This week, I’M LOVING…(14/7/14)

Shirt dresses. They’re the perfect summer essential- and can be worn as a super casual piece in the day or accessoried to the max for the night. Simple, effortless and yet so effective.

It’s such a nice look that can be worn in any way to suit your style…

You can do very casual, summery day wear with a piece like this:

Or something a bit bolder or more special for night:

Maybe you want a hot, figure hugging dress:

Or something a bit baggier and more casual:

If it’s plain, simple and effective you want then this is the item for you:

 

But equally a fussier, print-covered version can be yours too:

The versatility of this trend makes it a wardrobe MUST HAVE. You can tailor it to your style and accessorize all you want: jewellery, belts, shoes, hats….you name it. The fact this fashion trend can be worn so differently makes it ideal for you. If you’re short, tall, slim, curvy, young or old- it makes no difference.

I’m loving it so much and it’s super friendly on the purse- I bought a plain black one from H&M and have worn it during the day and then spiced it up for night with a metallic gold belt and a chunky gold necklace. SUPER EASY! 

Go out there, purchase one now and have fun customising it to suit you or your occasion!

This week, I’m LOVING…(30/06/14)

All things- Benefit for ye olde eyebrows.

I was born (thanks to my dad) with naturally very thick, bushy eyebrows…(NOT in the kind of sexy, statement, bold eyebrow way) So, aged about 14 when I first laid my hands on a pair of tweezers…I went for it, BIG STYLE. I was VERY pluck happy and didn’t stop until two, barely visible, thin lines of wonky hair remained.

Fast forward 6 years later- most of it has grown back (Thank god!) but they have never been the same and my left eyebrow enjoys something of a little bald patch as it widens. My eyebrows have never matched since and no amount of professional shaping, waxing, plucking or threading can help revive hair growth in this very uneven area. IT IS A SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS.

For months, maybe even years, I have been in pursuit of something to remedy this eyebrow situation. NOTHING has done the trick…eyebrow pencils have often been unrealistic, too dark or too clearly false. I have tried EVERYTHING that is out there.

When my dear friend Becky recommended Benefit products for my eyebrows, I wasn’t enthused…having long accepted my fate as the girl with unusual eyebrows. I rocked up to my local Debenhams, took a seat (always have mixed feelings when I get my make up applied in store- feels so awkward yet so diva-ish) and watched as a plethora of products were applied to my eyebrows.

It was a Cinderella-style transform! Thick eyebrows that were a-could be my natural hair colour- shade and that looked-finally!!– realistic and not drag Queen-esque. I bought two products in particular! (They were quite a fortune, I cannot lie, but TOTALLY worth it and so far they have lasted aaaaaages!)

My purchases included;

1) Gimme Brow

This is an incredible product! It comes in two shades (hopefully they will bring out more) but the darker brown suits me down to a tee (dark brunette, peachy skin and all) and there is a paler brown shade for mousy/blonde types! It’s applied with a small brush. At first it feels a bit strange applying a Mascara like product to your eyebrows but IT WORKS. It sticks to the hair you have, blends in the gaps and is super easy to apply! It also lasts ages (rarely have to re-apply during the day!) It comes in a little bottle but lasts ages and fits easily into my make-up bag! LOVE LOVE LOVE, GO PURCHASE!!!

 

2) Browzings

The second product is super nifty! It comes in a little palette with mirror and includes some great tweezers (although small, so I am forever misplacing them!!) a coloured wax product to be applied first and a powder to apply last. I also adore the brushes included, one of which is shaped in a slant which allows for easy, professional looking application! FABULOUS! The wax boldens the eyebrow, tints it a darker shade and shapes it with the aid of the special brush. It applies sooooo smoothly. Then you use the powder, which helps to blend and softens the look. It’s a brilliant product!

 

I use the Gimme Brow every single day, it has become a daily must-have essential! I use the Browzings when I’m going out or what a bolder look. Both can be used separately and/or together.

I CANNOT describe how much I love these life saver products although not cheap- they’re realistic, give enough definition to let you skip plucking for a few days unnoticed and really help to solve any wonky/misshapen eyebrow issues you might have! AMAZING!

