Jane Iredale Longest Lash

I've been on the hunt as you may know, for a decent mascara.  Length I am not struggling with, volume, I am.

I visited one of my stockists for work the other week (if you live near Stamford in Lincs you MUST go to essence of beauty ) and I always like to see what products sell well for them, to gauge what of my products would sell well, and we got onto the subject of Jane Iredale, who, although is a premium price, sells very well for them, because I guess once someone knows something works, they stick with it.  Tracy who owns the salon was wearing this mascara, and it sold me.  So although a very successful meeting, I left £26 down!!

It has fibres in it, which I was a bit hesitant about.  What if they come loose and shed in my eyes, and I end up with gross red watery eyes on the way to a meeting, etc etc. You know, those really life threatening situations ;)

It doesn't shed, and it coats the lashes beautifully, yes it does lengthen them, but it doesn't make my long lashes look spidery, due to the volumising effect too.  My biggest plus point for this mascara?  The squeezy tube.  Why don't all mascaras come like this?  It means you don't need to pump the wand in and out which as we all know (and ignore) creates a hive of gross bacteria to multiply into more grossness.  Also means that we can get all £26 worth of gunk out of it.  Win win. 

Arabel Lebrusan

A couple of years ago I had the joy of discovering Arabel, as we shared office space in one of those offices where you rent desks.  It was just off Sloane Square and she had her own jewellery brand Leblas.  Arabel has since rebranded under her own name, and I wanted to introduce you to her stunning intricate handiwork.

A big positive for me is that all of her metals and stones are fairtrade and fairmined, recycled and her website is completely transparent and honest about everything she uses.

When I first met her, I put her in touch with Sienna and Savannah Miller who personally chose beautiful rings that Arabel had designed and made, and they have been pictured several times wearing the jewellery since.  If it is good enough for the Miller sisters, then it's definitely good enough for me!

Her latest range, which I wish I had checked out sooner, as have been moaning I don't have a cute summer bracelet and would have loved for holiday is the friendship bracelets.

Filigree Friendship Rosette bracelet in Rose Gold £110 here

Filigree friendship bracelet with smoky quartz gemstone in yellow gold £155 here

Pay her website a visit here

Well Worn Converse (like their owner)

I've been coveting the well worn converse for a while now, and have always had the pumps rather than the hi tops.  I really fancied the hi-tops as I keep seeing baukjen models (my favourite catalogue) wearing converse with skirts and skinnies, and think it really works!

I got birthday money early so I could start to restock my wardrobe with my new found size 10-12 body and James offered to get me the converse as part of my birthday present (the other present was a new pair of raybans also for holiday!)

So we got them, I love them and can't wait to wear them!!

£55 from schuh

In transit camera close-up

I was so excited to be one of the winners of Amelia's (view her blog here) thisworks competition!  One of my oldest friends used to be a Director there, so I became a fan of a few of their products, namely dry leg oil, but kind of forgot about them when she moved onto pastures new.

I still kind of think This Works is a very similar animal to Aromatherapy Associates, but I love their products too, so am not complaining.  However this gem is my new favourite product.

You massage it in like you would a normal moisturiser, until it has totally absorbed, however, this is not just a moisturiser.  It is a mask, AND a primer in one.

The pump application is brilliant, doesn't give you too much, I use 2 pumps for my whole face and massage it in gently, leaving my skin with a dewy finish, which comes through when you apply foundation over the top, so a lovely natural yet polished application.

one pump



I don't use a primer every day, as I feel really it is just filling in lumps and bumps, which can't be good, we use polyfilla to hide cracks in walls, and this kind of reminds me of what a primer does, so I just use it if I am in meetings all day and want my make up to stay in place, or on an evening out, but this is hard not to use every day because I love it so much.  It's firmly in my holiday make up bag.  Thank you so much Amelia!

thisworks have a deal on another one of their In Transit products at the moment, whereby you get a £29 product for £19 (enter code ITSD at checkout, view their in transit range here )

prepping for sun

It's been a year and 8 months since we last went on holiday, since we last stripped off and let the public see our bodies.  Which I don't think there is a pantone colour to describe at present.  Other than milky.

