Drinks in the Ozzy sun - How lovely!

Lots of Love,

My Journey to Australia

From top to bottom - The huge airbus plane I flew on from Heathrow to Singapore, Reading material for the flight, Singapore Airport, Me looking very rough in Singapore after the 12 hour flight, in-flight map, take off at Singapore, plane food, pretty views coming into Brisbane,  a lovely welcome to Oz, clear blue skies and the plane after arriving at Brisbane airport, my brother munching a burger at McDonalds, my home for the next 5 months, baby brother eating grapes (random but I love the picture), my new Ozzy bedroom, picture board to remind me of home, my brother being a cheeky chappy!

Hey Beautiful Blogger Ladies! I hope you are all well. I'm sure your all aware of my trip to Australia by now and after weeks of worrying about the flight I made it here safe and sound, yey! I arrived yesterday morning Ozzy time after a long and tiring 36 hours of travelling. I flew from Manchester to Heathrow, Heathrow to Singapore and Singapore to Brisbane. The flight to Singapore was a long 12 hours and 20 minutes but I have to say it wasn't half as bad as I was expecting it to be. I flew on one of the new Airbus planes and they are amazing. I am such a nervous flyer and flying has always been a massive phobia of mine but on the Airbus I just felt so much safer. They are absolutely huge and quite daunting when you first see one but because they are so much bigger and sturdier than normal planes, the take off and landings were exceptionally smooth. The thing I hate most about flying is the plane shaking or moving a lot, especially during take off. Luckily for me, all three of my flights were excellent and we only had a teeny bit of turbulence. If someone told me I was going to fly to Australia on my own this time last year, I would of said no chance, no way, hell no but I now feel like I can do anything. I am so proud of myself for doing it and I definitely won't let my silly fears hold me back in the future. Life is for living after all. 

Anyway, as I arrived in Australia I was ridiculously excited. My dad, step mum and two brothers live here and thats who I'm staying with for the next 5 months. I couldn't wait to see my family waiting for me at the airport and as I stepped off my last flight I just had an overwhelming sense of achievement for doing what I'd just done. I went and collected my suitcase and made my way through customs. After all the faffing around, I finally made my way out of the airport. My dad and eldest brother were waiting for me and it was just so nice to see them. We then drove back to my dads house as he lives in a town around 3 hours away from Brisbane. We popped into McDonalds for some breakfast on our way back to my dads which was lovely after 24 hours of crappy plane food. When we arrived back at my dads house, my two year old brother came running downstairs to see me with my step mum which was a very nice welcome. He's so cute! Last time I saw him he was only 9 months old so I couldn't believe how much he'd grown.

My brothers then showed me to my new bedroom which is absolutely lovely. My dad decorated the room especially for me and its very nice and girly. They had also got me a hamper with some Clarins goodies, a voucher and lots of easter eggs which was a lovely surprise. So yes, thats about all I have to tell you guys for now. To be honest the whole thing has been a bit of a whirlwind so far as I am currently suffering with a horrendous cold. It was typical I came down with a cold before I set off on Tuesday and it was made 10x worse by the pressure and air conditioning on the plane. Also, Jet lag is the worst part about travelling long distance as it takes a good while to adjust to a completely different time zone. I hope I'm feeling better soon though so I can get out and enjoy the Ozzy sunshine.
Anyway, thats enough from me for now! I realise this post is huge but I just wanted to share with you all how my trip was and keep you upto date with my new Australian life. I will be doing some beauty posts as soon as I've got over this cold and jet lag. It's driving me insane.

Lots of Love,