3 BAD love lessons we learnt in the 90s.

I am very much a product of the 90s. These were my key development years where I was consumed by everything I saw or heard. Where the lessons I learnt became the gospel truth. IS IT ANY WONDER I’M SINGLE? THAT I’M PART OF THE CAREER WOMAN GENERATION? THAT WE’RE MARRYING LATER OR NOT AT ALL? Quite frankly, no. 

This is why…here are 3 bad love lessons that we were all taught in the 90s:

• “If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends.” ER, WHAT? This is a line from the classic Spice Girls song “Wannabe” (like you need me to tell you that!!!) It was the anthem of my youth. Aged 6, I’d prance around my bedroom in some ill-matched outfit that my mother had cruelly made me wear, probably ordained with huge daisies and involving as much brightly dyed corduroy as was physically possible. I would sing this song at the top of my lungs, declaring each and every lyric with affirmation, faux understanding and a pretence of knowledge and experience. I had none, I was six. My best friend and I, both with matching bob haircuts; mine brunette, hers blonde- made up a dance to fit the song and divided the verses line-by-line as if we had solos. We’d have that odd tiff over which Spice Girl we were, both desperately wanting to be Scary Spice. (I once made her cry telling her that because she was blonde she HAD TO be Baby….slowly tears fell down her little angry pink cheeks and as they did, I smiled nastily and told her “see….you really are a baby, you have to be Baby.” She then sobbed at this and ran off to tell my mum and her mum what I had done. After that she was always allowed to be Scary and I was downgraded to Sporty Spice.) The friendship traumas began then and perhaps we would have known it inevitable, had we understood that one of the lyrics we were singing with absolute conviction, encouraged our future spouses to “get with” our friends.

• We will never fall in love if we don’t change ourselves. This is the message that the chick flicks of the 90s told us time and time again. I’m talking Clueless, Never Been Kissed, She’s All That…the basic theme is that the kooky, nerdy, somewhat quirky girl doesn’t get the cute guy until she has a make-over and becomes superficial, pretty, trendy and popular. WHAT KIND OF LIFE LESSON IS THAT HOLLYWOOD?! Change who you are to get the man of your dreams? Intelligence, wit, being a good person counts for bugger all when you can just be a pretty version of yourself? This is baaaaad advice- it’s no wonder we are obsessed with being a size zero, smothering ourselves in fake tan and applying a tonne of make up!

• Being a single parent is okay and motherhood is easy, like a game. Dolls that cry? Yep, we had them. Aliens in eggs that can apparently reproduce (did we ever get that scientifically confirmed?!) Either way, based on that assumption we ALL went out and bought them and tried damn hard to breed our gooey aliens for little alien offspring. Seahorses that we reared ourselves? Very odd…many a Christmas was spent discovering some aunt who was clearly stuck for present ideas had settled on the seahorse present. Tamagotchis- feed, play, look after generally…get bored. That was generally the life cycle of the poor Tamagotchi that had the misfortune for being under my possession. Sims- playing God. I can create your family, your appearance, your home, your job, your friends, your hobbies. I can make you have sex (mildly rape-y if you ask me!) and I can make you die in a whole manner of ways (my personal favourite, was to encourage them to go for a swim and then to remove the swimming pool stairs until they drowned.) this isn’t a very natural nor normal approach to parenthood!

What hope is there? Bad advice when it comes to the whole “mates before dates” thing/ the encouragement of changing who we are to get the guy and a warped approach to parenthood…is it any wonder that we’re all a little bit screwed up in 2014?!? I think not!

This week, I’m LOVING…. (16/06/14)

So, like most twenty two year old girls I love fashion- clothes, accessories, make-up you name it. I want to bring something new and fresh to my blog (summer creativity, if you will) and aim to upload a blog post a week telling you, my readers, what fashion item I am loving that week. Let’s see how it goes, please be patient lovely people!!

Here’s to week one.

This week, I am LOVING….New Look Kimonos!

Serious LOVE LOVE LOVE. They are super friendly on the purse, very up to date with trends AND perfect for day and night. Tell me why I shouldn’t buy one again? Also, as someone who hates their arms, the kimono is perfect for concealing those undesirable “bingo wings” whilst being sexy and fashionable at the same time. (GOODBYE frumpy Grandma cardis!)

From cute summery kimonos…

 

To longer length evening kimonos…

 

To colourful, more casual kimonos….