Bearing in mind we've not had many opportunities in the run up to the holiday to get our tan on, we decided to help ourselves along with beta carotene capsules, which we do normally if we remember, but felt this year was more important to, so that our skin has got some Vitamin A in it and doesn't have a complete sh*tfit when we get to Crete. 

In case you didn't know what beta carotene helps with:  it apparently strengthens your skin against rays of light - to accelerate the tanning process and reduce the risk of sunburn. Beginning a month before your holidays you can start taking supplements that contain antioxidant nutrients such as Beta Carotene, Vitamin A, C and E, which help to protect the body from excess free radicals that destroy healthy cells and promote the cell aging process.

We've also been taking Vitamin D, for a totally different reason.  James is definitely a summer person, dark mornings and evenings really take their toll on him, and we even tried a lumie light, which didn't seem to work, so I figured Vitamin D would be good for him as we get most of our vitamin D from sunlight on our skin.  Of which our beautiful country has definitely been lacking.  For me, it is for the same reasons, but also my mum has osteoporosis which is partially caused by lack of Vitamin D, and I seem to be inheriting every bad health issue she has had, so am trying to delay or fight off anything possible!

I need to start taking the Lambert fish oils as recommended by Caroline Hirons, so that is my next investment when I return from holiday.  Any other suggestions?

You only get one face

So you need to take care of it (says she, who only got a skincare regime this year thanks to Caroline Hirons) 

I normally just put whatever suncream I use on my body, on my face.  So usually factor 6 piz buin.  So this year I figure it's a week before I turn 35 (shit, how did that happen please??) so I really should invest in a decent face spf for the beach.  Enter Clarins.

Now I'm not going to lie, I asked Caroline which I should buy, and she suggested shiseido or Clinique.  However, in Fenwicks Bond Street, Clarins had a GWP offer, and I have been desperate to buy one of their crystal balms, so figured I would try their sun cream for face too so I could get my freebies.  Plus, as much as I want to protect my skin, I still want to get a tan, I rarely burn, so wanted no more than factor 15.

So here is my haul.

 

 

I actually have loads more of the mini's but they are already packed.  I told the lovely lady on the counter that I was going on hols, so she literally poured samples into my bag, I couldn't have been more excited if she had been pouring giant Cadburys buttons into my mouth.  (actually, that's not true, I'd actually commit murder for someone to do that for me since being on the diet).

 

Can I just say Oh.My.God for the crystal balm.  If you look closely you can see the clear veil of sheen around the colour on my skin.  I love this, and REALLY struggled to choose out of 2 colours, but glad I picked this one, it is shade 01, Crystal Pink.

 

 

 

I picked the body lotion as one of my GWP's as I don't buy into this whole aftersun hype, I figure a moisturiser is a moisturiser, and if it's free, and it's clarins, then that works for me!  If i'm wrong, please tell me!

 

The Extra Firming Day cream I am really interested to try, so will do a review on it in the coming weeks.

 

Anything from the Clarins range i'm missing out on???

 

 

Travel Companions

I hate taking 250ml bottles of shampoo on holiday and I hate taking my bottles of foundation on holiday, as I invariably need to use a darker shade by the end of it, so it's wasted space for that 33rd top I HAVE to take with me plus it is usually marble flooring throughout and I will undoubtedly drop 65quids worth of make up all over the floor.

I quite enjoy buying the mini's, slightly galling when I know the cost to make these items having been in the miniature industry for 8 years in my first job, but still, they are giving me more weight to use for clothes, so I will stop moaning.

This holiday I have decided to choose the Charles Worthington minis. 

 

 

 

How good they are remains to be seen, but I like the idea of spritzing my hair throughout the day. 

 

I then bought this little stack of pots, which I will be decanting my wonderful Emma Hardie Moringa Face Balm into, plus my 2 different foundations and one application of my favourite body scrub ever from Neom Organics to keep my body in tip top tanning condition!