 

And for kimonos that are just a bit more special and sparkly…

There is something for EVERYONE. I guarantee that whoever you are, whatever size, whatever age and whatever budget…at New Look this summer you can find your perfect must-have Kimono!

GO GET ‘EM LADIESSSSSS! 

Grabbing a coffee.

I would love to meet the person who revolutionized coffee. The person who made coffee the superior drinking beverage. “Shall we go and grab a tea?” No. “Let’s discuss this over a lemonade…” No. “We should go for a Vimto and catch up!” No.

Coffee, always coffee. Someone explain this to me? It’s super cool, let’s face it. I’m twenty two, studying for a Masters at a Red Brick, Russell Group uni blah blah blah and yet (although I hate to admit it) I feel so GROWN-UP when I arrange to go for a coffee. I feel like a fully functioning adult, with juicy gossip (I have none… my life is spent watching marathon Breaking Bad sessions, Youtubing random stuff and FaceTiming all and sundry!) and complex business to discuss (again I have none, I’m utterly unemployed and extending my education for as long as my parents’ budget and patience allows!)

Yet here I am, playing this game of charades and arranging to go for coffee like every other pretentious wannabe grown up. My status is determined by the quirkiest coffee I order….soya milk? Some crazy flavored syrup? A wacky name to have written on my cup? YES PLEASE. 

After ordering my hugely overpriced hot beverage, I then clutch my Starbucks cup for good measure to ensure that anyone and everyone can see that indeed I am cool, that I could be in the cast of Friends and enjoying a coffee at Central Perk and that I’m mature (and busy and important) enough to order a coffee- not a Diet Coke.

If I feel that my trophy coffee cup hasn’t been spotted by enough people, I rectify this with a seemingly casual selfie that I can plaster all over Instagram/Facebook/Twitter etc etc etc to ensure maximum coverage of this life milestone. SERIOUSLY WORLD, WHAT ARE WE DOING? We don’t Instagram our bottles of Lipton’s Iced Tea or snap a carton of milk. Who gave coffee this divine right?

I mean, do we even like coffee? TRULY like it? It’s such an acquired taste! I like it best in Frappuccino form, hidden amongst chocolate, disguised as a mocha, smothered in cream and drizzled with caramel sauce. Essentially, I want a desert.

It puzzles me, it always has…but there we have it. If anyone can enlighten me, I would love to know who granted coffee this superior status. Let me know on here, that or we could discuss it over an Irn Bru?!

“The Eleanor Roosevelt Challenge”- Day 7 (Publicising the blog)

Okay, so this blog is a sort of form of therapy for me.

I’m a private person- I don’t like opening up and telling the world my thoughts and feelings, that’s why for me, blogging is perfect. I don’t seek to write under an alias, I just don’t make it obvious who I am.

For me, it’s a scary thing telling my friends about this blog. It will no doubt open their minds to many things they do not know about me, or expect to see me write about in such a frank way. Yes, my ridiculous love life is something we often have a giggle about over a few cocktails but the more serious things? Not so much.

I’m still not quite ready to link this blog to my Facebook and twitter newsfeeds but to admit that it even exists to my nearest and dearest is a big step. I met up with my three closest friends today on our annual “back from university, pre-Christmas catch up.” There wasn’t even alcohol involved, just a couple of hot chocolates and coffees between us. Telling them about this blog, just seemed right. I value their opinions on other friends, on the guys in my life, on the decisions that I make…and I feel that my blog is no different.

I want them to text me and tell me that one post I’ve written is hilarious and brilliant and that another is utterly crap. I want them to hear me talking from all sides, flippantly and with absolute honesty.

It’s scary to open myself up with such vulnerability, but they’re my closest friends and I value their opinions more than I do anybody else’s.

Today’s challenge wasn’t easy. I was met with three completely different expressions: “brilliant!” Declared my absolute best friend, “I will follow you and you can follow me, can’t wait to read it!” My other friend asked whether blogging was a bit “lame”…”I mean you’re hardly the sort for instagramming photos of your daily Starbucks coffee, why would you blog?” And my third friend just smiled, “great idea, but its like a New Years resolution, or the annual diary that you do, do you reckon you will keep it up?”

Whatever their responses I didn’t mind. They’re my girls. They’re behind me 100%.  Even though telling them about my blog might be scary step, it’s an exciting and beautiful one too…