 

 

 

Last but not least, my hair is always up on holiday, it's quite ombre at the moment, so much lighter at the ends, so found these little pretties in Accessorize, the group of hairbands will all have been lost by the end of the week, I am the person that keeps hairband brands in business, as must buy 2 packs a month!  The little item on the right is really cute, a normal hairband, but with a hard gold coloured ring to hide the band.  The 2 bits cost me £6.

 

Anything I'm missing?

 



 



 

always the mothers job

As a kid I remember my mum getting a bit 'prickly' a few days before our family of 4 went on holiday.  I just thought she was a bit odd about it all, until I became a mum.

Difference is, my mum had a husband who was rarely home, 2 daughters, a dog and 2 cats.  So as well as packing for 4 people, she also had to sort out kennels, cattery, or taking the dog to our grandparents for them to have, as well as wash, iron, clean the house (which she literally did as we were leaving, she would hoover us out of the front door), sort the currency out and then some.

I just have James, Max and I.  I normally would pack for James and I before Max came along anyway, just because men are rubbish at packing, and I quite the jigsaw puzzle feel of doing it, and the satisfaction of when you are finished you can close the cases without needing John Goodman to sit on them to close them.

Then I went upstairs to start on it and was faced with this

This is our spare room.  Or should I say, the holiday crime scene.  Now I must point out, that Maxs stuff is in line with the trunki on the top of the pic.  James is one row at the bottom of the picture.  Mine is the massive collection in the middle, other than the swim nappies (don't do them in my size).

You might think, oh not bad for a 2 week holiday for 3 people.

It's a 1 week holiday.  6 nights where we will need clothes, as the first day we get there late.  This isn't everything.  Shoes aren't on there.  Toiletries aren't on there.  I have 2 wash loads drying on the airers, and of course there is no sun today to dry them, so I have jeans on the kitchen floor so that the underfloor heating dries them.

I had to walk away and close the door quietly.

Feel for me please.  I have to do this in between finishing work which has been a manic last day, picking Max up from Nursery as James doesn't finish work until 7pm tonight, going to Lighter Life for my weigh in, and doing dinner.

Mum, I bow to your greatness.

Gelish in Tiger Blossom

Not much to say here other than look at my pretty coloured nails!

Gelish in Tiger Blossom

If you live in London and haven't had Josie in your house to give you the best, neatest manicure or pedicure of your life, then shame on you. 

This is a gorgeous colour, it's more coral than it looks in the picture, she uses OPI Cajun Shrimp on my feet to match it, but i'm not going to give you nightmares by posting pictures of my feet.  Or as James calls them, plates of wood.

Seriously, book a date with Josie nailsmakeupme

Hats off to my dad!

My dad recently went on a ridiculous holiday, he is 65, newly single, not quite ready to mingle, but had a disastrous holiday last year on his first holiday alone, and so this year decided to have a bit of action.  (ahem, so to speak)

So he decided to sign up for a ridiculous bike riding holiday.  Not a nice gentle easy breezy downhill cycle in a lovely forest.  Not my dad.  South America.  So I'm talking Nicaragua, Panama and Brazil......rainforests, vertical climbs, underneath waterfalls, the lot.  Strange man loved it.  (I should add here that he runs 11 miles at least once a week, so it wasn't like me deciding I was going to do the mad holiday out of the blue, that would be hilarious).  I should also add this was about 2 weeks after a knee operation.

Every holiday I buy a cheap straw trilby/panama style hat, so when dad said he was going to Panama and would be stopping off to watch panama hats be made, I begged him (didn't take much begging, i'm his baby) to get me one.  Which he did.  It's the right size, it's light, and best of all it's AUTHENTIC.  Even better, the authentic ones roll up for easy packing!  I googled how to roll it best and found this site (how to roll a panama hat ) and it has worked brilliantly.  Looks a bit odd, as have put a sock over it now to keep it rolled, X-ray machines will be interesting tomorrow!